“Boss man,” the voice buzzed in his ear. “You’ve gotta stop falling asleep in here dude.”

Aaron bolted upright and opened his eyes. Oh, he still had his visor on. He looked around for Aiko and didn’t see her.

“What? Where are you?”

“In my rocket ship in Celestia City, where are you? I stopped by the castle, you weren’t there.”

“Then how did you know I was asleep?” he said.

“Lucky guess. Dude, teleport me over to where you are, I can’t stand this voice chat, it’s like being on the phone or something.”

“Yeah well the phone was a pretty impressive invention you know, kind of changed the world and stuff.”

“Whatever, teleport please.”

He thought for a minute, looked around the bedroom Katie had decorated and decided that even though Aiko was a dear friend, he didn’t feel like sharing this.

“No, I’m logging out,” he said. “I’ll see you at the office.”

“Can’t wait,” she said, and Aaron could hear her chewing on something. “I’m home, I’ll just come up to the penthouse.”

“Right, bring some of whatever you’re eating please. I’m starving.”

Aiko arrived with two bagels (one half eaten) and an enormous paper cup of black coffee. She grabbed the One Eyed Turtle mug that was sitting on the counter, dumped in half her coffee, and handed it, and the half eaten bagel, to Aaron.

Aaron frowned, traded the half eaten bagel for the untouched one and took a big bite.

“Worth a shot,” she said, shrugging. “I get kind of greedy when it comes to bagels.”

“You get kind of greedy when it comes to all food,” said Aaron. “So let’s sit down and…” he trailed off when he realized he was heading into an empty living room. His brain must still be sleep addled. For a moment he’d really thought there was a green sectional in there.

“Okay.” Aiko hopped up on the kitchen counter and swung her feet as she drank coffee. “So listen,” she said. “What’s that word, the one that writers use for the end of stuff?”

“What?”

“You know!” Aiko waved a hand in the air. “Like for the end of a play or–”

“Oh…finis?”

“No like the final part of something, when everything comes full circle and it’s all tied up in a neat little bow. The last–”

“Denouement?” asked Aaron, raising an eyebrow. What the hell was she going on about?

“That’s it!” Aiko pointed at him. “Deh-noo-mah. That’s the word. Right. Okay, so I’ve got my denouement, or our denouement rather.”

“Aik,” he said, rubbing his forehead with frustration. “What are you talking about? I thought this was important.”

“It is.” Aiko took a bite of bagel and nodded. “I’ve got our hacker.”

Aaron stared at her.

“The hacker. You know, from when we first met? Jack thought Calvert Consulting was being hacked, but we traced it back to his nightclub Glow, and really it wasn’t about Glow at all, they were trying to hack Lux, but really it wasn’t about Lux either, they were trying to get to you because…” She waved both hands at him frantically as if the movement would jumpstart his memory.

“Yeah, right,’ said Aaron. “At the time you said it was–”

“A ham-handed attempt by newbie hackers on a fishing expedition hoping they stumbled onto something good.” Aiko finished for him. “Yep. How could you forget that?”

“I didn’t forget.” Aaron shrugged. “I just thought that was all over. They didn’t get anything, we patched our security hole. Done.”

“Oh my sweet naive little angel.” Aiko shook her head at him. “It was never over, not until I caught the bastards.”

“Okay, so you’re saying you caught the bastard.”

“Yep.” Aiko nodded smugly. “I did. Because, those ham-handed newbs struck again. Last night.”

“You’ve got to be mistaken.” Aaron cursed under his breath. “No way, we’ve got the tightest security in place–”

“Nope, they got around it, sneaky fuckers.”

“How?”

“Just listen to me, I’m trying to tell you, but just let me get it all out, before you fly off the handle.”

“Fly off the handle?” He grimaced. “My company has been hacked…Aik you are trying my patience here–”

“Last night, Katie’s laptop glitched out while she was in HL. She thought it was just Rupert’s big ass sitting on the keyboard, so whatever, she went to bed.”

“Okay…”

“I on the other hand, was not sleeping last night, for…reasons. So I was up, watching the code.”

