Chương 38: Chapter 37

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Tiff glanced up at Candice, who'd put on a fake pair of librarian glasses and arranged her hair into a tight bun. It wasn't a disguise, per se, but an attempt to look more professional and less like a 16-year-old who was about to barge into a corner shop and demand they hand over money.

"We've been over this. If I'm going to be part of this nonsense, I need to know what I'm getting myself into. Besides, no matter how much the System won't let you lie, I'm not sure I believe they're actually going to give us a sack of cash." It was after school on Friday, and Candice didn't have to be at cheerleading for tonight's game for several more hours.

The day had gone remarkably smoothly; Tiff had only received a handful of notifications about random people misbehaving and, in turn, had only earned a few points of Infamy. To her surprise, the biggest shakeup came when Candice approached her at lunch, saying it was time for their first pickup. Tiff stared at her blankly for several seconds before realizing what she was talking about.

Honestly, for as much as Tiff's Class consumed a majority of her waking thoughts, she wasn't constantly dwelling on the practical aspect of it. It had completely slipped her mind that it was time to go pick up their loot from the 24-Heaven and already Candice was proving her worth. Apparently, after Tiff had shared the action report, Candice received a Quest from the System, and she was slightly anxious to do a good job.

It wasn't like one of Tiff's normal Quests, but a real, thoughtful Quest that seemed to genuinely promote Class advancement. Since it felt so much like showing up for day 1 at an actual job, Candice didn't want to screw it up and shared her Quest with Tiff.

[Class Quest: Entry Level Secretary] Keep the Dark Queen organized and on track. Meetings Attended: 0 / 10 Books Audited: 0 / 10 Schedules Verified: 0 / 10 The Quest didn't list a reward, but Tiff knew better than to discount the value simply because it was vague. Some of her most impactful rewards came from unlisted Quests. Right now, Tiff didn't even have one of her common "just stand around and be evil" Quests active.

She had to wonder if the System considered picking up money from one of her establishments so mundane, trivial, or essential to her being that it didn't bother giving her one. Or maybe it was just time for the Candice show?

Either way, Tiff, Candice, and Victoria all sat in the parking lot of the 24-Heaven, slightly sweating inside of the Camry.

"Hey, we might want to get going," Victoria said from the driver's seat.

"I wouldn't say we're on a time crunch, but…you never know when this thing's AC is going to cut out."

"Good point," the other two quickly agreed. Candice got out, adjusted her clothes, and frowned.

"Should I have worn something more professional? I should have worn something more professional. Dang it."

"Candice, relax," Tiff soothed.

"We're going into a 24-Heaven. There's nothing professional about it. And if we're lucky, we can get soft serve afterward."

"There's no luck about it," Victoria smirked.

"Since you upgraded the machine, it hasn't stopped working once. Perfect consistency, every time. They even have the third flavor on a rotation."

"Wait," Tiff paused, narrowing her eyes.

"Have you been sneaking off to get ice cream? Without me?"

"It was once!" Victoria laughed, throwing her hands up.

"Just once! I took Amy!"

"Hmmm," Tiff harumphed, crossing her arms. She glared at her sister all the way inside, but almost immediately forgot to be angry the moment the shop's cold air hit her. The standard compliment of stonery greeted them outside (mostly by staring in awe at Victoria as she passed and meekly begging for help buying smokes). They were generally ignored, as usual. Candice stepped inside and immediately took a deep, satisfying breath of crisp air.

She looked around and saw that, for her second time visiting the shop, it was completely deserted.

"How does a place like this even stay in business?" She muttered. Tiff sometimes wondered the same thing, though now she had a hunch it might have something to do with their less-than-legal dealings. Today, however, something was drastically different than almost every time Tiff had entered the store. Instead of the older gentleman in his mid-40s, there was a younger guy, probably around 25.

He looked just old enough for Tiff to call him an adult instead of a kid, like she wouldn't have mistaken him for somebody she might run across in the halls at school. The clerk stared at the group as they entered, though obviously his eyes landed on (and stayed on) Victoria. Candice saw him, narrowed her eyes, and squared her shoulders. She marched confidently to the counter.

"Good afternoon," she said, her voice firm, unwavering, and solid. But Tiff could tell it didn't have her same normal nonchalance or swagger.

"I'm here regarding a…pickup." The guy looked at her, mostly unimpressed, before not-so-subtly staring at Victoria.

"That's nice," he muttered in a bored tone.

