“You know, if you want me to take another look at your shoulder, I’m happy to—”
“No, thanks. I’m good. Enjoy your Sunday.” She slipped out the door and headed quickly down the hall. That guy gets nosier every time I see him. And I have more work to do.
She wished she could have at least told Ember she was finally about to bash in the front door of the orc scumbag who shot her, but the look on her friend’s face when Cheyenne gave her the news afterward would be just as satisfying.
Chapter Six
Glen finished booting up in Cheyenne’s tiny living room just as the microwave beeped. She went to grab the steaming tray of now-unfrozen enchiladas from the convenience store down the street. The silverware drawer was empty, all the forks either in the sink or tossed haphazardly in the dishwasher. She pulled open the junk drawer in the kitchen, rummaged around, and snatched a plastic fork wrapped in more plastic with salt and pepper packets. No downside to takeout.
She brought it all back to her computer setup, dropped into her chair, and set the enchiladas down to cool off just a little. Getting her VPN and the torrent fired up to hop onto the dark web took her no time at all, and then she was right back in the Borderlands forum to search for a few more things before her long-awaited reunion with Durg. This time, I’m going in prepared.
She skimmed through the newest topics, looking for anything about the area of Jackson Ward just on the other side of the skatepark. One of the topics titled, Bombs Underground Gets Freaky on East Clay caught her eye, only because that street was just blocks from the skatepark. But apparently, Bombs Underground was actually a heavy-metal band with all magical members that was set to play at some tiny little venue a block down from Gnarly’s Pub. She wrinkled her nose and went ahead with leaving a comment, just to see what might stick.
Shyhand71:Sounds like fun. Hey, has anybody put together a magicals-only list of where people are? You know, like for networking or something?
The minute she posted it, she let out a grunt of disgust. I sound like such a noob.
The other users on the Borderlands forum were just as quick to jump to the same conclusion.
holdmyGrog911: @Shyhand71 You trying to get us all together in one spot so we can hold hands and make a big-ass target for the F-force? Looks like somebody’s trip Earthside fried all their brain cells.
2Magic2Quit: @Shyhand71 I call narc right here.
Fists4Daze: @Shyhand71 We went through the Reservations, dumbass. Why would we want more eyes on us when they already have us in the goddamn system? What the hell’s wrong with you?
CrownUndone21: Okay, everybody throwing their insecurities at a new commenter (and I’m pretty sure @Shyhand71’s new around here) needs to back the hell up and calm down. It was an innocent question. I’m pretty sure there are running lists somewhere. Maybe not by area where people live now, but I think I saw something maybe a year ago that had groups by trade, either back home or Earthside. Can’t remember. @Shyhand71, I’ll take a look around and hit you up here if I find anything.
CantCuffThis: I second everything @CrownUndone21 just said to all the haters. By the Crown, y’all hopped on this comment quickly. I thought we came Earthside to avoid the bloodshed, not to sit behind computer screens and try to draw more of it. @Shyhand71’s right to ask, especially if they’re new. Not everyone who made the crossing logs onto the fucking dark web to come watch you assholes make a circus of the Borderlands. Lay off.
Fists4Daze: @CrownUndone21 @CantCuffThis You trying to be peacekeepers now? I sure as shit could’ve used some backup two months ago when my shop got raided. Oh, yeah. That’s right. Everyone’s a damn hero when all they have to do is sit down at a keyboard and play around.
“Woah.” Cheyenne lifted her hands from her keyboard and watched the comments roll in one right after the other. “Hit a sore spot, huh?”
With a shrug, she leaned back over the keys and left one more comment. Otherwise, she really would look like just another troll trying to stir up shit where it wasn’t needed.
Shyhand71: @CrownUndone21 @CantCuffThis Thanks. I’ll keep looking. Feel free to DM me if you find something that might help. We can leave the peanut gallery out of it.
CantCuffThis: @Shyhand71 Yeah, just ignore those guys. They’re probably still shaking off the smell of whatever rez they just got themselves booted out of. You brought up a good point. It’s good to keep an eye open for ways we can help each other.
Nodding, Cheyenne clicked out of that particular topic thread, not wanting to waste her time reading through whatever other angry comments anyone else left her. She ran a search on the forum for anything about Jackson Ward, but before she could sort through the results, a private chat box popped up in the top corner of her monitor.
She’d expected something else from gu@rdi@n104, who she now knew was the Nightstalker Corian, mainly because the guy always seemed to be on the Borderlands forum when she was and generally hit her with a message. But this new chat box had come directly from the user handle CrownDown4What.
“Who the heck is that?” The halfling hadn’t seen the handle before on any of the open topics or in comment threads, though of course, she hadn’t been through all of them. The message, though, was even more confusing.
CrownDown4What: Just saw your comment about lists of people in certain areas. I might be able to help if you tell me why you’re looking.
“Huh.” Cheyenne cocked her head, frowned, then scooted a little closer to