“You’re so weird.”

“I find it soothing, and stop interrupting.”

“Fine.”

“So anyhow, I saw the glitch when it happened and something just–”

“You saw the glitch on a single user account exactly when it happened?” Aaron looked at her skeptically. “I don’t believe that for a second.”

“Okay I was watching the code for you and Katie, hoping I’d catch you guys making up. But you’re both dumbasses, and that didn’t happen. There. Happy now? Can I continue?”

Aaron pursed his lips and nodded.

“So I saw the glitch. It was an attempt to hack her avatar’s user information. Everything. Passwords, credit cards, archived files.”

“Archived files?” said Aaron. “Did they get anything?”

“Nope. Because I quarantined her profile. What she thought was the glitch was actually me taking over her account and beating back the hack.”

“What about our automated security, why didn’t it see the attack?”

Aiko grinned. “Get this,” she said. “Because the attack was happening from her own computer.”

Aaron stared at her.

“Okay see, I saw the activity on her account and it was all too organized, too fast to have been coming from a human user. But to our security it looked organic. We don’t have anything set up to monitor user activity like that, we assume people doing shit to their own accounts are doing it on purpose.”

“Right, I know.” said Aaron. “But we’ll look for it now. First thing when I get in we’ll have the security team create a new protocol for this.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” said Aiko. “But in this case, Katie’s laptop was directly compromised. She was targeted. Personally.”

“Why?” said Aaron. “Because of me?”

Everything Katie had been through, having her photo splashed all over the tabloids and TV, called a slut, a cheater, having Celestia disparaged and her named dragged through the mud, it was just one more thing. Now someone had broken into her home and….Shit.

“Is she okay?” he asked. “Aiko, how did they get to her laptop? Did someone break in? Is she safe?”

“She’s safe. Malcolm and Jack are on top of it. I left Katie’s house this morning. She gave us her laptop and we ran diagnostics on the rig-bay. Luckily, the asshole didn’t realize it was even there. What a total fuckwit. He’s playing around with spyware on a USB stick while she’s upchucking in the bathroom, meanwhile there’s thousands of dollars in state-of-the-art VR tech hiding in the guest bedroom.”

“What?”

“Katie’s ex-boyfriend,” said Aiko. “Steven Mayer, CEO of Galaxus Games is our villain my friend. How’s that for a surprise ending?”

“I don’t understand.” Confusion and anger churned dangerously in his gut. He was feeling very much like he wanted to punch something. “Steven Mayer planned all this somehow? From the beginning?”

“Ha!” Aiko took a few long seconds to laugh dramatically and clutch at her stomach. “Ha! No. No. No. The guy is not that smart. He just got lucky with the Katie/HyperLyfe connection. It was whack-a-mole. He’s been running hacks on a lot of companies, trying to see what might pan out.”

“Why?”

“Bank records show he’s been running Galaxus into the ground and also probably stealing from it and trying to launder some cash on the side. Galaxus went to shit after Katie left. They have no product anymore, so instead of make something new, something good, he’s been trying to steal product from someone else. Katie said he recognized her design style when he saw Celestia on the live streams. We talked to the creeper photographer in Lux and the paparazzo guy, and they both gave up Mayer. Said Mayer was trying to find out what else Katie was working on. She figures he either wanted to steal it or try to hire her back. But once Mayer got the idea that you and Katie were an item–”

“Mayer thought he could use her to get something from me somehow.”

“Yup.’

“So he went to her apartment.”

“Yup.” Aiko nodded. “And snuck some spyware on her computer when she wasn’t looking.”

“And you and Jack and Malcolm just figured this all out…how?”

“No more questions Eldridge.” Aiko sighed. “Do not make me lie to you, it’s boring.”

“Right.”

“All you need to know is that Aiko’s magic has once again, saved the day. Steven Mayer is our guy.”

* * *

“I never liked that boy,” signed Barb. “He’s rude, and his eyes are too close together.”

Katie laughed as she dragged her Mother’s suitcase to the door.

