Finally, I was free from my sister and able to continue my investigations into the comic shop, which I have most certainly determined to be a front. If not for the gang that's been going after entitled kids, then at least something shady and probably illegal. My only problem now was getting into that back room. Of course, I could always just suit up and blast the door down, but Melody is still working at the front counter, and I can't risk her getting hurt. Besides, information is the most valuable weapon I could have when it comes to bringing the criminals down for good, and I wasn't going to get it by going in gravity-grenades blazing. So, it looked like this was going to be my first stealth mission. If only I had a way to distract Melody and get past that backdoor.

  Suddenly I noticed I was being followed as I heard a meow that made my soul jump out of my body. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw it was merely Mirai, Melody's cat with a strange knack for leading me into trouble. Lucky for me, trouble was exactly what I was looking for right now. Mirai jumped up on my backpack, where I had my Night Hopper suit, and pawed at it. I take it this means I need to get changed. I ducked into an abandoned alleyway and slipped on a gauntlet. After making sure the coast was clear, I turned it on and hopped onto a high rooftop where I finished suiting up.

  "Okay, Mirai, there's the plan," I tried to explain to the actual cat, "I need you to walk by the store and draw Melody outside. You'll need to keep her busy long enough for me to sneak into the store and try to pick the lock on the backroom door."

  She nodded and meowed as if she understood what I was saying. I scooped her up and hopped over to the roof of Dragon's Hoard Comics. I took Mirai and made a small field of low gravity around her, then let her float down, landing right outside the storefront. Thankfully, she must have been listening to the plan as she started meowing and scratching at the glass. As I predicted, Melody peaked outside to see if that was really her cat, and as soon as she did, Mirai darted away, causing Melody to chase after her. Once they turned the corner, I dropped down and entered the store, quickly making my way to the back door. I took out a turning tool and stuck it in the lock. I got this to work when practicing on my bedroom door so hopefully… I held my gauntlet up to the lock and made a small but strong reverse-gravity field that pulled the internal pins past the shear line then I turned my tool, unlocking the door. Yes! However, before I could go through…

  "Night Hopper?" Melody asked. She stood speechless in the front doorway holding Mirai.

  Damn it! That feline bastard failed me! Don't panic. She likes me, so just play it cool. I held a finger up to my mask in a shhhh gesture and winked with my digital eyes in my goggles. Melody opened her mouth but covered it with her hand before saying anything, then nodded. For a moment I could have sworn her cheeks were starting to blush, but I couldn't stay and double check. I turned away and slipped through the door, closing it behind me. Fortunately, no one was standing right behind it. Actually, I peered around and didn't see or hear anyone. I saw the manager and that Maribelle lady come in here just a few minutes ago. Where did they go? Another secret room? I don't see any other doors back here. The room looked like just a normal storage/break room. I looked around for an exit or anything incriminating but only found early copies of next week's comic books. The nerd in me wanted to take a quick peek, but I resisted. I almost gave up, but while I was half-mindedly checking everything, I opened the fridge and couldn't believe my eyes. Inside the break room refrigerator was a staircase heading down. What the? I shook my head and quietly entered. The stairs spiraled down and led to a short hallway that opened up into a larger warehouse-looking area. It was hard to believe this place was underground, or was it? There were some windows on the roof that let in natural light, which wouldn't make any sense if this was underneath the comic shop.

  Before I had much of a chance to look around, I heard the sounds of people walking in the adjacent hall coming my way. Quickly, I hopped up to the scaffolding and hid in the shadows. Unfortunately, the glow of the quintessence powering my gear isn't good for stealth, so I had to turn my suit off for a moment. My heart raced as the bodies got closer. I held my breath and prayed they wouldn't look up as I eavesdropped.

  Turning around the corner, there was Melody's "manager," Corri, followed by this other man who walked with a crooked cane and a metal left leg. At least I thought it was a man at first, but once they got closer, I realized they were actually a tall, muscular woman. Or was she? It was difficult to tell just from looking down at her in this dimly lit room. It also didn't help that she was wearing a heavy overcoat with torn-off sleeves showing a tattooed arm, and a dirty blonde grown-out buzz cut. Although whether she was a man or woman really did not matter right now. The two of them stopped right below me and started looking around.

  Corri asked her, "Hey, did you hear that too, Ro-"

  The woman put her hand over his mouth before he could finish. "Yes, I heard something now. And what did I say about using people's real names? You never know who might be listenin'." She spoke with a heavy Irish accent that was almost difficult to understand.

