Tal smiled in reply, holding a finger to her lips. Quinn was a light sleeper, so any noise before 0800 would wake him up. "Have a good run hun."

QJ waved as he headed out the door.

Since his dad wasn't running with him, he decided to take a new route. He waved to the security guard who was monitoring their gated community. They all knew the Riley family, over the past two decades they had purchased a half dozen homes in the development. Friends and family came and left regularly.

QJ turned down a residential road, many of the homes were boarded up and had met with the graffiti bandits. A beat-up station wagon was parked crookedly against the curb as three women attempted to remove a recliner that had somehow been jammed in the back.

The women stopped when they saw him running by. They were obviously mother and daughters, one of the girls stepped in front of him and held her arm up. "Hey... Give us a hand?"

QJ stopped to keep from running her over. The girl who spoke was probably in her early 20s, dark hair and very attractive.

"Ignore my sister, please. She doesn't think sometimes." The girl who had been pulling something from the front seat pulled her sister by the arm; they were identical twins.

The mom smiled slightly, she was wary of strangers, but they needed help. She had a tired look in her eyes, but she was still quite pretty. Her daughters took after her. "We just need help getting this d.a.m.n chair out, five seconds of your time?"

QJ took a look at the house and then around the surrounding houses. "I can't do that I'm afraid." He opened up his hud, and a moment later Tal's face popped up.

"Everything okay hun?" Tal's tone showed her concern.

"No, not really, a family is moving into one of the empty houses on Sunset."

"Sunset? Did you tell them that place becomes a haven for drug addicts after it gets dark?"

QJ heard the gasp from the older woman standing behind him. "No, I didn't want to scare the c.r.a.p out of them."

"QJ?" A surprised voice called him from the door of the house.

QJ turned to see a young woman coming down the ramp from the front porch. "Charlotte?"

The girl in the wheelchair motored toward him, stopping on the sidewalk. "You live around here QJ?"

QJ shook his head, "not really, my house is about five miles from here." Another young woman followed Charlotte out of the house. "These your sisters Char?"

Char nodded, "Suzi, Taylor, Jo and my mom Raina."

QJ glanced at the car; the front seat had been pushed up, a tiny person had been driving. It probably meant they were here alone. "Char, this is a nasty area." He glanced at the mom; she was fighting back the tears.

"I didn't know... we moved here from Texas." A bit of panic crept into Raina's eyes, "we can't afford to stay at the hotel any longer, and I've already paid two months rent for this place."

A second voice spoke from QJ's hud, "hey guys, I'm Anna. Why don't you let me straighten this mess out for you? Least I can do for one of QJ's cla.s.smates."

QJ could tell that Raina wanted to say no, but she was too scared to. QJ smiled at his cla.s.smate, "it's fine Char, Anna can fix anything. At the very least she'll get your money back."

"Mom, QJ is one of my cla.s.smates at Exodus. He's the one that helped me out yesterday." Char had her hair up; it seems like she didn't hide her scarred face around her family members.

Anna nodded in agreement, "2400 Rayburn Drive, I'll tell the front gate to expect them. QJ what kind of car do they have?"

QJ glanced at the car, "it's a really c.r.a.ppy station wagon." QJ heard the four girls behind him burst into laughter.

Tal's face popped back into his hud, "QJ! Where are your manners?"

"Sorry, mom... that things a total rust bucket." QJ shrugged at the laughing women; even their mom was smiling.

QJ watched as the five women squeezed back into the station wagon, he waited until they had left and then started running toward home.

Forty minutes later he arrived at the front gate, they waved him through, and he took the first right. There were five houses on their Cul de Sac; the Rileys owned all of them. There were currently four houses being used; the empty one was the first one on the left. The "c.r.a.ppy" station wagon was parked in front. It was already emptied.

QJ saw his dad standing in the doorway, so he slowed to a walk and approached him.

Quinn scowled when he noticed his son, "sure... show up after all the heavy lifting!"

QJ smirked at his dad. "That little chair was heavy? Maybe you should have let mom carry it for you."

The garage door opened and Char wheeled out of it. She frowned at QJ, "you could have mentioned that your parents were Quinn and Talia Riley!"

QJ blushed and looked at the ground, "I would have let people know eventually. I didn't want any favors or advantages over anyone."

"See? Now you're in trouble!" Quinn nodded approvingly at Char, "there's an old broom in that garage, feel free to wack him with it."

"...." QJ.

Char laughed loudly at the older Quinn, "I'll keep that in mind, Mr. Riley."

Quinn waved a hand at her, "Quinn is fine."

QJ watched as his dad walked away; he was good at putting people at ease. It had only taken him a few minutes to get on Char's good side. He followed Char as she went up the ramp into the house. It was an exact copy of his home; she took an immediate right into a bedroom filled with boxes.

"Your penance is helping me unpack." Char looked up at him; her smile was somewhat crooked; the scars pulled the corner of her mouth down.

QJ could hear his mom and Anna talking in the living room, "yeah, I can do that."

QJ moved boxes and helped Char unpack them; they were done within an hour. There really wasn't much stuff.

