"Bingo!" The thought exploded through my mind like a fucking lightning bolt.
"ARIA, it's time."
"Yes Master!" ARIA's voice practically vibrated with digital bloodlust, her voice humming with the kind of excitement that made her shimmer with anticipation. "Now that we have the link, it's time to start uprooting these vultures!"
For fucking days we'd been waiting for this moment. Both me and my impossibly sarcastic AI companion had been practically vibrating with anticipation, and now we finally had our shot.
You see, I'd been craving to finish this mission that promised me a super mystery box—the kind of reward that made my mouth water just thinking about it. And ARIA? She was just as hungry for that digital prize as I was, maybe more. But all we'd managed so far was saving Charlotte Thompson from what would've been inevitable suicide, and even then, the system barely fucking recognized it as an achievement.