  "Right, sorry about that, R- I mean, Shepherd."Corri spoke, his accent shifting mid-sentence, "But how come people use my name?"

  "Because that's not your legal name, you know? Whatever name you once had is long gone now. You are my experiment, my sheep, my Corriedale. Remember." Shepherd reprimanded.

  "I remember; it's just my roommates were asking, and they believe things more when it comes from you." He creepily laughed.

  "Well, when I give them an answer, can you try to make sure all of them are paying attention? You're making me sound like a broken record." She sighed, looking very tired of this conversation.

  "I'm sorry, but you know I get new ones all the time, more and more as of late. And it's ever so confusing for them." Corriedale said, resting a hand on his head, and changing his voice again, "It also gets confusing for me sometimes… And me."

  Shepherd looked deep into the void of his eyes, and spoke as if she were talking to his brain itself, "That house of yours is something for sure. I wonder how many more you can take in before it all falls apart? But don't worry, Corriedale, it is my job as the Shepherd to herd as many sheep as possible. Even if a few get lost, we must protect the flock as a whole."

  "Thank you, Shepherd." He said, seeming comforted, "And if you don't mind, they have one more question for you?"

  "Go ahead." She went from sounding fed up to genuinely interested.

  All of the growl and roughness in his voice went away as he asked, "They want to know if we are friends?"

  Shepherd said nothing and began to walk away. Corriedale hung his head and walked after her, almost gliding across the ground.

  What the hell was that? What did she mean by experiment? That guy is definitely not normal. I'll try to avoid getting into a fight with them. Once I checked that there was no one around, I turn my suit back on and hopped over to the other side of the room. My top priority is not getting caught, then finding any info connecting these guys to the missing kids. But first I need to find out who these guys even are, or where we even are. I looked up to the window and jumped towards it. While in 0 gravity, I opened it and went on the roof. It was clearly not anywhere near the comic shop, but I had no clue where this was. I knew Shadow Brook like the back of my hand, and I couldn't recognize any landmarks or buildings that'd help locate this place. That's strange, but maybe I can try to eavesdrop on another conversation through a window while I'm up here. I noticed another slanted roof window a few dozen feet over. Peaking in, I saw Maribelle sitting, waiting in an armchair in what looked like a makeshift office room. She yawned and checked her watch. I stood by waiting with her for a few minutes until a man entered the room. He was fairly short or average height but very wide, he wore a well tailored pin-stripe suit, and most strangely of all, his face was blurred, like he was an anonymous person in a video.

  Maribelle yawned, "Took you long enough. Didn't anyone teach you it's rude to keep a lady waiting?"

  The man grunted, "If anyone needs a lesson in manners, it's the one who has the gall to talk to me like that after failing her mission. Need I remind you who I am?"

  "Oh, I know. You're the boss, the don, the godfather of this happy little family." She said, mocking his Italian accent, "I just don't care. See, just cuz you hired me once doesn't make you my boss. I might have let the boy get away, but there are plenty of other jobs I could take from men just like you."

  "I see… I take it you have no interest in joining the family then? I am a very generous man after all, so I'll offer you one more chance to prove yourself." He suggested.

  "Yeah, no. I'm The Outlaw. I don't comply with anyone's rules, whether that be society or a gang of criminals. It's kinda my thing. But I'm still willing to take the job if you pay up the bounty."

  "Tsk, tsk, tsk…" The boss sighed, "You say I'm not your boss, then immediately ask me to pay you for another job? Now you're really starting to sound like one of my kids. You see, that's the difference between me and those other men. Here, we do things like a family. We look out for each other, which means everybody needs to contribute. So if you want to keep working with us on the regular, consider re-think yourself as The In-law."

  "Heh, real funny." She rolled her eyes and whistled, "Fine, don't hire me again. Keep it in the family or whatever the hell you said. But before I leave, I must thank you for the opportunity. I mean, I really learned a lot in the short time I've worked with you. Like your members' real identities, the laundry list of felonies under your belt, like drug dealing, arms dealing, kidnapping, human trafficking, the whole works. I learned all about your "friend on the inside". Oh, and I could never forget about the secret that makes those entitled kids so valuable. I wonder who else would be interested in knowing that?"

