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“That went well,” Magenta says as we enter the elevator.

I raise my eyebrow. “Were you expecting it to go wrong?”

“I mean, with you girls it’s always a toss-up.” She says with a smirk.

“What exactly were you expecting to go wrong when we’re enclosed within four walls?” I say in disbelief.

Almost at the same instant, as if the Protectors themselves want to punish me, the elevator screeches to a halt.

I turn to Magenta, who’s giving me an amused look. “Not a word. Lyssa, what’s going on?”

Someone has triggered the elevator emergency brake.

“Yeah, I felt that, but who and why?” I say as I make my way to the control panel to see if this thing has a manual override.

Lyssa does not know the reason as to why but Lyssa can see that Trysmegistus is the one who triggered it.

I look up from the panel in confusion. “Tryme what now?” I ask, turning to Magenta.

“That’s Claire’s AI,” Magenta informs me.

I scrunch up my nose. "That’s a long-ass name.”

Magenta laughs. “I know, right? No wonder she keeps calling him Try.”

“Wait, is Lyssa the only female AI?” I ask, suddenly coming to a conclusion.

“I mean in PsyCo, yeah, but Luna has a girl one named Lyona,. Magenta explains.

I shrug. Guess Lyssa is not that special then. "That still leaves us with one problem: why did Claire pull the brakes on us?”

Magenta shrugs. “Maybe she was naked.”

“And that would be a problem, why, exactly?” I ask.

Magenta tries to respond, then pauses for a second. "You know what? Good point.”

We, however, don’t have to come up with any more options as the lift starts moving again. Though, as we make our way up, something changes that raises my hackles. Our penthouse is completely blocking my sensors now, giving me blank feedback.

I tense my body, readying myself for whatever is about to happen. The doors of the elevator slide open and, well, there’s nothing, just an empty foyer. But the buzz of static is still all around me. I slowly creep out of the elevator only to be interrupted by a small chuckle from Magenta.

“What are you doing?” Magenta says with a big smile.

“My sensors are dark. I can’t see inside.” I announce.

Magenta frowns. "My sensors are fine. I can see a perfectly empty living room.”

I slowly rise out of my crouch. “Right, I guess yours might be a lot better than mine.”

Magenta shrugs. “Hey, at least you know that your privacy system works.”

I nod as I open the door to the living room. “Yeah, that’s fair. Not sure who’s stupid enough to try though.”

As I face the room, I’m greeted by a wall of people all screaming “Surprise!” and “Happy Birthday!”

I freeze, not exactly sure how to react until Claire walks up to me. “Are you okay? Do you hate it?”

“No, I was just surprised!” I say as I turn my neck to look at the pink gremlin behind me. “Empty?”

“For a certain definition of empty, it is empty of enemies.” Magenta says with a shit-eating grin.

“Well, happy late birthday,” Claire says, as she gives me a kiss and hands me a small box.

I smile as I take the box and turn to the rest of the people in the room. “Uhm, thank you all for coming. I didn’t see this coming.” I say with a smile.

Before I can check what is in the box, an influx of people come up to me to wish me a happy birthday as well, so I’m forced to shove it into my pocket for now.

The last people to come up to me are Rose and Tyler, handing me a very sticky box. “This one is for you,” Rose says. "We also have one for Maniac. Where is she?”

“Right behind you,” Maniac says as she picks up Rose in a tickle attack.

Eventually, she puts down the screaming child and gets her own sticky box.

Inside there are two handmade bracelets. Mine is yellow with orange, and Maniac’s is purple with pink accents. “Thank you, they’re really pretty,” I say with a smile.

Rose gives a confident nod. “Yeah, we made them ourselves.”

I smile at her. "They're perfect. Thank you.”

After we put on the bracelets and the kids leave to play with the animals, Maniac turns to me. “What did Claire give us?” she asks, bouncing on her feet.

“I don’t know.” I say as I take the box out of my pocket, “Want to find out?”

Maniac nods and I open the small box. Inside sits a silver necklace with three charms on it. A sword, a circuit board and a mask. I smile as I pick it up to take a closer look. On the back of the pendant is crammed the letters C, E, and M engraved in a fancy font.

“Wow, this is so pretty. Turn around. I'll help you put it on.” Maniac says while extending a hand.

I give her the necklace and turn around, allowing her to put the necklace on me.

I’m still smiling ,as I run into Luna who has her arm slung around a giant red panda. “Hey kiddo, are you enjoying yourself?” Our fox mom says with a smile as she hands me a box of cupcakes.

“Uhm, yeah, thanks.” I say as I take the cupcakes. “And who is this?”

The panda kind of smiles at me. “I’m Maddie, Luna’s wife.”

I pause. So, Mom is a furry. Good to know, I guess. “So are you like my stepmom then?”

Maddie nods. “I am, so you better eat your veggies or else.”

I just smile, not being entirely sure how to handle this situation. “So what are these?”

“The’re cupcakes? You don’t like them?” Luna asks, looking a bit concerned.

“No, I mean, I don’t know; I don’t think I’ve ever had them before. But they look sweet. Should I put them in the fridge, or how else should I store them?” I ask, feeling awkward. It's not my fault that I didn’t expect you to give me something normal.

“The box is airtight, so as long as you leave it in a cool place, it's fine. So you can put it with the rest of your snacks.” Luna says.

I nod and head into the kitchen, opening one of the top shelves where we keep all our snacks and store the cupcakes inside. Then I turn around and look at the party. People are drinking and talking and eating from several plates of finger food, all spread around the room. Maniac is doing some kind of balancing challenge against Anika, and everyone overall seems to be having a great time.