"We're not a designated Amazon or UPS pickup location. Pretty sure there's one a few blocks down though. There's also a FedEx store inside of the Walgreens on 1st." Tiff tilted her head. Contrary to his otherwise dismissive tone and mannerisms, the clerk was trying to be helpful. That didn't stop Candice from feeling slighted as he spared her the briefest of glances.

"Look, Mister," she said calmly.

"It's not a package, it's a pickup. You know…a pickup." This time he actually gave her the attention she was looking for, but the look he gave Candice was full of disbelief.

"I have no clue what you're talking about." Candice closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I really didn't want to do this," she muttered before steeling herself and giving the clerk a piercing stare.

"I want to speak to your manager." The clerk's eyes widened fractionally and for a very brief moment, Tiff swore she saw fear reflected in his irises. Then he leaned back, slapped his palm on the counter, and laughed.

"Hooo boy, that's a good one!" He wheezed. He wiped an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye and gave Candice a genuine grin.

"What do you think this is? A Walmart? Miss, most of the time we only have one staff on duty. You're in luck; my boss is in today, but he's on break. I'll pass on the word, but don't get your hopes up." To his credit, the clerk did step out from behind the counter and disappear into the back room. The same room Tiff had dragged Don into for the interrogation. She thought back to Tori breaking the man's leg, the sickening crunch and the curdling wail of pain.

Tiff felt her stomach and throat seize and she nearly lurched over in an impulse to gag. Victoria placed a steadying hand on her shoulder and spoke some gentle words softly into her hair as she kissed the top of her head. The clerk didn't return immediately. One or two minutes went by and Candice's simmering indignation turned into pure confusion.

"How do they do any business if nobody's manning the counter?" She muttered.

"You see anybody in here besides us?" Victoria asked.

"Of course not."

"So what makes you think they're missing out on business?" Victoria smirked.

"Gotta have business to do business."

"And what business can we do for you today?" A man asked, coming out of the back room. It was the same older guy Tiff had seen on multiple occasions. He might not be the owner, but now she knew he was the manager. Or at least shift leader. Dude in charge? Tiff had no idea how convenience store hierarchy actually worked. The man looked at Candice, with her square-rimmed glasses with the fake lenses and her severe bun. He smiled like one might watching a middle school play.

He glanced up at Victoria and his smile quickly started to fall… but he really reacted when he saw Tiff. He instantly raised his hands in defense.

"Dark Queen," he gulped.

"Look, uh, we're cool. We're good. Everything's fine. There's, ah, no need to get involved." Tiff raised an eyebrow. When she walked in here, she didn't expect to "get involved,"... but now she was curious. Did she need to? The man stood straighter, held his arms higher, and looked frantically at Victoria.

"Seriously, lady. There's no need for, ah, whatever it is you do. We'll cooperate. Really."

"Tiff." Candice slowly turned to stare at Tiff, her face laced with disbelief.

"I knew it! You have been terrorizing this poor guy!" Tiff merely turned her gaze on Candice and raised the other brow.

"I didn't say a thing."

"You…you're not here to…ah…?"

"Mr. Convenience Store Guy, I don't know what it is you think I do," Tiff said coolly, "But I believe we've gotten off on the wrong foot."

"Wrong foot?!" He balked.

"I watched you walk in here, buy ice cream, and beat the ever-loving shit out of a local gang boss and his Meta bodyguards. The shop gets destroyed, and the next day, it's all fixed. Like nothing ever happened. The police come, ask some questions, look at the tapes…but the funny thing is, as soon as that big girl there puts on the armor, the feed cuts out. Like, surveillance survived getting blown to pieces, but strangely, every time you two get on camera? It mysteriously cuts out. I don't know what to think!"

"I told you, Mr. Guy. I'm in the protection business. You saw all the paperwork; it has my seal."

"That's another thing! I tried looking your crew up online, but I never heard of Core Construction before! Nobody has!"

"And I think, for the moment, that's exactly what we want," Tiff nodded. Good to know her mysterious repair function came automatically assigned with a fake construction front.

"We're happy to keep the arrangement exactly as it is. We keep you from getting assaulted by local thugs and you pay us." Tiff pointedly looked around the room at the shiny new machines and the pristine wall. She nodded in satisfaction and turned back to the clerk.

"I think the results speak for themselves." The man just looked at her like she was crazy. …politely, of course, as he shivered in place.