  The boss snapped his fingers, and Shepherd and Corriedale entered the room, blocking the door. "Hmm, you know, it's not just the children that are valuable. Anyone with a title can be used, even one as under-whelming as The Outlaw could fetch a hefty price." He threatened.

  "Oh, I'll show you how under-whelming my title is!" She yelled. Her eyes ignited with a smokey gray before the room suddenly began to shake as it turned into an old rustic saloon. Maribelle stood tall, facing down the boss. Her clothes changed from her semi-formal suit to the attire of a wild bandit. She transformed into Crooked Cassidy.

  Shepherd drew her custom handcrafted rifle, and Corriedale reached inside himself to pull a pistol. Cassidy whipped out her dual revolvers at them, making it a real standoff. Shepherd narrowed in on her with the scope, watching closely as Cassidy's eyes shifted between the two of them. Right when Cass's eyes locked onto Corri, Shepherd's finger tightened around the trigger, but before either of the ladies could take the shot, the boss put his hand up.

  "Now, now, let's not get too hasty." He yawned. Even with his face blurred, I could still make out a fiery glow from underneath it. He leaned back and calmly took a drink from a wine glass as a large image of a large leopard briefly materialized out of orange light behind him. It let out a mighty roar that shook the room, causing it to change back to how it was before. Cassidy or Maribelle was left back in her suit without her guns.

  He grinned, "I understand how things got so rash. You have an animalist urge to protect yourself, just as we have an instinct to protect our family. However your little tricks won't do you any good here, so I suggest you sit down and listen." He offered, "It's clear that I can't make you join us, but I also can't leave any loose ends that could come back to hurt the family. So here's the new deal." He opened a file with pictures and info and slid it to Cassidy, "This is your next and final target with us. I hear they're an elusive one, managed to avoid some of my best guys three times, and now they're out of state. If you succeed in bringing them in, your payment will be that you get to keep your head. Understand?"

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  "Understood," Cassidy grumbled, sounding absolutely defeated.

  "One more thing. Corriedale, have one of your guys make sure she doesn't become a liability. Make sure the only thing she learned from us is that you don't cross the Leopardi family," he instructed.

  Cassidy growled, finally out of one last word to get in, she picked up the file and stormed out of the room. Corri gave her a gentle pat on the head as she left, but she didn't even seem to notice. After that, the room was filled with a palpable awkward silence that lasted for several minutes. The boss leaned forward at his desk, clutching his hair with his hands.

  Once he regained his composure, he asked, "Corri, how has she been doing?"

  "Very well, Mr. Leopardi, sir. Certainly a great pick for the job. She's already much better with the customers than I am. We may be able to start turning a profit soon if we keep this up." Corriedale cheerfully informed.

  Leopardi sighed, "Yes, and what of her other job?"

  "Oh, right. Well, you know she understands that stuff much better than I do. I've tried to see if one of my roommates could help, but it can be difficult to get them to cooperate all the time. But still she's managed to find leads on a hand-full already. I must say I'm impressed." Corri explained with a chuckle.

  "Very well. And regarding the search for the rising sands?" He asked.

  Before Corriedale could answer, Shepherd stepped in, "With all due respect, sir, do you even know if it still exists? I believe it unwise to bank our success on that legend when we could spend our time elsewhere."

  "It may very well just be a legend for all we know, but we can't take any chances."

  "Aye, you're the boss man." She sighed.

  "Very well, Sir," Corri acknowledged, "Now may I be excused to get back to my upstairs duties? It's quite important that someone inspects the quality of our product."

  "You may," He said, shooing him away, "Shepherd, how is the radar project coming along?"

  "The device is nearing completion. All we need in order to move forward is The Network. Weren't Junky and Fungeye supposed to capture him last night?" She asked.

  Leopardi nodded, "Yes, but the hopper got in the way again. They are becoming more and more of a nuisance to us every week."

  "Should Corri and I take care of em' now?" Shepherd offered.

  "No need. I'll let our hero friend know. It would be better if we let him handle it. For now, just show me what you've done on the radar." He bossed. He gathered the papers on his desk and put them away in the filing cabinet before leaving the room with Shepherd.

