Chapter 6:

"Ah, Sinon. Apologies for being so late. There was some business to deal with regarding my squad. The cost of being a leader. You understand," Ikuchi's voice was smooth and soft. Like silk. Or slime. I already didn't trust him.

Sinon looked at him askance and set her glass down, "I have your keycard."

"So you've told me. Though you've yet to tell me who your friend is," Ikuchi settled his eyes on me. So did his two pals and Sinon. I wasn't expecting to be the star of the show all of the sudden.

"Just a VIP. Enjoying all the luxuries you provided for us," I leaned back into the sofa, feeling the grip of my revolver press against my back. I placed the stem of the glass between my fingers and rocked it gently.

"Think nothing of it. What kind of man would I be if I didn't reward the people who serve me well?" Ikuchi sat down on one of the leather stools across from us. Serve. I couldn't help but wonder if he meant to say that.

His two friends broke off and took a spot next to us. One beside Sinon. The other beside me. Sinon shifted in her spot, putting a hand in her pocket with casual disinterest.

Meanwhile, I arced a brow and glanced at my new buddy to my right, "The same kind of man that brings a dozen of his guys for what's supposed to be a quick exchange? You might end up scaring some of the other patrons, you know?"

If Ikuchi was fazed, he didn't show it. He laughed and wagged his finger at me, "Clever, clever. Well, I should have expected as much from someone Sinon's chosen to ally herself with. She always seems to find the most capable partners."

"We're here on business, Ikuchi. We should get to it," Sinon interjected. She slipped her hand out of her pocket. The worn, faded keycard was between her index and middle finger, "This was what you wanted, right?"

Ikuchi's face brightened, "Indeed it is. I knew you were the right girl for the job."

He called up his menu and tapped a few keys before Sinon's own holographic screen popped up. It was a trade request. Sinon accepted it and pressed her screen twice before the keycard disintegrated into pixels and reappeared in Ikuchi's hand.

"There we go. Eight hundred thousand credits as promised," he said. I nearly choked on my drink while I was taking a sip. He was paying that much? For a hunk of plastic that unlocked weapons that weren't even endgame worthy? It was insane. Unthinkable. Even a complete rookie wouldn't make that kind of mistake. And Ikuchi was no rookie. So either he had no idea how to place a price tag or he knew something we didn't.

I recalled everything Sinon told me about the job. She was tasked with getting a keycard that didn't look the least bit important from a guy that was looking for the vault door is opened. Problem was, he had no idea where the vault was located or what exactly was even inside.

The only information I knew about its contents was that it wasn't something valuable enough for Sinon to take for herself. Which meant that whatever was inside wasn't a threat to any high-level player.

It could have been nothing. Maybe what the vault had tucked away amounted to nothing more than a few adequate weapons and a banner that said 'You did it!'. Neat, but nothing more than a pat on the back.

Regardless, the keycard disappeared into one of Ikuchi's pockets before I could do so much as raise my voice. I debated whether or not to push the matter further. But in the end, would it have really mattered? At the end of the day, it was their deal. Not mine. If he wanted to throw that much money at nothing, I wasn't going to complain.

"Even after all this time you still haven't lost your edge, Sinon. I'm sure you've already heard the rumors going around. About how your skills are rusty after being gone for so long. Some of us were beginning to think that you weren't ever going to show up again," Ikuchi said. Sinon crossed her arms over her chest.

"You can put those rumors to rest. I'm here now. And I don't plan on leaving anytime soon," she said.

"Of course not. Though I wouldn't blame you if you did. After all, who would want to stay in a game where they almost got murdered by Death Gun."

The temperature in the room seemed to drop twenty degrees. My breath hitched in my throat. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sinon tighten her grip on her arms, her lips twisting into a barely contained scowl.

"Death Gun is gone. That's the end of it. And if you think you can bring him up to try and throw me off, then you're sorely mistaken," Sinon snarled. My gaze jumped between her and Ikuchi. Then I saw it. The men on the lower floor placed a finger against their ear and started making their way toward the staircase.

"I meant no offense. I was just looking out for a fellow GGO player. Death Gun was probably the most dangerous man to ever step foot in this game. To kill another person with no remorse, and so efficiently as well. In a morbid way, it's rather fascinating," Ikuchi tented his fingers together and spoke in a clear, deliberate tone, "I saw what happened during the Bullet of Bullets. How he chased after you and your friend, Kirito, wasn't it? But it was as if he had a personal vendetta against you specifically. One can't help but wonder why."