"So…why exactly are you here?" Tiff nodded and pointed her thumb behind her at Candice. Stolen story; please report.

"It's pickup day. This is my [Vizier]. She'll handle all the details." Tiff smoothed the ruffles out of her shirt and took a step back. Yes, that felt like it went better than it could have. She noticed the clerk give Candice a questioning look, who seemed to roll her eyes in return.

"As the…Dark Queen just said, I am her [Vizier]. You can call me the [Accountant] if you want. We're here to pick up this week's payment." Something in the man's eyes sparked and Candice could tell his gears were whirring.

"Please tell me you weren't about to say something silly, like: what payment?" Candice sighed.

"We both know there's exactly $4893. 27 waiting to be claimed by the… former head of acquisitions. That was the previous agreement. This is the new one. Now. We can do this the easy way…," Candice put the small clipboard she was carrying up on the counter, "... or we can do this the hard way." Candice didn't say anything else, but behind her, Tiff felt Victoria shift subtly to a more threatening position. She cracked her knuckles menacingly and Tiff swore the younger clerk slid to the floor, passed out.

Candice whipped her head around and stared at Victoria wide-eyed.

"Sheesh!" She practically screamed.

"I didn't mean like that!"

"Eh," Victoria shrugged.

"Stiff hands. What can you do?" Tiff was pretty sure her big sister was bluffing—at least 90%. Judging from Victoria's grin, she wasn't actually going to mog a convenience store clerk, but she did love to put up a good front. She also hated to lose…. Mr. Convenience Store Guy, on the other hand, was all on board with Candice's "easy way." He enthusiastically motioned for Candice to do whatever she wanted, all while he pulled out another sack of cash.

He was about to shove it over the counter so he never had to deal with it again, but Candice was being stubborn.

"No," she denied as he tried to get her to take the sack as it was.

"I'm auditing you. This is our first official pickup, so we need to make sure everything is up to standards. We're going to count it, and you're going to show me your records. Once I'm sure everything matches, we'll be on our way."

"Girl," the man groaned, "You think I leave records of this lying around?"

"Lying around?" Candice scoffed.

"I sure hope not. But you better have some sort of record keeping, or else we're going to have problems." Fortunately, with Candice's new Class and Skills, counting the money took practically no time at all. She really did have a head for numbers. And names. She coaxed the clerk into showing all of his details, his contacts and his routines. Every time he looked like he wanted to protest, Victoria stepped a little bit closer.

All things told, Candice was done fleecing the poor man for all he was worth in about 5 minutes. Granted… the 24-Heaven wasn't the classiest joint in the world, so Tiff didn't expect much. When Candice had seen everything she wanted to see, she adjusted her glasses, thanked the man for his time, and turned back to Tiff. … who was still milling about in the shop lobby.

"Are we robbing this guy?" Candice asked, hefting the small sack of cash up and down with a complicated look.

"I'm…not sure," Tiff answered.

"I think we might be. But I don't like it. It doesn't sit well."

"Well, yeah," Victoria laughed.

"It takes a certain type of person to be the bully. I'm glad it doesn't suit you."

"So…," Candice said, "I know where all this money's coming from. A lot of this is sourced from gift card scams and other crappy tricks. But just because I'd rather not see it go to their hands doesn't make it right to go into ours. But that's just justifying it to myself to make me feel better…."

"To be fair," Tiff piped up, "I agree. But I also want to point out that I've reinvested a portion of the last bag we got back into this place. You've seen the soft serve machine…and the walls, and the coolers. I've told you about my upgrade menu, right? I plan to put some more of this into upgrades."

"Oh god," Candice laughed, "This is kinda how it is in Breaking Bad, isn't it? It starts off all innocent-like, just dipping your toes in the dirty water. Soon enough, we'll be neck deep in muck!"

"Maybe the thrift store, we-have-Breaking-Bad-at-home version of Breaking Bad," Tiff smirked.

"And I've said it before: no drugs. I drive a hard line there."

"Well!" Candice grinned.

"There's the easy money gone, I guess. But at least we have standards? Now! Tell me what the flavor of the week is for the soft serve so I can sufficiently bribe my conscience. Then I need to get back to school for practice."

Back at home, Tiff did exactly what she said she was going to do: look into upgrading more of the 24-Heaven. … eventually. First she needed to explain to Amy (in great detail (multiple times (because of Amy's excitability))) exactly what she and Victoria had gotten up to. She pouted for a little while after learning that they were out "on a job," as she put it (with gigantic air quotes), but she was sufficiently placated when Tiff explained that it really wasn't that exciting and took less than half an hour.