  As soon as they left, I laid down on the roof and began breathing heavily. What? The? Hell? There's this whole Italian style mob family behind this? I suspected there was some kind of gang, but there's something about all of them that feels so… freaky… I don't think I could take them in a head on fight, but more importantly, the boss said they had a "hero friend". That must mean Drako-Knight! I got up and peered into the room, noticing a filing cabinet and desktop computer. I bet that there's plenty of incriminating evidence in there that could bring Drako-Knight and this whole mob down. Also, could probably learn more about what they're doing with those kids. I briefly debated if going in was really a good idea, but I knew that I might not get a chance like this again. If I don't act now, more kids will keep going missing. I have to risk it.

  I carefully opened the window and floated down in low gravity. Quickly and Quietly, I plugged in my special hacking thumb drive into the computer, then turned to search the cabinet. However, when I looked behind me, I saw something I couldn't see from the roof; a large Great Pyrenees dog lying in the corner of the room. I froze in my place. Was it asleep? Has it noticed me yet? It didn't seem to, so I gently hopped to the filing cabinet. Holding my breath, I lightly pulled open a drawer, however, despite my best efforts to be sneaky, the rusty old thing let out a SQUUEEEK that made the dog's ears rise up. Its eyes slowly lifted open, glowing a cerulean blue. Before I could do anything, it let out a bark so loud it echoed through the entire building. As fast as I could, I snatched an arm full of documents then dove to retrieve my thumb drive. I heard them running down the hall, so I leaped for the window, trying to smash through it. But before I could escape, the dog let out another bark that shifted the room and caused the window to disappear. I smashed straight into a solid roof, then back down into the floor. By the time I got up, Leopardi and Shepherd were standing in the doorway.

  "Well, my my, look what the cat dragged in. Looks like he won't have to get his claws dirty after all." The Leopard grinned. Shepherd put her fingers together and whistled. A moment later, Corriedale stepped out of a shadow like a ghost.

  "How the hell they'd get in here?" She scolded, "You were supposed to have security covered now!"

  "Ah, my bad, mate. Must have slipped past the girl while I was down here with you." Corri explained in his "friendly voice".

  Crap, this is exactly what I was afraid of. No way I'm winning this three on one, but maybe I can push past them. I hopped up on the opposite wall, charged my boots to full power, then launched for the door. However, Leopardi was way faster and stronger than I anticipated. He stepped in front of me and landed a punch that sent me flying back into the wall, the image of a Leopard appearing behind him.

  I almost lost consciousness for a second but snapped out of it, trying to pick myself off the ground. Although it wasn't me picking me up this time. Leopardi held me above the ground by my neck while Shepherd tied my arms to a support beam. All three of them had presences, so sinister but all in very different ways. Mr. Leopardi himself may have been the most intimidating, and strange enough, the fact that he had me by the neck wasn't even the scariest part. It was the level of control he had over everything. He didn't even come off as angry, he really didn't seem bothered by me at all, actually. It's like he could see right through my mask and knew that behind all my gear I was just a scared, powerless kid, with no chance of ever hurting him. Once I came to that realization, something about that started to really piss me off! Then, suddenly, I started laughing uncontrollably.

  "Hey! You think I'm afraid of you? HAHAHA!" I cackled, voice glitching through my mask, "After months of looking, I find out that the boss behind this all is just a chubby old man in an outdated suit! Who should I report you to, the Hero Association, or the fashion police?" For a brief moment, I could tell he was taken aback. He tried to regain power over me, but I was already too far gone.

  "What is this? A petty attempt to cover up your fear? We'll see if that smile is true once I remove that mask?" He stated.

  "My mask? Oh, no need. I've done you the courtesy of taking it off already. In fact, it's all of you who are wearing a mask! I may be tied up right now, but I'm more free than you've ever been." I claimed, still laughing so hard I could barely breathe.

  Shepherd smirked, "Wow, I think this one is as insane as yourself, Corriedale. They'd make a fine addition to your fun house."

  Corri resounded. "Tempting, but no thanks. I don't want them giving the others any ideas."

  "Yeah, and what gives you the right to call me insane?" I asked.

  "Well, I am a psychiatrist." She answered.

  "Enough, you two. They're just trying to get any information they can out of you." Leopardi commanded.

  "So what?" Shepherd argued, "It's not like they're going anywhere."

  "How do you know I'm even still here?" I mocked.

  "Ah, good question." Corriedale pointed out. He reached over to poke me on the nose, but his finger passed right through my face.

  "Can't you see? They're just distracting us with this nonsense." Leopardi groaned.

  "It made sense to me," Corri argued.