“I know mom,” she signed. “You used to say it all the time, to his face.”

“Well, a nice boy would learn sign language if his girlfriend’s mother is deaf.” Barb nodded smugly. “Then he would have known I was talking shit to his face.”

Katie nodded along in agreement, stepped forward, and pulled her Mother into a tight hug. After a moment, Barb pulled back and cupped her daughter’s face in her hands, kissing her on both cheeks.

“You sure you want to leave so late?” Katie signed. “You can stay another night.”

“No,” Barb signed. “I need to water the plants. And it’s not that late. I’ll get back before ten.”

Katie frowned and Barb patted her cheek. “I’ll call when I get there,” she signed. “And remember, I’m coming back up in June.”

“Okay,” signed Katie. “And I’ll come up for Christmas.”

“I want a rig-bay,” signed Barb. “I know it won’t fit under the Christmas tree, but I think I have enough room in your old bedroom if I throw out all your stuff.”

“Hey!” Katie signed. “That’s just mean.”

Barb grinned, then pulled Katie in for another hug.

“Okay,” she signed. “Time to get on the road. Don’t forget–June. Make us an appointment at Lux.” She winked. “I think I’m ready for a boyfriend.”

“Oh my god, Mom! Seriously!”

Katie waved her Mom goodbye, and closed the door behind her. Rupert wove in and out of her feet as she walked to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water.

Popping open her bottle of vitamins she took two, then did a mental systems check. Physically? She felt great. The flu was all gone, chased off by Barb’s doting care. Emotionally? She spent a little extra time on that check, carefully inventorying everything she was feeling.

Leaving the water on the counter, she went into her bedroom and took stock of her appearance in the full-length mirror behind the door.

When Aiko had shown up at her apartment that morning with the news that Steven had hacked her computer she was stunned. For about ten seconds. Then in one rumbling demolition, years of anger, humiliation and angst came crashing down.

She was so done with him, and every negative thing that she’d allowed him to do to her self-esteem.

Who cared what one pathetic ex-boyfriend thought of her?

* * *

As soon as all the facts were in, Aaron gave the go ahead to leak Steven Mayer’s criminal exploits to the press. The Gaming Channel and Game Hour in particular owed him a favor, and he called it in. But he made them promise to run the story straight. The facts were bad enough, there was no need to pad the story with seedy details about Katie’s past relationship with Mayer, or whatever they suspected her current relationship was with Aaron.

Mayer turned out to be a tool. Before the special report was over, it was breaking news on every network, and Mayer had tried to flee the country with millions of investors’ dollars in cash in a carry-on suitcase in a borrowed jet.

The Feds met him in Boston. They had a list of things they wanted to talk to him about. Aiko had been right, Eldridge Innovations hadn’t been the only company he’d been trying to hack.

Aaron had the PR team announce he was taking twenty-four hours off from his VR streaming commitment. They spun it like he was needed for questioning.

Really, he just wanted to see Katie.

She still hadn’t sent him any messages. No texts, emails, phone calls, or in-world alerts, but his mother had always taught him to say thank you for a gift. So, after he finished talking to the Feds, he took his car across town to Katie’s building.

The way he figured it, when somebody made you a gift as thoughtful as a 3D interactive replica of your home, furnished with custom decor and a bitchin’ hot tub, you should probably thank them in person. With roses. And maybe some chocolates and a bottle of Prosecco.

The plan was to show up, hand over the gifts, say thank you, and just see what happened.

Aaron stood in the elevator of Katie’s apartment building and stared at himself in the polished metal walls. He needed a haircut, and the cold Prosecco bottle was condensing all over his suit. What should he say?

“Hi,” he mouthed at himself. “I’ve missed you.”

No, too much pressure.

“Thanks for the gift, here’s some junk food–”

The elevator stopped, the doors opened, and Aaron was face to face with a short dimpled woman that clearly shared a large portion of her genetic material with Katie Martinez.

This had to be her Mom.

From the height of the woman’s eyebrows he guessed she knew exactly who he was too.

“Shit.”