Amy almost bought it until she saw Tiff feed the sack of money to her Core. Then Tiff had to listen to Amy complain about how she never got to do anything fun and how her big sisters were meanies who never took her along to anything interesting, and she was only satisfied after Tiff played Mario Kart with her for an hour. Since Tiff suddenly found herself bereft of an hour, she panicked about her homework and barricaded herself in her room to get some peace and quiet.

She diligently slaved away over her textbooks and worksheets until her parents started yelling for her to come to dinner. Good thing it was the weekend and none of it was due in the morning, but she felt better knowing the majority of it was done. Dinner was a lively affair, since it was Melissa's last home meal before going back to work on Sunday night. Melissa, Victoria, and Amy all chatted animatedly while Tiff and Rick sat back and let the ambiance wash over them.

After dinner, Amy tried to get Tiff to barter her dessert in exchange for doing her chores, but Tiff staunchly refused. All she had to do was take the trash out, and even if the bag felt bigger than she was, Tiff would rather drag it around the block than give up her dessert. It was only after everyone was starting to settle down for the night when Tiff brought up the other thing that had been on her mind all day. The impending Rift.

When Tiff checked on Wednesday, the TAS said the Rift was preparing and this morning, it finished coalescing. Tiff didn't have time at 7 am to delve deeper into the System to try to find out what that meant, so there it sat, simmering. Now that she had an actual moment to think, she started getting nervous again.

"Hey," she stood in her pajamas before the family as they lounged in the living room watching TV.

"I want to show you something." Rick looked up curiously and Melissa practically flew out of her chair. Amy, like a miniature version of their mother, trailed after her like the tail of a fiery comet.

"Hey!" Tiff called out at them.

"I didn't even tell you what it is yet!"

"Relax," Victoria said.

"I'm guessing it's got something to do with your TAS? Can't say as I blame them. You spend practically all your free time on it and it doesn't give the same degree of detail when anybody else uses it. Of course they're interested."

"I just wish I had something interesting to show them," Tiff sighed.

"Oh?" Victoria perked up.

"Are you not upgrading the 24-Heaven? Is it not time?"

"Oh!" Tiff gasped.

"Yeah, I should do that too." By the time Tiff led Victoria and their dad back to her room, Amy had already dragged her new beanbag into Tiff's room. Tiff had to admit: the System had good taste. As far as outlandish, possibly-fiendish, maybe-Sentech furniture was concerned. After the rigamarole of actually receiving the darn thing (which was a whole ordeal with a missed delivery and call-backs), it lived up to all the hype and then some.

With a slight touch and a simple thought, Amy could shrink or expand the beanbag from carry size to lounge size. She could do the same with the heating, cooling, massage vibrations, and elasticity. Of course, other people could do it too, but it seemed to be locked to whoever was sitting in it first and wouldn't take commands from two people at once.

That sounded fine and all until Tiff realized she lived in a house full of giants who could lift her up, deposit her somewhere else, and claim the amazing bag for themselves. Needless to say, Melissa had free rein over it whenever she wanted, and she had no qualms letting Amy whine loudly as she reclined luxuriously. Rick and Victoria took up seats on Tiff's bed while Amy and Melissa "shared" the bean bag. Before logging into the TAS, Tiff checked her Core in the closet.

It still hovered there innocently, as if it hadn't just eaten about 5 grand in cold hard cash an hour ago. Tiff shook her head and sat behind her computer. She… wasn't exactly planning on upgrading the convenience store just yet, but with her family watching with excitement, Tiff couldn't really put it off. She pulled up the menu and started reading things out loud.

Reinforced shelves. Reinforced cold food bunkers. A 1, 000-capacity hot dog roller. Self-zoning drink coolers that automatically rotated for first-in, first-out. Ultra-grade non-slip floor mats. Enhanced automatic entry.

The list went on a little longer, and surprisingly, all the upgrades the System wanted to offer were reasonably priced. Some things weren't, making them way out of Tiff's budget, and she had to wonder if the System had some sort of hidden priority on what it felt was important to prioritize. Well, it didn't, and if Tiff chose something it didn't like, too bad. It should have left her with a better instruction sheet. The fact that most upgrades were "reinforced" worried Tiff.