“Crow, are you going to come out as well? This is your party too.” I ask.

“Few people know me, so I would just get in the way.” Crow answers in an impassive tone.

“Then this is the perfect moment to get to know some new people. I don’t know everyone here either. I promise it’ll be fun.” I say, trying to coax our sword fanatic.

“Okay,” Crow says before appearing in front of me as an exact clone of myself, but with metal skin and exposed wires. Yep, android me will haunt my nightmares for a while, but Crow actually tries to mingle with people, so that’s a small victory at least.

I decide to follow Crow's example and start mingling with some of the unknown people. Turns out they’re just new people hired to PsyCo. Which, now that I think about it, makes sense. I guess a lot changes in a month.

After having reached my quota of human interaction for the hour, I decide to grab some food. After having collected my bounty of cheese and crackers, as well as some cake, I sit down in the living room next to the snow leopard, watching the beautiful creature as it imperiously studies the crowd. I notice that it’s now wearing a collar so I grab the tag to take a look at it. Yuki, it says in capital letters.

“I see, so that’s your name.” I say with a smile as I pet the cat.

“Good day, boss,” Yun Min says, as she sits down on a chair next to me with some cake. The stern woman looks slightly out of place in the festive atmosphere, but she doesn’t look uncomfortable, so that’s good.

I smile, “Good day to you, too. How have you been? Are you getting used to working here?”

Yun Min gives a small nod. "It's good, I get to roll out to every problem I think needs fixing, if there is no incursion.”

“So, being free to choose which asshole to punch in the face.” I say with a smile.

“I wouldn't put it like that, but yes. How about you?” she asks.

I shrug. “I am alright, all things considered. I do feel a bit off ever since I left Pluto, like I left a part of me behind or something.”

“Maybe you are just pushing yourself too hard. Do you have any other symptoms of burnout?” Yun Min asks.

“I don’t think so.” I say, “But I should have some more free time soon, I hope. It's time to relax, anyway.”

Just as I finish that statement, Sam walks up to us carrying two enormous glasses of what my brain logically tells me is alcohol. She hands me one glass and then, to my surprise, sits down in Yun Min’s lap. Yun Min, for her part, tries to stay calm.

Then, instead of doing anything about it, Yun Min brings her arm up and loops it around Sam’s waist. Sam, for her part, is giving me a smug look.

Then Yun Min takes the glass out of her hand and says, “Love, I think you’ve had enough to drink for now.”

Sam throws her arms around Yun Min’s neck in retaliation and gives her a kiss. "Come on, it's a party; we should have some fun.” Then she turns to me and starts to glare. "You aren’t going to give her a hard time because you’re her boss, right?”

I blink, trying my best to get my jaw off the floor. All of this is happening way faster than I was mentally prepared for. I take a look at the glass and take a big swig. “Technically, I’m not her boss; she’s mine.”

Sam blinks and then turns to Yun Min. "Really?”

Yun Min also looks a bit confused, so I elaborate. “When we created PsyCo and bought the building, I didn’t want to put it in my name, so I put everything in Yun Min’s name. Technically, she owns PsyCo.”

Sam nods, getting a big smirk. "That makes sense. This company is doing way too well for something you would own.”

“It’s running well because Cierra is in charge.” I point out to the clearly drunk Sam. “And how long has this been going on anyway?” I say, gesturing between the two of them.

Sam has a happy smile on her face. “For a while. She’s so nice.” she says with a sigh.

‘Lyssa, can you give me some hangover cure pills or something?’ I subvocalise as I open my texts from Crow, who is currently blowing up.

Certainly.

A little box appears in my hand, and I throw it at them, Yun Min catching it without any issues. "That's for the headache she gets in the morning.” I say as I stand up. “Now I’m going to find my sibling.”

I walk into the hall, following the directions of Crow, who keeps sending me SOS messages. I come to a stop in front of our bedroom and slowly open the door, finding Crow on her knees trying to comfort Cierra, who looks pretty upset.

I walk in slowly, sitting down next to her, rubbing her back. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I'm fine, just unsure what to do.” Crow answers, and I do my best not to point out that I wasn’t talking to them.

Cierra chuckles. “I’m okay, just upset.”

I lean into her some more. "What’s making you upset?”

“You know how I went to get your eggs back?” she asks, and I nod. I kind of lost track of the timeline of when it was supposed to happen, but I remember her making an appointment. “So we tested it and they came back negative. They aren’t yours.”

I frown. “Okay, so there was a little mix-up. We can go back tomorrow and get the correct ones.”

“And what if they do this again, enjoying a little run around trying to buy time?” Cierra asks, already sounding exhausted.

I nod. "So we take Yun Min with us. Having a scary lady, with a big gun, in their face will probably makes them want to hurry.”

“You can’t just threaten people!” Cierra says in surprise.

“Are you sure? Maniac does it all the time and has been quite successful with that strateg.,” I point out. “Come, this is nothing to be upset about. Worst comes to worst, we throw Maniac and Lyssa at the problem. Between the two of them, something has to break.” I say, as I keep stroking her back.

“Yeah, you’re right. We should be celebrating.” Cierra says as she snuggles in close to me.

“So you are no longer upset?” Crow asks.

“Yes, Crow, I’m fine now.” Cierra answers.

“Then can I have my hand back?” Crow asks, looking at where Cierra is still holding them.

Cierra smiles and pats Crow's head. “You are one strange creature.”