His idea set in motion, Kurt slipped through the crowd, moving to stand near a group clustered around a frantically working bartender. He took a place in the loosely formed line and bobbed his head along to the music, appearing mildly into it. Kurt didn’t have to wait long before he heard a sharp whistle from overhead and looked up to see a man on the upper deck gesturing towards Kurt’s area. As Kurt watched, the man raised a rifle with a large scope and pointed it directly at him. Two others forced their way through the crowd towards him, armed better than the average Pirate.

  The first to reach him had a soul patch that extended down into a short braid and glared from under a red bandana wrapped around his head. He shoved at Kurt with a short-barreled SPAS-12 shotgun. “You’re expected upstairs,” he said between gritted teeth, his finger twitching near the shotgun’s trigger.

  Kurt glanced at him dismissively, swaying slightly to the music. “Right on. Can I get my drink first or what?”

  A shorter man sidled up on Kurt’s other side, his large black rifle still in a sling around his back. He had neatly parted hair and a pair of rose-colored glasses resting above his smile. “The Queen has a full bar in the meeting room. Would you kindly come with us, please?” A touch of German accent was clear, and his demeanor was friendlier than his counterpart.

  With a shrug, Kurt stepped out of the line and followed the Pirates back up to the meeting room.

  Long, burgundy curtains covered the windows of what used to be a navigation room. Large sonar devices and other equipment were scattered around the room or poorly hidden beneath cloth drapes. Gadot and Jimmy were seated at the far end of a long table, both glaring daggers at Kurt as he walked in. He was sure to adopt a confused expression, raising his arms out to the side in a half shrug.

  “Off to a great start!” Kitty grinned at him from across the table, her smile decidedly predatory. “What were you doing, Kurtis?” Her voice remained high and light, a false pleasant air firmly embedded.

  Carefully managing his facial expression to maintain his feigned confusion, Kurt pointed a thumb behind him. “They’re handing out some kind of jugs at the bar.”

  Jimmy blinked once, hard, then burst out laughing and leaned forward on the table, putting his face into one hand. Gadot didn’t move. She just glared at Kurt from her position beside Jimmy.

  Kitty magnanimously swept an arm at a fully stocked bar at the rear of the room. “By all means Kurtis, help yourself.” The smile she gave him did little to make him think he had fooled her.

  Kurt walked over to the bar. After fiddling with bottles for a moment, moving them around, picking them up and putting them down, he turned back crestfallen. “There’s no jugs in this one.” His tone was whining, and Kitty mechanically turned her head to coldly stare at him.

  Her smile didn’t change as she leaned back in her chair. Prying her narrowing eyes away from Kurt, she addressed an NPC behind her. “Would you get us a jug from downstairs, please?” Kitty’s expression was cemented on her face, her patience wearing thin. Kurt glanced at his phone as he sat at the table, happily noticing a bump in his Dishonesty skillset. Whether or not he had fooled the Pirate Queen, most everyone else had believed his act.

  “Anyway!” Jimmy broke the atmosphere of mistrust. “We have a proposal for you.”

  Kitty’s icy gaze shifted to Jimmy. “Funny. I could have sworn you came to beg for my help.”

  Kurt spoke up, an unassuming expression on his face. “Both, really.”

  Kitty waved a dismissive hand. “Spit it out, guys, we’ve got a raid in an hour.”

  Gadot raised her hands, effectively silencing Kurt and Jimmy. “We need your help to stop GoonStorm, which we feel would also be in your best interests.”

  “The one point five billion they’re offering for my turf would be in my best interests, too. I’m sure you understand.” Kitty blinked innocently, offering a demure smile.

  “Really, Kitty? Pretty sure that’s not how you operate.” Jimmy returned her stare until she stuck out her tongue at him. “This crew is based on merit and equality. We’re not vicious marauders, we’re plucky rogues, and we earn every coin we make. You expect us to believe —you expect me to believe — you’d ever take a bribe like that and betray everyone under you?” His eyes never left hers, and there was nothing but steel in his expression.

  “Yeah, alright. Just trying to make you squirm a little. I always forget you don’t rattle easy.” The NPC returned with an opaque ceramic jug. Kitty pointed at Kurt with an unimpressed look on her face. “GoonStorm won’t get our turf without a fight, but I’ve been leading them on a little. Keeps the peace on the borders, for the most part.” She kicked her booted feet up onto the table before her, crossing her legs and leaning back comfortably. “Unless some idiots go tearing through their raids, getting them all bristly and doing drive-bys at shadows, of course.” Kitty flicked her hand at them for that last part, unimpressed by their recent antics.

  Kurt happily accepted his jug from the NPC, grinning like an idiot when the wooden cork made a hollow popping noise as he yanked it out. He took a big slug of the liquid inside and immediately began choking, spluttering as he bent double and disappeared from view below the table. “Oh man, that’s horrible. What the hell is that stuff?” he asked.