Sinon squeezed her arms so hard, that her knuckles turned white. The tiniest bead of sweat trickled down the side of her face. Her icy blue eyes were engulfed in a fiery rage as I'd never seen before. This wasn't the anger she showed me when I teased her. It was something different. Raw and visceral.

Sinon was furious.

My gut sank low, Ikuchi's men were walking up the stairs. The man himself had a smug grin on his face, like he was talking down to a toddler.

"This conversation is over," Sinon started to rise to her feet. Ikuchi's men made it to the top, I caught a flash of motion. And all hell broke loose.

I don't remember who pulled their gun first. But in less than a second, Charon was in my hand. I whirled the gun out, and pushed myself back against the sofa. Something heavy was knocked over. Shouts rang in my ears as my sights lined up right for Ikuchi's head. Like a flash of lightning, he threw his arm out. The air in front of me vibrated as my vision was filled with red.

We stared at each other. Both of us silently dared the other to make a move. My revolver was pointed right between his eyes. And the harsh scarlet blade of his photon sword was inches away from my neck.

Ikuchi narrowed his eyes with a bemused laugh, "A revolver? Really?"

"It makes me feel like a cool guy," I chanced a look around me. Every single one of his men had their guns leveled. Tall, Blonde, and Swampy had both his Beretta's aimed at my chest. Another man further back held a Remington 870 Shotgun. Two more held FN SCARs, also, shockingly enough, pointed at me.

It was like I had their leader at gunpoint or something.

"Are you going to shoot me?" Ikuchi asked. His question hung in the air. I wanted to. I really wanted to. Nothing would have brought me more satisfaction than to pull the trigger and put a bullet right through his smarmy face. But I couldn't. Not because I didn't have the guts either.

"No point. We're in a safe zone. All I'd get out of it is a spent casing," I pulled Charon back and let it rest on my thigh.

Ikuchi didn't put his blade away. None of his goons budged either. I wasn't sure what he expected. There was no real point in fighting aside from making a ruckus. Even then, there were some clubs and bars that had a strict no-shooting policy on the penalty of getting zapped. Pulsar could have been one of them.

His eyes jumped to my side and I did the same. Throughout our whole standoff, Sinon was sitting as still as a statue. Her eyes were closed and her arms crossed just as they had been before. There wasn't even a hint that she moved during the entire thing.

She sighed and stood up to her feet. Her voice was measured, untainted by the fury she showed just a few seconds ago, "Ikuchi, I don't know what you hoped to gain by doing this, but I swear if you try to pull something like this ever again, you'll be the next one in my sights."

Ikuchi gave a low chuckle and with a short hum of electricity, the blade of his sword disappeared. Almost as if on cue, the rest of his friends lowered their weapons and placed them back in their holsters, "I wouldn't dream of crossing you. I simply wanted to see if he was good enough to watch your back. All sorts of people are clawing their way up the ranks nowadays. Who's to say there won't be another person like Death Gun coming for you."

"They'll go down. Just like all the others. You can be sure of that." Sinon headed towards the stairs. I ignored the analytical gaze coming from Ikuchi as I got off the couch and slid Charon back into the waistband of my pants, "Pleasure meeting you, I guess. Thanks for the drinks, not so much for the uh, gun pointing."

I left the second floor and pushed past the bodies crowding the exit until I reached the outside. Sinon was several feet away, walking towards a small plaza with a few benches and a fountain spewing green water. I managed to catch up to her, but she made no effort in slowing down.

"Testing me? What is he, your dad?" I said. Sinon shot me the kind of look that warned of an impending gut punch and sighed.

"Sorry, he just brought back a lot of unpleasant memories with what he said," she explained.

We both came to a stop at a guardrail. There, between two skyscrapers, was a gorgeous view of the lower levels of Glocken. The brightly lit neon signs and street lamps were a kaleidoscope of golden and ruby lights as bright as the sun. Holographic advertisements floated above the never-ending stream of people, the sounds mixing together into a pleasant hum of everyday life.

"Are you alright?" Sinon gave me an even look.

The lights from below lit up her face in the same warm colors and her hair drifted against a gentle breeze. If it had been anyone else, I wouldn't have noticed. But with Sinon, I couldn't help but admire every little thing about her.

"Yeah, yeah. Just wasn't expecting it to go down the way it did," I said. I cleared my throat and added, "Are you holding up? He was throwing a lot at you back there. All that business with Dea-"

I stopped myself from going any further and corrected myself, "That guy from the tournament. I didn't know you were involved in that."