  "Shut up! It's time to find out who the Night Hopper really is." He laughed. He reached for my hood, struggling for a moment with how to take it off, but right before he got it, his phone began to ring. He begrudgingly picked it up and shouted, "What do you want now? I'm busy with something!"

  The person on the phone answered with a POW! A fist erupted from the phone, punching Leopardi in the face. Before any of us had a clue as to what just happened, the arm reached out and grabbed me, pulling me into the phone. The last thing I heard from him was a "WHAT THE HELL!?" followed by a THUD of a wall being punched.

  I felt so dizzy and disoriented. I struggled to catch my breath. My mind was so strained and overwhelmed with emotion it didn't feel like anything that just happened was real. It didn't help that the place I found myself in looked like an abstract fever dream. I reached for my chest and felt my pendant through my jacket. I don't know why that was my first instinct, but for some reason it got me to snap out of it. That was real. This place is real. I remember now. I was just here yesterday. I'm in the Network Realm… which means…

  "Yo, Rayleigh, you okay?" Yong-Rae asked, seeming almost as flustered as me.

  "Rae? It's really you? How did you? You just saved me." I realized.

  "Yeah, don't mention it. I guess we're even now. Besides, you're my friend. I couldn't sit back and do nothing when I heard what was happening to you." He explained.

  "We're friends?" WAIT, YOU'RE MY FRIEND!?"

  "Yeah, aren't we, Rayleigh?"

  "RAYLEIGH!? Oh no no no. This has to be a dream. You can't know." I huffed.

  "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to find out like that; it just sorta happened. You see, part of my technopath abilities is automatically sensing when devices in my network are near. I didn't realize it at the time, but yesterday when you entered my realm, the tech in your suit became connected to it," Rae informed.

  "So when I brought my gear to school with me, you sensed it?" I deduced, "Frick, so it was my fault then." Feeling exposed already, I took off my mask and goggles, then let myself change character.

  "Pretty much. I was trying to tell you earlier, but I didn't want to say anything when your sister was around." He elaborated, "But hey, I think it turned out for the best, seeing I saved your ass back there."

  For some reason, I doubted that giving up my secret was worth that save. I was too upset with myself to see how lucky I was to have a friend like Rae.

  "Thanks, but what you did was really dangerous. You could have gotten captured again." I reprimanded.

  "Yeah, you're one to talk. You're just a kid too, younger than me even." He argued.

  "They're only after people with titles. I'd be worthless to them." I defended.

  "They clearly don't know that."

  "Whatever, how did you even know I was in trouble?" I changed the topic.

  "I was in this realm trying to remotely hack into Fungeye's phone to find the boss's number when I heard what was happening through your mask's microphone. When you got caught, I made a call from his phone, then when the boss picked up his phone it got connected to the network and I was able to come through it."

  "Okay, first of all, that's awesome. But, uh, how much did you hear?"

  "I heard all your freaky taunting. Gotta say, if you were trying to piss him off, it definitely worked. Plus, it bought me enough time to finish hacking. I'm impressed with how you were able to play them like that. If I was in your place, I'd be pissing myself." He complemented.

  "… Thanks… but please forget you heard any of that." I sighed. "Anyway, are you really cool with me being Night Hopper? Last night you said you didn't trust them — me." Yong-Rae grinned and surprised me with a comforting hug that genuinely made me start to tear up.

  "Of course I'm cool with it. You're a real-life hero. I might not understand why, but I know that if it's you behind the mask, whatever your motives may be, they come from a good place at heart." Rae reassured.

  "Yeah, I'm… I'm glad you understand." I sighed. "I promise I can explain this more later, but… I really want to go home now. I have a lot to unpack."

  "No problem, I can get you home. You got a home computer I can email or something?" He asked.

  I told him, "Sure, my email's, ." We walked into the email app box. Inside looked like a real-life old school mail room. Rae pulled up a hologram screen and put in my email. Suddenly the room zoomed us down an almost endless hallway full of little mail cubbies until we got to mine.

  "Okay, just get in and I'll mail you to yourself and you'll be home in an instant." Rae claimed. The cubby expanded to fit me.

  "Um, alright?" I stepped inside. "Thanks for everything. Goodnight."

  "Night, see you tomorrow." He waved. He pushed the send button on his screen, then I was dropped down what felt like a mail chute as I was hurdled through cyberspace at the speed of light before popping out of my computer back in my room.

  After everything that happened that day, I had but one thought in my head in that moment. What the hell just happened??