  “Rum.” Kitty graced him with another of her patient smiles. “Classic original recipe. That’s what rum tasted like a thousand years ago. It’s a retrieved piece of history. A miracle that you can hold, touch, and taste. The plants to make the spices are extinct, the only known seeds in a vault under Svalbard.” Her expression became severe, her disappointment clear. “And you choke on it. Call it . . . horrible.”

  “Yeah, it’s gross.” Kurt smiled at her, setting down the jug. “Thanks, though, it was cool to try it.”

  “Right.” Kitty sat up again, leaning forward on the table and tossing her crown across it. “What the hell were we talking about?” She snapped her fingers. “Ah! GoonStorm. Yeah, you guys really riled them up. Kicked the proverbial hornets’ nest there. War is all but certain.”

  Gadot shot Kurt an annoyed glance before continuing. “Is it a war you can win?”

  “Of course. Not against both them and Ursa, mind. But one or the other shouldn’t be a problem.” She winked. “Something tells me you have those cranky Russians all lined up. Interesting events in the theme park today. Apparently, a three-man squad of GoonStorm officers gave Ursa a hell of a hard time. A stealth specialist, a walking tank, and some kind of sniper who drives like a demon.” Kitty raised an eyebrow. “Sound like anybody you know?”

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  Gadot flushed slightly, shifting the repeating rifle at her back. “I can’t just sit back and let GoonStorm take the city.”

  Kitty nodded, propping her head in her hand, elbow planted on the table. “Yeah, I can see that. And you’ve somehow seduced my JimJam into your little crusade. Best PVP officer I ever had.” She turned to her gathered officers. “No offense, guys. You’re good, but Jimmy here . . . he’s something else entirely.”

  Jimmy lowered his head, eyes on the table in front of him. “Shut up, Kitty.” He shook his head, embarrassment hot on his cheeks.

  “You say that, but do you really think it’s likely to happen?” She grinned at him, her predatory smile returned. “Anyway. No, I’m not taking the buyout.”

  “Then . . .” Gadot looked hopeful.

  Kitty rolled her eyes. “Also no. I’m not picking a fight with them. If they come calling, we’ll throw ‘em a party. But I’m not going to war if it’s not in my crew’s best interests.” She shrugged with her hands. “Basic stuff, really.”

  Gadot shook her head, frustrated once more. “They won’t split their forces. If you turn them down, they’ll come for you sooner or later. The only way to beat them is if you and Ursa team up. Why can’t you see that?”

  Fixing her with an icy glare, Kitty rolled her shoulders. “Maybe I can see it. Maybe I just don’t like you. You storm into our city from the competitive side and summarily decide what policy is best for us all?” She nodded at Gadot’s surprised expression. “Oh yes, I know who you are, Getaway. Tell me again why I should risk everything my crew has built on this little crusade of yours?”

  “That’s not fair, Kitty.” Kurt spoke up finally. “Just because we’re small, we don’t count? Your crew is the only one with anything to risk? Look how much we’ve done already.” He narrowed his eyes and cocked his head. “You should know better than most what a small crew can accomplish, if properly motivated.”

  Kitty fixed Kurt with one of her looks. After a long moment she nodded. “I like you better when you’re not pretending to be stupid with me Kurtis.” She fixed him with an unusually serious gaze. “You’re not wrong. And I do remember the good old days. We kicked a lot of ass together.” She stared at them, a small smile on her lips. “Tell you what, I’ll help.”

  Jimmy sighed. “If?”

  Her smile widened as she shook her head. “No ‘if’. I’ll help this city, this server, all I can, because you’re right. Our interests align.”

  His eyes narrowing, Jimmy looked between Kitty and Gadot. “But?”

  “Yes, but. It’s not an ‘if’, it’s a ‘but’. I like buts.” Kitty looked around at her gathered officers. “We have a resource issue. That’s why GoonStorm thinks they can buy us out in the first place. It’s also why we’re hitting one of the biggest raids in the game tonight. We need the income to repair and resupply our fleet.”

  Gadot shifted in her seat, interested. “Which raid?”

  “The Ocean’s Delight.”

  Jimmy also perked up, happy to talk shop. “The cruise ship? That’s a great spot, plenty of different raids to hit. Which one are we talking about?”

  “Uh, yeah. All of them.” Kitty’s eyebrows raised. “Like I said, we’ve got financial issues. GoonStorm didn’t start off by asking nicely for our turf. They’ve been encroaching on us for almost a year already. Rouge?”

  A woman in her thirties stepped forward from her place at the door. She wore a sleeveless hooded sweatshirt, lowering the hood as she approached the table. Her hair was jet black, in a braid tucked down inside the sweatshirt, with various feathers and ribbons woven into it. She wore burgundy face paint in streaks underneath her eyes and tapped at the air above her wrist before holding her arm out to Jimmy, Kurt, and Gadot. “These maps represent our turf at the start of last year, and the progress of each major change. The latest is from a week ago, just before the official buyout offer was made.”

