"You okay hun?"

"Yes, how's the Keep? I was worried that there would be fallout from my arrest."

"Nothing yet, I've heard some grumblings but the rumors say that Lilly has blocked anyone from making an official charge against OP. Smart play separating from us."

"We'll see if it sticks. I suppose Briar Rose has been taken?"

Robin shook her head, for once it was hanging loose over her shoulders. "Oddly enough, Serli has picked this time to visit you, she showed up with a few hundred elite commandos. Merci is with her."

"My Gram is taking good care of me, I'll have to do something nice for her when this is done." QJ smiled at Robin, "did you say Merci showed up also?"

Merci Quickill also known as the a.s.sa.s.sin Queen, she was a Captain in Raven Battalion, the leader of Gryphon Flight. Since birth, she had always referred to QJ as the 'young Prince.'

Robin nodded, "she's not under orders. According to her, she's just doing a bit of exploring."

QJ laughed, "as long as they leave her alone, she won't cause trouble."

"Probably not,' Robin agreed. "She did bring all of Gryphon Flight with her."

"How about you Robs? Got a plan to break me out?"

Robin nodded, "my sister's and I have already planned it out. Ninety seconds and you are out of there."

"d.a.m.n... I was teasing Robs."

"Not me, Ninety seconds, say the word." Robin leaned forward, "Shall I come by the house later?"

"I have my TAP engineer still, let's hang out at Ravenwood tonight."

"Sounds like a good plan. I'll keep you updated on any changes."

*************

QJ took a quick shower and was enjoying a late breakfast when his roommates finally started to wake up.

"Some help here QJ," Lotte called from her room.

The door was open so QJ walked in. Lotte was sitting on her bed wearing shorts, he had never seen the scars on her legs. From his guesswork, he estimated that her legs would have been burned the worst.

"Sorry to put you through this QJ, forgot to set the brake on my chair and I must have b.u.mped it when I got in bed last night."

QJ shrugged and sat down next to her instead of grabbing the chair. "We're past this right?" He squeezed her hand, "need help getting in the shower?" He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"Umm... we aren't there yet." Lotte felt her face turning red, "you always try to embarra.s.s me rascal. You've seen more of my scars than anyone outside of my family."

"Oh, I see. Any scars on your backside?"

Lotte shook her head, "oddly enough my b.u.t.t is perfect."

QJ couldn't stop the grin from spreading across his face, "Is that right?"

She stared at him for a moment then covered her blus.h.i.+ng face with her hands. "c.r.a.p...The things you make me say! Why did I say that?"

QJ stood and pushed her chair over before applying the brake. "Up you go." He helped her get in the chair, even though she really didn't need it.

She stopped in the doorway of her bathroom. "Make me breakfast as punishment for teasing me."

"I was going to do that anyway." QJ waved to her and then shut the door on his way out.

"How's the Jailbird doing?" Breeze's dark hair was damp from the shower, it hung down her back making her s.h.i.+rt wet.

"Doing great. Haven't come to see me in prison yet I noticed." QJ grabbed three gla.s.ses and poured orange juice for them.

"Sorry, my mom doesn't allow me to visit relatives in prison."

"Right, I suppose that makes sense." QJ tried to tell if she was teasing him, but her face was unreadable.

Nina trotted down the stairs, "they let you out on good behavior?"

"Funny." QJ made a face at his purple-haired roommate. "When I log-off, a generic version of me sits there waiting."

"No worries, I'll visit you QJ." Nina pulled her hair back and fastened it with a hair tie. "Do they allow conjugal visits?"

"Denied!" QJ toasted a bagel for Lotte and let it sit. The doorbell stopped the 'conjugal visit' conversation from going any further.

QJ opened the door to an Asian man in his mid-20s. He was average height and wore his hair long in a top-knot. "Hey! Are you Wu Ling?"

The man nodded and stuck out his hand. "You must be QJ! Aunty Yu wasn't joking, you look just like your dad."

QJ glanced over his shoulder before lowering his voice. "Don't mention the casino. I told them you are here to be our guilds information broker."

A smile creased his pale face, "information broker? I like the sound of that."

"Come on in and meet everyone." QJ opened the door wider to let him in. Sato and Lotte had joined the rest of the group at the table. All of them were watching the newcomer with curious eyes.

"Hey guys, this is Mr. Wu Ling. He's going to be staying with from now on." QJ motioned for him to come into the kitchen. "Left to right, this is Breeze, Nina, Lotte, and Sato."

WU smiled at the group. "Just call me Wu, please. I'm an expert in just about everything dealing with GnG and Exodus. QJ hired me to be the guild information broker."

Breeze leaned back in her chair, "are you a gamer too?"

Wu shook his head, "I like to mess around on the Legends server, but I don't have much talent."

Nina patted the chair next to hers. "welcome to the house Wu."

Wu secretly thanked his aunt for setting this up. She hadn't mentioned that three of his housemates would be pretty girls. "Thank you!"

"Did you hear that our boy is locked up for a.s.sa.s.sinating the King?" Sato's face showed his relief, the new guy didn't appear to be a babe magnet like QJ.

"Yes, just about everyone on every server is talking about the events taking place on the Phoenix server." Wu shook his head in amazement, "I've cataloged every major faction and world event from all the servers. Using an algorithm that I developed, I'll plug in the information for Phoenix. I'll be able to show you the lines of departure and hopefully be able to predict future events to some extent."

