“How did you do that?” Mia asked, still holding her chest.

  It looked like the combination of her healing gift and her echo’s natural healing ability fixed the worst of her wounds.

  “Do what?” Gideon asked, walking over to offer a hand to Red and help him up.

  “How did you see that thing?” she said, moving over to Book and inspecting the savage injury across his arm and shoulder.

  Gideon shrugged. “Dunno. I didn’t really see it though; it was more like I could just feel something. Like when someone moves past you, and you feel the air go by.”

  “Stealth Sense,” a muffled voice called out from somewhere nearby.

  Grimacing in pain, Book pulled the turtle out from beneath his arm and Bullseye continued.

  “You’re a rogue so it looks like your Stealth Sense ability has kicked in. That means you’ll be able to pick up other rogues and assassins more easily than other classes.”

  Gideon pulled up the announcements on his HUD and hit the broadcast button, displaying them for the rest of the group to see. Red stood nearby, arms crossed as he squinted at the display.

  Stealth Sense + 1

  Bladed Weaponry +1

  Endurance +1

  Tactical Insight +1

  Loot Rarity +1

  “Stealth Sense,” Gideon said. “Yeah I notice that earlier but didn’t get time to check it out.”

  Red pointed at the display.

  “What’s this Loot Rarity business?”

  “Means I’m more likely to pick up rarer loot items,” Gideon said, frowning at the other man. “Have you ever played a game before?”

  Red shrugged. “Lots of games, but I prefer real world shit like sports instead of playing make-believe online with greasy dudes in their underwear.”

  Gideon shook his head, switching off the display as an orb of smokey purple light appeared above the dead Stalker. He motioned at the orb.

  “Anyone else seeing that?”

  They turned to look where he was pointing, shaking their heads once by one.

  “I can see it,” Bullseye said. “But that’s because you and I are connected via the Artemis System. The others won’t be able to see or harvest ether until their faulty AIs are fixed.”

  Gideon stepped closer and the orb zipped toward him quickly as another announcement appeared on his HUD.

  ITEMS LOOTED

  Ether +10

  Stalker Talon +2

  Shadow Veil Skill Stone (Class Item) +1

  He explained the items, offering one of the Stalker talons to the other two. Red refused, but Mia accepted gratefully.

  “Not sure if I can use it yet, but when we start crafting this could come in handy.”

  Red pulled his sword out of the floor and dropped it into his inventory. “You get anything else?”

  “Just this,” Gideon said, holding up a small orb the side of a large marble. It was purple in color and a faint mist seemed to rise from the object. The orb was cold to the touch, but while he was holding it, Gideon felt that same strange tingling in the back of his head.

  “It’s a skill stone,” Bullseye said. “You just need to—”

  “I know what to do with it, thanks Bullseye,” Gideon said with a smile. He crushed the object with his hand, and it turned to mist. The moment that happened, a new ability icon appeared on his HUD as details appeared explaining its various capabilities.

  Gideon read the details, grinning as he read.

  ** NEW ABILITY **

  ** SHADOW VEIL **

  A temporary stealth ability that can be enhanced by utilizing ether stores. The user fades from direct sight, blending into the environment.

  Movement speed is reduced by 30% while in stealth.

  Any direct attacks, actions, or damage taken break the effect.

  Base Timeframe: 10 seconds

  Cooldown: 30 seconds

  ** Ether-Enhanced Effect **

  Ether infusion distorts light and sound, making the user even harder to detect.

  Movement speed reduction is only 10%, allowing for faster repositioning.

  Attacking from stealth grants +50% bonus damage and +20% increased crit chance.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  If Ether is channeled continuously, the stealth duration can be extended or even maintained in combat, but it drains Ether rapidly.

  “Holy shit dude!” Red blurted. “That’s wicked!”

  “It’s amazing,” Mia agreed. “And it really makes me want to talk to this Maddox woman. We need to get hooked up to the Artemis System asap!”

  Standing beside her and rubbing his newly healed arm, Book pointed toward the direction they were heading in before the interruption.

  “Monohan first, and then I promise I’ll take you straight to Chief Technician Maddox.”

  They started walking once more while Gideon rearranged his hotbar in a way that would be more efficient when it actually came to fighting. He’d waited for this day for so long and planned in his head exactly how this would go, but the truth was he’d always planned on starting with ranged weaponry and building out bow skills as his primary means of attack.

  Daggers were fine, he supposed, but you had to get close to use them and that meant stacking agility as high as possible so that you were harder to hit. It also meant, if you were hit, you tended to take big damage and that meant spending ether on repairing armor, healing, and buffing yourself so that next time you didn’t end up in the same kind of situation.

  Whichever way you cut it; ranged rogues were the kings of The Great Hunt. But this wasn’t Artemis and maxing out a bow on the moon, or earth might not be as beneficial as it was on that distant planet. This was an invasion, after all, not a series of hunts undertaken for entertainment.

  “So,” Mia said, walking up next to him, “you gonna try it?”

  He looked over at her, confused.

  “You’re new stealth spell,” she said. “You should try it out a bunch of times until you get used to it.”

  Gideon nodded. “Oh, yeah, that’s what I was planning on doing. Just rearranging my abilities so they make more sense in a fight.” He locked in his ability icons as they continued. “It’s weird but being here and actually seeing through a HUD is so different to what it’s like playing a simulator or watching the feeds.”

  “Yeah, I hear you,” she said. “I was worried the abilities would be tricky to use because you have to mentally trigger them instead of clicking a controller or a mouse. But they’re super responsive. Sometimes it feels like this body knows what you want it to do before you even think of anything.”