"Think we can top the Doubler Raid today?" Char propped herself up to a standing position and took two uneasy steps before grabbing the desk and easing down. She spun the chair to face QJ.

"The good thing about the Doubler Raid is that your progress is saved after a wipe. So if you kill the third boss and wipe on the fourth, you restart on the fourth." QJ had been thinking about it; they had an excellent chance to finish it. The big hurdle was going to be the five-hour time limit.

"Think it will come down to time?" Char was going to use a Slinger for the raid, so she'd be hitting the bosses.

QJ nodded, " as long as our marksmen keep the lanes clear, the main raid group should have enough dps to bring the first three bosses down quickly."

Char glanced at the VR chamber in the corner; it was nice that each room had one. "We have to avoid stupid noob mistakes that cause early wipes."

QJ stood up and walked to the bedside table; there were two ceramic discs inside, he handed them to Char. "This might be easier for you."

Char smiled, "so nice. Top of the line too." She shook her head at him, "of course, Obreen owns Orion Media. I suppose you are related to them also?"

QJ returned her smile, "well... Gus Obreen is my grandpa." Gus had taken over as CEO of the company after the death of his parents, who were enjoying themselves in Ravenwood.

"...." Char.

"So many questions, yet I haven't asked you any yet." QJ sat on the edge of the bed watching her reaction.

"Hmm... I guess if I'm going to ask stuff, it stands to reason you will too." Char shot him a curious look, "one last one though, how in the h.e.l.l did you get Secretariat as a digital horse?"

QJ's face split into a wide grin, "how did you know that?" He didn't want to mention that it had taken him weeks to figure it out.

Char gave him a deadpan look, "really? The big red horse that stands above the rest? The 1973 Red Demon that won the Belmont by 31 lengths?"

QJ laughed at her serious expression, "my dad won him at the Apple Festival."

Char covered her head with her hands, "oh s.h.i.+t... you know Leah Fintree don't you?"

"Fraid so."

"As your cla.s.smate, I demand an introduction!" Char pounded the desk with her small fist, "I'm going to win one also!"

"An introduction will be easy, come over anytime, she usually plays dominoes with Mom and Remmy at night."

"d.a.m.n... quit the name dropping already!"

"Sorry, sorry. Hey, I need to get going; we have to meet up for the raid in two hours." QJ stood up and stretched his arm over his head, "I need to eat and get cleaned up."

"Okay QJ, thanks for all your help today." Char smiled and waved as he head for the door.

"It's fine; I regularly bring home stray women." QJ ducked the cus.h.i.+on that Char flung at him, laughing as he exited through the garage.

Char smiled at the fleeing figure, "you're the stray, smarty pants!"

**********

QJ laid comfortably on his bed and logged into the fodder account that he had been given access to.

Jobo

Range Rider

Level 31

He thought he'd log into the house hub, to get any last minute direction from his dad. He stepped off the landing and headed toward the kitchen island. "Anything you can think of that I might have overlooked Dad?"

Quinn looked at his son, "thank you... thank you."

QJ c.o.c.ked his head to one side, "huh?"

Anna, Ren, and Tal were all staring at him. Everyone was blus.h.i.+ng furiously, their faces split into wide grins. Ren turned on her hud's recording device and started streaming.

Quinn looked at the speechless women and then back at QJ, "um.. look down son."

QJ glance down, his eyes widening in horror, "Oh sweet mother!" He jumped backward, stumbled over the landing and fell on his b.u.t.t. He felt his face turning red; I have b.o.o.bs... great big ones. Jobo was a woman.

Tal was the first to recover; she hid her smile behind her hand. "Sorry QJ, you took us by surprise." Jobo was a tall redhead with an incredibly voluptuous figure.

QJ stood up slowly, "so... no last minute advice then?" The group at the island erupted into laughter again, "Log-on Exodus, Gaming Hub."

*********

QJ looked at the time on his hud; he still had nearly an hour before the start. He decided to hit the Songbird for a bit and headed toward the TAP area. As usual, the line was out the door, getting a table most days was next to impossible.

Robin was sitting at the front door, pleasantly turning people away. QJ stopped when he recognized a person in line. It was his homeroom teacher, Chi Blanca. He walked toward her, not stopping until he was directly behind her.

Chi Blanca turned when she sensed someone behind her; she stared up at the tall redhead before erupting in laughter.

QJ frowned at her, "Oh I see... you did this on purpose."

Chi's usually serious face struggled to stay calm, "it was random QJ, Two of the fodder Rider's are female, but all the shooters in your cla.s.s are male." She patted him on the shoulder, biting her lip to keep from laughing, "it was just bad luck."

QJ frowned at her, "fishy." He stepped past the people in line and stopped in front of Robin. "Let me in Robs."

Robin raised an eyebrow at the redhead in front of her, "do I know you?"

"Of course, it's QJ. This is the fodder account I'm using the for Doubler Canyon Raid today."

Robin stood up; her smile could melt ice cubes. "Really? What did I give you for your birthday last year?"

QJ glanced over his shoulder and lowered his voice, "an IOU for skinny dipping."

Robin's soft laugh drew everyone's attention; she opened the door for QJ and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Good luck on the raid today."