By QJ's estimates, the events in Maelstrom had a sixty or seventy percent variation from the other servers. "Anything you need Wu, just let me know."

"I'll need your event and quest logs. Everyone in the guild actually, I'll be better able to do my part once I've collected all the data."

"d.a.m.n Wu, you're awesome!" Breeze smiled at him, "got a girlfriend yet?"

"Um... just a virtual one." Wu glanced around the first level of the home. His Aunt hadn't told him that the house was huge. "Aunty Yu told me to give you this QJ." He handed him a small flash drive.

QJ took the flash drive without saying anything, "you are going to fit in her nicely Wu."

"I can't wait to set up, Where is my room?"

Nina jumped up before Breeze could move, "I'll show you around, Wu."

Wu followed Nina up the stairs, Breeze stubbornly tagged along.

Sato stared as the trio went up the stairs. "How come they are being so nice to him?"

Lotte patted him on the back, "it's not your fault Sato, being smart is super s.e.xy."

"...." Sato.

"Oh G.o.d.. I'm sorry Sato, I didn't mean to imply that you aren't smart." Lotte looked to QJ for help, unexpectedly he fled the scene for his room.

"Lotte quickly retreated to her own door, QJ's door was closed. "Pool at noon QJ?"

"Wouldn't miss it! Going to Ravenwood for a bit."

QJ had his VR suit on and slid into the chamber. He plugged the flash drive into the headset.

VR Platform detected, awaiting input.

"Use external flash drive for input."

Synchronizing Avatar, welcome to the Studio.

QJ found himself in a comfortable room with three large chairs and lots of monitors. He walked over to the monitor wall. "d.a.m.n... that's a lot of monitors."

"Do you like it?" A feminine voice from behind him caused him to jump. He turned to see the lovely Daiyu Ling.

"Startled me, you must be notified when someone logs into your VRP?"

Yu nodded, "smart boy." It was her avatar from when she use to do commentating. She was absolutely beautiful.

"Impressive set-up." QJ pointed at the dozen monitors on the wall. "Those monitors will be from my dealers at the casino?"

"Yes, video and separate audio. We'll be able to catch every whisper." It will all be recorded and then Wu will have to sift through it."

"We'll take good care of Wu. I need to find something that points me toward the person responsible."

Yu looked at him for a moment and then took a seat. "My nephew ran some initial numbers on the possibilities." She used her hud to show him the most likely suspects.

There were three names that QJ recognized right away. "Queen Iya, Princess Lilianna, and Angel."

"Wu doesn't know Angel of course, there's no way she would ever try and incriminate you."

QJ nodded in agreement. "She could kill the King easily, she is a Winged a.s.sa.s.sin, in addition to her natural spider abilities."

Yu pursed her lips as she considered the list. "What about Lilly?"

"I really don't want it to be her. Let's be realistic though, power can be very tempting." He left out the part that bothered him the most, the idea that Annabelle could be working against him.

"From what I understand, you're one of her allies. It seems to work against her goals to implicate you."

QJ stared at the hud, trying to connect dots he may have missed. "s.h.i.+t..."

"Just keep working it QJ, you'll get there."

"Hope so Yu. Thanks for all your help, I owe you one."

"No worries, cya QJ."

**************

QJ logged out of the VRP and switched to his TAP avatar before logging into Exodus. He brought up his hud and contacted Ringo. A moment later her pretty face smiled at him.

"How's crime?" Ringo didn't bother to hide the humor she felt at the situation.

QJ stepped into the Songbird and walked upstairs without speaking to anyone. Robin's room was on the end, she had long since given him a key. "Are you someplace where you can talk?"

"Almost, I was heading to the office to speak with Robin. Let me contact you in a bit."

QJ nodded and took a seat on Robin's bed. Apparently, his girlfriend liked stuffed animals, "d.a.m.n... I need to pay closer attention."

A few minutes later, QJ's hud blinked and he opened it up to see Robin and Ringo. "Hey Robs."

Robin gave him a s.e.xy smile, "that my bed QJ?"

QJ nodded, "very soft too. Sorry to interrupt your day, but I have a suspect."

Robin glanced at Ringo for a moment and then turned her brown eyes back to QJ, "we suspect the Queen."

"It has to be her QJ, she benefitted the most from this. The only way she inherits the throne is if she manages to implicate Lilly for the King's death." Ringo watched him for a reaction.

"I don't disagree, however, I suspect that she had outside help." QJ didn't want to say it out loud.

"We have a list of the Queen's known allies." Robin displayed the list on the hud.

"That's not what I mean by help. I mean player help."

Ringo stared at her ace, although inexperienced she trusted his ability to reason things out. "You think someone is working against us?"

"What would you do if OP was offered a Main Event Quest to a.s.sa.s.sinate the King?"

She looked at Robin and then back at QJ, "I would have at least considered it. Being allied with the Monarchy in Maelstrom would mean that the OP's strength would soar."

QJ nodded. "Phoenix is a new server, which guilds could pull that off?"

"Besides us... Old Skool and Chupa Lupa." Ringo wouldn't have added Chupa Lupa, but the three of them had managed to clear the medium mounds in the Sa.s.sara colony, that means they are strong.

"Briar Rose, the Guild Keep, and upper-tier t.i.tles. All of that could be in the pot for the guild who pulled it off." QJ sighed heavily, "you are forgetting someone aren't you?"

"Forgetting? No, I don't think so." Ringo stared at him for a long moment before she understood. "You are talking about the Third Years... Dessi's guild."

QJ nodded, "fraid so."