  Gideon smiled, making a concerted effort to look away from her as she said the words this body. Her t-shirt was badly ripped from the wound she’d received from the Stalker and although Mia didn’t seem to mind, he was feeling a little self-conscious about getting caught looking.

  It was hard enough not to stare when she wasn’t wearing a shredded t-shirt. The fact was, Mia was stunning. Worse, she was just his type. Athletic, blond with green eyes, smart as a whip.

  It made sense that she was beautiful. All of the echoes were. They were built to be aesthetically pleasing just as much as they were designed to be superior fighters. It was a weird sensation, meeting each other like this. She had no idea what he really looked like in reality and vice versa.

  They could literally be anyone, and they wouldn’t know. She could be a dude or an eighty-year-old woman. Neither seemed likely considering the way she acted, but he couldn’t know for sure and—

  “Gid?” she said.

  He blinked, realizing that his mind was wandering.

  “Sorry, just got caught up in something in my head. Yeah, I’ll try it now. Ready?”

  She nodded.

  Gideon ran ahead of the group a little way and activated the Shadow Veil ability. The change was immediate. He felt his movements slow a little and his view of the corridor changed, shifting to a crystal-clear greyscale which seemed somehow more vivid than his ordinary vision.

  He could still see Mia, Red, and Book walking towards him, but their bodies were surrounded by a subtle purple color and several locations were highlighted with a bright red light. The neck, groin, and eyes of each were highlighted as critical areas to attack and Gideon knew instinctively that his Shadow Step ability would pair perfectly with this stealth, allowing him to pinpoint an enemy’s weak spot and attack with lethal precision and speed.

  “That’s incredible,” Mia said. “I can’t see anything.”

  Red chuckled. “Reckon if I started swing my sword around I’d still hit ya though.”

  Gideon triggered the stealth ability again and appeared directly ahead of them.

  “Any significant physical contact and I drop out of stealth. But you’d have to find me first.”

  Red pulled his sword out of his inventory, grinning. “Okay, let’s give it a go then. You go invisible again and I’ll start swinging. Nothing too dangerous, but let’s see how long you last before I snag you. Fifty bucks to the winner.”

  “First, I don’t have any money. Second, this thing’s on a cooldown so we’re gonna have to wait for a bit.”

  A static sound cut thought the conversation and they all turned to see Book pull a walkie talkie out of his pocket.

  Book?! Where the fuck are you?!

  He looked visibly shaken as he answered.

  “I’ve picked up the echoes and we’re heading to your office now, Commander.”

  You picked them up ten minutes ago? What the fuck is the holdup?

  “We…ah…encountered a Stalker. Different to the others we’ve seen so far. This one had a stealth ability. It attacked—”

  Is it dead?

  “Yes, Commander. The echoes—”

  Good! Then quit playing with your pud and get them here asap. The Collective have launched another assault on the primary generator, and we’ve got about an hour before we’re well and truly fucked!

  “Right away, Commander.”

  Book stood for a few moments, holding the walkie talkie and practically cringing as though he expected another irate exchange. After a few seconds passed in silence he slipped the walkie talkie back into his pants and motioned towards the end of the hallway.

  “Come on. We’d better get moving.”

  “I take it that was Commander Monohan?” Mia asked.

  “Yes. She’s…very good at her job, but she can be a little abrasive.”

  “A little?” Gideon said, grinning. “She sounds like she could strip paint of a wall just by screaming at it.”

  Book chuckled and then quickly caught himself.

  “She really is a great commander. Just a bit rough, that’s all. She doesn’t like to beat around the bush and she’d rather you talk to her straight than try to sugar coat anything.” He shook his head. “She’s very different to our last commander, so the adjustment has been a little rough.”

  “I like her,” Red offered. “She sounds like she’s got balls.”

  They moved quickly through the hallway and out into a large chamber with several pods arranged on a raised section of flooring at the center of the circular space. The ceiling above was a large dome made from see-through hexagonal tiles and there were metal struts running along the interior of the building.

  Each of the pods had a series of computer monitors and technical devices arranged in a semicircle. Soldiers in fatigues were seated in the pods, analyzing data, listening intently on headphones and relaying information noisily to one another. It reminded Gideon a little of old footage he’d seen of the stock market back in the day with brokers yelling at one another and waving pieces of paper.

  “Through here,” Book said, walking as fast as his short legs would take him toward an office positioned a little higher than the raised section with the pods.

  While he was starting to get used to his new body, Gideon still found it amusing that Book was practically running while Gideon and his companions walked at a comparatively leisurely pace but managed to keep pace. They were all much taller than Book of course, but looking around the room, Gideon realized that he was taller than everyone in the building.

  The communications officer led them up a set of metal stairs and knocked on an opaque glass door outside of the office. The title Commander Monohan was written on its surface, but the last name had been hastily scribbled on a piece of paper and then stuck to the door.

  Book knocked. “Commander, it’s Book.”

  “Stop knocking and get your ass in here!” came a shout from inside the office.

  Book opened the door and motioned for the others to follow as he stepped inside. Gideon was the last to enter, still holding Bullseye in one hand as he stepped into an office dominated by a large desk, a sofa, several chairs, and a towering figure standing behind the desk.

  Moynahan was tall, almost as tall as Gideon. With broad shoulders and stern features, she looked like a woman who was accustomed to grueling exercise. Her hair was brown, but graying, cut short with military precision, and clumping together at the end with clear evidence of sweat. Either she’d just finished doing some pushups or Commander Moynahan had worked up a sweat through a mixture of sweat and constant movement.

  She scowled at the group as the entered her office, looking at each of them in turn, her gaze finally landing on Gideon.

  “This is it then, huh? Three of you.”

  Her eyes looked down at Bullseye.

  “And a God damn turtle.”