  The file she shared was a slideshow of frames from the city map. Each was dated and showed a slow but steady progression of loss for the Pirates. Their turf spread from the ocean onto the mainland but stopped at a solid blue wall labeled for the Goons about midway into the Downtown Cluster from the south. As the slideshow progressed, it showed the strident progress that GoonStorm had made, pushing them out of the city proper. They were reduced to the ocean itself, a handful of small islands, a few miles of docks and warehouses to the south, and a peninsula to the north.

  “We’ve lost about forty percent of our fronts and most of our land-based raids already. The CEO of GoonStorm is no fool. He knew he could never beat us outright, so he started hitting us around the edges and wearing us down.” Kitty shook her head, lips pursed. “A war of attrition, and it’s working. We have the ships and people to rain down hell on his troops, and I dumped my personal fortune into a special addition to our fleet to counter their artillery, but we can’t afford a war. As in, literally, our war chest has no money for ammo.”

  Gadot frowned at the pictures on her wrist. “How can we help?”

  “So glad you asked!” Kitty became chipper. “Allow me to introduce you to our officer core.” She stood, draping an arm around the woman who had shared the turf pictures. “This is RougeWorrier, my raid lead.”

  Rouge gave them a sharp nod as Kitty moved around the table to the friendly man with the rose-colored glasses. “This is Nels, goes by FingerNels. I can’t figure out if that’s some kind of metaphor or just a request.” She gave him a playful shove and ignored his ear to ear grin, moving on to her next target, the man with the shotgun and red bandanna. “BoneCrusher everybody! Our resident heavy weapons guy and all around grouchy person. I’m pretty sure his game-name is because he has a crush on every bone, but he says otherwise.” She paused, leaning forward as if sharing a secret. “His real name is, by a wonderful cosmic alignment, Wesley. I personally enjoy the old references to Star Trek, but everybody else just calls him Boner.”

  “Please don’t call me Boner.” He sighed and looked hopefully at the newcomers. “I’d be happy with just Bones.”

  “Shut up, Wesley!” Kitty happily shouted as she moved on. “First rule of nicknames is you don’t get to pick your own, everybody knows that.” She poked her marksman in the shoulder, causing him to raise his wide brimmed hat and look around. “Speaking of terrible names, this is Godless. He does our long-range work, and occasionally annoys me.”

  Touching his hat at them in a salute, he leaned back in his chair, tipping its legs off the floor. “Call me God.”

  Kitty giggled and gave his chair a light push backwards, spilling him with a curse onto the floor. “Whatever you say, Les!” She moved around to the door and poked her head out. “Anybody seen Jerome?” After getting nothing but shrugs, she shook her head and closed the door again. “Whatever, he’ll be around. He . . . yeah, he blows stuff up. You guys know him. Anyway, this is our core group. We all have the pleasure of working together tonight!” She waggled a finger at the group. “That means not shooting each other, by the way . . . for now.”

  Letting out a feigned huff, Kitty walked around the table to Kurt. She kneaded his shoulders, leaning in and ignoring the uncomfortable way he curled in on himself. “I have officers leading groups for the other major raids available on the Delight — the casino, the promenade, the ship’s vault, the armory, even the cabins.” She let go of Kurt, to his great relief, and continued her walk around the table. “Every cabin has a safe, all with random goodies. I’ve got crews running every angle. We’ll squeeze the ship for all she’s worth.” She paused in thought, looking up to the ceiling. “Probably sink her again, too, but oh well!”

  Rouge fiddled with her wrist again, putting it out into the middle of the table for the others to tap. “This is our objective.” The file she sent opened a standard raid prep list, with information typed onto photographs and short memo-style files. Maps of the cruise ship’s VIP area, photos of armed guards with close ups of their weapons and armor, and a single photo with a red circle around a man in a suit. “Fluff says he has a bomb on board and the cruise ship is in grave danger, blah blah blah. It’s a simple ‘dude in suit has a shiny’ op, and we’re gonna rob ‘em.”

  Kurt sat up straight, alarmed. “Woah, a bomb? What happens if he sets it off?”

  “Imagine it blows us all up and we fail the raid.” Rouge shrugged as she spoke, clearly not concerned. “It’s all just fluff and storyline, a Pirates crew thing. You don’t have to worry about it. It’s a cover from the game for yet another fetch quest. Once you’ve done a thousand of ‘em, you start to see through the veneer.”

  The sound of a helicopter landing on the deck outside cut through the music, and Kitty perked up and moved to the door. “Time to boogie, people! Rouge, take Kurt with you. Something tells me he’s a sneak, he’ll be useful for your prep.” She stared at Kurt, a small but knowing smile in place.