The Bullet of Bullets tournament was perhaps the biggest event in GGO. Dozens of participants battled it out in order to find out who was the strongest player in the game. No restrictions, no holds barred.

You used what you had at your disposal and could utilize every dirty trick in the book if you wanted. It drove the crowds wild with excitement. So much so that it was all anyone would talk about in the weeks leading up to it and long after it ended. But the last Bullet of Bullets was talked about for an entirely different reason.

The last tournament was when Death Gun appeared...

From what I'd heard, the mysterious serial killer was all anybody would talk about. The rumor mill spread all sorts of conspiracy theories and far-fetched ideas surrounding him once the dust settled. Call me a cynic, but it's pretty depressing that a man who killed real people got more attention than the actual winners of the tournament.

Sinon squeezed her eyes tight. A shaky breath escaped her lips, but she managed to force her words out, "It's a long story. I don't like remembering it for a lot of reasons. But I have to because I learned a lot that day. About myself...and others," she said as she leaned against the rail and stared down at the people below.

"Yeah? What did you learn? If you don't mind me asking," I rested my forearms on the railing next to her, close enough that we were shoulder to shoulder. She didn't protest.

"That being strong doesn't mean making it on my own. That having someone at my back that I can call a friend is worth more than any strategy or weapon. And that...I have to be very careful about who my friends really are. Because sometimes they'll hide something from you until it's too late to notice," Sinon's voice was soft but resolute.

Like she took those lessons to heart, she turned her head to face me and I couldn't bring myself to not meet her eyes, "I want to get stronger, I've told you that before. But I want something else now, I want people I can rely on. People I can trust, so that one day if I ever need strength, they'll lend me theirs."

I stared back at her, I could only imagine the struggles she had to overcome. Sinon never divulged much about herself, but I could tell she had been through more than any average person. Just the incident with Death Gun alone would have ruined most people.

They would have never gotten near another AmuSphere, and would have flinched at the sight of a gun. But Sinon pressed on, only needing her friends at her side to keep her going.

If that was the case, I'd be more than happy to oblige.

"Well for what it's worth, I'll be here anytime you need me," I said.

"You sure?" she asked.

"Yeah. Somebody's got to be around to make the witty comebacks, after all," I said. Sinon actually smiled at that. I did the same.

"They're okay, I'll give you that," she said.

"Psh, they're amazing. We both know it," I said with a laugh. Sinon looked away and drew her muffler over her mouth, but her cheeks lit up like she was trying to suppress a bigger smile from coming onto her face. My heart started beating a little faster as I felt a warm, fuzzy feeling spread over my chest. It was kind of adorable.

Sinon cleared her throat after a moment and pulled the fabric back down once her usual blank expression took hold.

"A-Anyways, I still need to pay you for all your help," she said.

"Ah, yes my vast cut of ten percent. How could I forget?" I said. Sinon swiped her menu open and before long a request to transfer credits popped up in front of me. I accepted it. Eighty-thousand credits were about a day's worth of grinding and would pay my connection fee for a while. Would have been nice to get a bit more, but you had to take pleasure in the small victories sometimes.

"I'm going to go ahead and log out. I'll see you later, okay?" she said.

"Oh yeah, catch you later, Sinon. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Sinon gave me one last tiny smile and walked away. I sighed and went in the opposite direction. I opened my inventory screen and checked my cash balance.

The reward was a nice little bump to my savings. I was hoping to buy mods for some clothing and guns I had stored away and four hundred thousand credits were definitely…

Wait, what?

I nearly tripped over my own feet. I checked my credits again, did the math, added it to my money from before, staring like a slack-jawed idiot all the while. Four hundred thousand credits. That was not ten percent.

"Hey, wait Sinon! You gave me…"

I turned around. She was nowhere to be found.

"Half the money…"

I looked down at my menu and dismissed it with a wave of my hand. Then little by little, a grin began to take hold.

"Thanks...Sinon," I whispered. Making sure no one was watching me, I pumped my fists in triumph and spun around on my heel to head home.

Or at least I would have if someone wasn't standing right in front of me.

I recognized her long pink hair and golden eyes instantly. She was still wearing that charming smile and white leather outfit that left nothing to the imagination. Up close she was about my height with the heels she wore. She stepped within arm's length of me and the intoxicating aroma of her vanilla-scented perfume wrapped around me like a cloud from heaven itself. I struggled to keep my composure as the NPC from Pulsar's VIP section looked me up and down.

"So, are you up for a little chat?"

Oh boy.

Tonight was just full of surprises.