“What’s wrong Zoe?” Chloe asked. Zoe’s friends had insisted on taking her out of Doc Brown’s clinic for a few hours and dinner before Zoe’s upcoming surgery. Surprisingly, Claire had agreed with them.

“MR is too much to handle. Every communication traffic that I see is a pigeon or little man with winged feet running by and there are a ton of them,” Zoe answered shutting her eyes. “And don’t get me started about all the ICE and daemons I see everywhere.”

“Just shut MR off,” Newt suggested.

“Don’t do that,” a new voice said. “Just apply a filter to take out what you don’t apply to you. The filters should be under your MR options menu.”

“Lionel!” TK said. “It’s good to see you and Rita again.”

“When did you two get back?” Terr asked.

“Yesterday,” a female voice that Zoe assumed to be Rita answered.

“Enjoy the vacation?” Vee asked.

“Yup! Taking a run to Los Angeles and spending six weeks on the beach was a ton of fun,” Rita replied.

“The drive there and back sucked though,” Lionel added.

“He’s just complaining to be complaining. Lionel enjoyed the time away from the city just as much as I did,” Rita said. “So, what’s wrong with the newbie?”

“This time or just in general?” TK asked while grinning to show he was joking.

“Seems to me that what’s wrong at the moment is MR overload,” Lionel replied. “That’s why I recommended setting a filter.”

“Thank you,” Zoe said opening her eyes. She had filtered out all the message traffic as well as any daemon or ICE that wasn’t focused on her as he suggested. The ad blocker was already taking care of the ads. The underlining binary code was distracting, but Zoe thought she could get used to it. “That’s much better.”

She then focused on the newcomers. The man nodded at her while the woman smiled. The pair were older than the others and looked vaguely familiar.

“You’re welcome,” Lionel said. “You’ll get used to things in time and the underlining code isn’t so bad as long as you don’t focus on it.”

“Hey! I remember you two. You’re the slackers,” Zoe suddenly said. Cee laughed and the others joined her. “I had wondered what happened to you two.”

“We’re not slackers!” Rita protested. “We’re comfortable with our routine and income.”

This prompted more laughter.

“One of the perks of our job is taking long distance runs to other cities and making a vacation out of it,” Cee informed Zoe. “Henri and I are considering taking such a run after we get married for our honeymoon. Perhaps Miami or another warm coastal city.”

“Some couriers make a career off making those long runs,” Rita said.

“You need a good vehicle for that. A motorcycle won’t cut it,” Terr added.

“One with a little kitchen, bed, and other creature comforts wouldn’t hurt,” TK said.

“That van we bought a couple years ago has all that,” Lionel replied.

“And it finally saw use on that trip,” Rita added as Lionel put his arm around her. Zoe flinched. “What is it newbie? Don’t like PDAs?”

“Huh?” Zoe muttered.

“Public displays of affection,” Vee replied.

“No, it’s not that. Don’t you guys hear the thunder?” Zoe asked.

“Not me and I have the best hearing of our bunch,” TK said looking up. “Besides, there are no clouds in the sky.”

Zoe flinched again. The thunder sounded like it was getting closer and coming much quicker.

“That’s a Thunderbird,” Lionel said. He pointed to the west. “You can see its wings over that building.”

The group turned to look where the older man pointed.

“I don’t see anything,” Newt said.

“Me neither,” Cee agreed.

“Nothing,” Terr said.

“Are you pulling our legs?” Vee asked.

“It’s there,” Rita said.

“I can see it,” Zoe added taking a picture of the giant digital hawk. Its wings looked to be shooting lightening.

“Must be an MR thing,” TK said.

“It is. A Thunderbird is a major offensive daemon,” Lionel informed them as Zoe sent the image to the others. “You guys should really pay for an MR sub. You’re missing out on so much.”

“Holy…” Zoe said. Her eyes had widened in alarm as she heard a roar. “What the heck is that?”

“Dragon,” Rita answered turning to where Zoe was staring north of where the Thunderbird was. “Someone is trying to slice or attack a corporation.”

“Dragons are the major ICE or defensive daemons that corps use,” Lionel said sending a picture of the Dragon to the others. It looked like the classical dragon with four legs, a horned head, with wings, a long neck and tail.

“How are we seeing them?” Zoe asked. “I set my MR to ignore anything that didn’t concern me.”

“Little sister, you don’t think that should concern you?” Lionel asked. “If we were close to where the fight is, we could be collateral damage.”

“What do you mean?” Zoe asked. “And why are you suddenly calling me little sister?”

“Because I feel like it. You seem to be a kindred spirit,” Lionel answered.

“We know you’re a slicer or at least a coder,” Rita supplied. “I guess this means I can’t call you newbie anymore since Lionel has gone straight to calling you little sister.”

“We’ve been told your police scanner is a nice app,” Lionel said as he and Rita sent Zoe the credits, she charged for it.

“Thanks,” Zoe replied returning half the money. Since the pair worked for Henri, she would give them the same discount as the others. Seeing their questioning looks, she said, “Friends and family discount.”

The two nodded their thanks.

“They’re like this,” Chloe informed Zoe. “You’ll get used to them.

“As for your other question,” Lionel said ignoring Cee’s comment, “major attacks on corporations can and often do leave innocents injured or even dead as they spill out onto nearby streets.”

“Oh,” Zoe replied. She could see how that could happen as the same thing had often happened in military fighting. So, yeah, that made major daemons a concern to her.

“You know every time I consider getting a more advanced MR sub than my gaming one, I’m reminded of why I don’t want one,” TK said. “I can live just fine without seeing things like that Dragon every day.”

“Remember Sally that worked for Midtown Couriers?” Rita asked.

“Yeah,” TK answered. “She died last year.”

“Do you know how she died?” Lionel asked. TK shook his head no.

“Heat exhaustion, I think,” Vee said.

“She was leaving Zhao Technologies’ offices when it was attacked,” Lionel said. “She made it a block away when Zhao’s Dragon attacked the intruders, who were in an apartment 50 stories above street level. Sally had been caught in the Dragon’s flame as well as hundreds of others.”

“Why wasn’t that in the news?” Newt asked. “Corp coverup?”

“Yup,” Lionel answered.

“We would rather see something like that coming instead of just killing over,” Rita said.

“That’s a good point. If you see it coming, you could try to escape,” Chloe replied. “Henri and I may have to have another discussion.”

“Well, let’s take the talk inside and hit up this pizza place,” Terr said.

“Sounds good,” Zoe agreed not taking her eyes off the Dragon.