If those upgrades were anything like the ones she selected for her home, they'd be quite robust. After the mild fiasco the other night where Tiff spontaneously earthquaked, Melissa tested the durability of the walls in the morning. Rick nearly had a heart attack when he walked in on his wife trying to punch a hole in the drywall, but apparently the new walls were solid. Maybe, if they ever needed to knock down a wall for remodeling or wiring, they might run into problems. But those were future Tiff's problems!

Tiff didn't set an initial budget to play with, so she might have overspent. The 1K hot dog roller sounded like a legendary choice, but Rick (of all people) talked them out of it. He said, quite reasonably in a level tone, that "There are only so many hot dogs a man can eat." Melissa and Victoria looked like they wanted to challenge his assumptions, but Tiff put the option aside. She eventually spent just under 2 grand reinforcing everything available.

Tiff wondered if these upgrades were cheaper because the units in question were already in good, working order. If the System (with its magical shenanigans) needed fewer materials (in video game crafting terms) to create better stuff, who was Tiff to judge? But where other people could judge was probably the automatic sliding glass doors.

Tiff took the opportunity to upgrade those the most, not because they provided the biggest benefit, but because she was just too curious how double doors could be upgraded in the first place. After all… they were just two huge panes of glass that shuffed left and right whenever somebody got too close, right? Right? About $1. 5K later, Tiff had her answer. And it started with assault grade bulletproof glass.

At that point, Victoria was pretty sure it stopped being glass and was closer to some sort of transparent aluminum. It also came with self-cauterizing panes (which sounded stupidly ominous), programmable shutter speeds, variable detection lengths, and a multi-selector of ringtones to play when activated.

Tiff was sorely tempted to try and change it to something weird like the sound effect of a coin block from Super Mario Bros, but not only would the System not let her change it remotely, she worried about getting sued. To top it off, it had an auto-tint feature that darkened the glass if it was hit by direct sunlight. Perhaps not the most exciting, but Tiff could appreciate it. And then, it was finally time to talk about the real issue. Rifts.

"A Rift is about to form," Tiff said without much preamble. She pulled up the notification, showing her family that it was now Preparing Rift. Breaching in 35: 44: 03. 92. The room grew serious. Melissa sat up, making Amy tumble down into the divot she left behind and claiming the whole thing for herself. Victoria gently tapped her dad on the shoulder and switched spots so she could see better. Tiff pulled up the map and centered on the newly formed Rift.

"Do we know where this is?" Tiff asked. To her, most places on the map looked similar. It was all urban sprawl until it wasn't. The Rift was situated almost directly northeast of them. East northeast, if she had to use a compass rose. Victoria leaned closer.

"I don't often go that way," she frowned. Tiff glanced back and saw the look of intense concentration on her sister's face and paled. For all that Victoria had been her bodyguard for the last few weeks, she was still a Delver.

"That's the 70," Melissa said. As a truck driver, she was familiar with the local freeways.

"Pomona, by the looks of it. Can you zoom in?" Tiff tried. The map would go as far in as she wanted it to, but the Rift wouldn't. At some point, it simply vanished, and Tiff didn't know if that was because the System didn't want her knowing its exact location, or because it hadn't fully formed yet. Tiff had to believe it was the latter, or else why would the System give her the TAS at all? While they weren't able to pinpoint the exact location of the breach, they narrowed it down to a few miles.

While not nearly accurate enough to be "scientific," even knowing a Rift was forming more than an hour ahead of schedule was huge. There was only one problem.

"What do we do about it?" Tiff asked. She'd been fretting over this all day, because as much as the System wanted her to be a Villain, she didn't want to put people's lives in danger. If she couldn't do anything about the Rift itself, she had a duty to tell somebody about it. But the question was… would they believe her? As she just learned the other day, the most advanced machines in the world could only detect a Rift 30 minutes ahead of time.

Tiff sincerely hoped that people would take any report of a Rift opening seriously… but she was just a kid. And she knew some people had big egos.

"Don't you worry about it," Melissa said soothingly. Her tone was warm and light, but Tiff could see the way her eyes were locked in on the map, burning the location into her mind.

"I'll tell everybody I can even if they don't believe me. This isn't something you need to worry about."

"I'll try to let the [Troubleshooters] know too," Rick said grimly.

"We don't have much influence out that far, but maybe we can pass the word on." Tiff wasn't sure how much better that made her feel, but when it came time to finally go to bed, she fell asleep peacefully without a single bad dream.