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Episode Cliff: Underestimated

From birth, everyone always considered Cliff Runner a joke. His parents, Claudia and Swift Runner, had argued long and hard about what to name their third child and third son. Claudia had always insisted to follow the family tradition of naming all the kids with anything that started with a 'C' and Swift had a long-standing tradition amongst his family that their names somehow made a pun of their surname, 'Runner'. Cliff's eldest brother, Miles, was a sort of compromise between the two. Not a 'C' but also didn't quite fit the pun of 'Runner'. The middle brother, Charlie, was Claudia's win. Cliff was the one where both parents had their say and ultimately was a conversation starter for both. So every time Cliff was introduced, it was always with a joking smile and a laugh.

Ironically, he had never been cliff running.

As a result, few every took him seriously. Being underestimated was exactly why Cliff often got away with so many things like being part of an underground guerrilla army against corporate injustice, surprising his lower-middle class parents when he actually managed to pay his own way to college with money he got from building computers for others. Admittedly they still considered his 'hobby' of building computers a luxury and pressured him into studying law 'to make the most of the opportunity' so they were sort of coming to realize he was more than a joke.

For those who were just getting to know him, however, he was easily dismissed as a partying, easy-going fratboy. Even when he stood in the kitchen, a peanut butter, smoked ham, olives and fetta cheese sandwich halfway to his muzzle, he watched Ryker and Bryce walk by him, completely oblivious to his presence even if he was about ten feet away from them. He could be loud and boisterous but, if he wanted to, he could blend into the background. Then again, Ryker could be pretty self-absorbed sometimes.

The weight of the previous night's disaster was still on his mind. Had he not been so distracted by Takoshi's grandiose machismo, he could have gotten that scan of Ethan Maydoor the moment the Fennec Fox had gotten up and thrown every IP in the arena at Ryker. Decanter had been swift, however, when he had ordered Cliff to secure them an exit. Not quick enough, however, to claim Bryce as his own IP when the wolf had basically held them hostage.

With a soft sigh, he took his sandwich and headed towards the couch, resting sideways across the sectional with one arm over the headrests and the other clutching his meal. He realized he didn't have a free paw to switch on the television so he shoved the sandwich in his muzzle, just barely biting it, and then grabbed the nearby remote. Once the TV was on, he grabbed what many would call an abomination of a sandwich and bit into it. He enjoyed the texture of the peanut butter and how it mellowed out the saltiness of the ham. The fetta offered bites of creamy saltiness and the olives gave it an exotic tang that all blended in well with the peanut butter. No one had yet to call him out on his choice of meals.

The TV blared to life and he quickly switched through the channels. Naturally, there was nothing on the news about the assault on Horizon. This all occurred in the Overworld so the public had no knowledge of what had happened. Surfing through the channels revealed nothing out of the ordinary. Even the Horizon Channel didn't seem at all fazed by the sudden appearance of Independents at one of their Overworld auditions. There was an ad for a new and upcoming reality TV show involving gladiators called 'American Gladiator Warriors' which was supposed to be a modernized version of gladiatorial combat including following the supposed gladiators through a week of training before some sort of challenge which would decide who would face off against one another in the arena. The loser would be eliminated, naturally. If he didn't know the tactics that Horizon employed and didn't worry that this show could be the result of that poor hippopotamus IP being turned into a Doser, he might've been interested.

The sandwich was suddenly snatched from his paw and he turned to find Arthur, having recently woken up, taking a bite. The boar's features twisted into a look of utter disgust but, to his credit, he still swallowed it.

"Bro, this is gross."

Cliff took the sandwich back. "That'll teach you for swiping my sandwich. Besides, you should learn by now."

"That you have really weird tastes?" answered Arthur, leaning against the chair. "Any news about Horizon?"

He indicated a negative and flicked out his phone, using it to synchronize with the TV. He brought up the Watcher App and streamed the current news from the Libertatis-only anchors. The masked man and woman reported on the events occurring the previous night. The Kage were meeting with more and more people but to the wider Libertatis, it was unknown what these meetings were for. News did apparently come from somewhere down in Mississippi that another raid was being organized against a Shellfish company that was abusing its power.

"So soon..." Arthur murmured.

"They must've found another Overlord," Cliff mused. "If we didn't have our own, I'd want to be there too. Would love to see what kind of Overlord shellfish would spit out."

"Probably something with huge claws. And lots of legs." Arthur chuckled and gave Cliff's arm a pinch as if his hands were crab claws. "Did you report to Si?"

"Last night."

Arthur's features went still and sullen. "Did you tell him about Ryker?"

Cliff's eyes drifted back towards the screen. "Had to, man. Ryker is already one-of-a-kind for having two IPs but the fact that he's still alive and kicking after making another Pact is a miracle."

"What did he say?"

Thinking back to the previous night, Cliff distinctly remembered using his Safe and Recall Function to bring them back to the apartment. Ryker had fallen unconscious from making the Pact. Takoshi practically muscled Bryce away as he and Decanter set Ryker carefully in bed. They took turns watching him throughout the night with Decanter eventually relenting to allow Bryce to take the last shift. In the meantime, Cliff made his report to the Kage.

"He was kind of silent for a long while. Then he asked us to protect Ryker. Said something about him being really special and an asset to us right now."

"I can imagine that," Arthur said with a shrug. "If we can figure out how Ryker can make multiple Pacts with different IPs, that'd give the Libertatis a leg-up on the corporations. Imagine all of us with an army of IPs behind us while they're stuck with Dosers." He snickered and gently shook Cliff's shoulders. "Just promise me you're not getting jealous of the superstar."

"Dude," Cliff laughed, shoving him back. "You know it's not like that."

"Yeah." Arthur leaned forward, sticking out a tongue between his tusks. "You want to bone him."

Cliff leapt up and slammed a paw over the boar's muzzle, gazing over his shoulder to make sure Decanter or Takoshi didn't overhear. "Bro, shut up."

Chuckling softly, Arthur pulled his hand away. "Come on. You and I both think he's cute and totally adorable when he blushes. Plus, he saved our asses against AllAle. He means a lot to you and me both." He winked a Cliff. "Hey, we know Takoshi is probably not open to a threesome and Decanter definitely isn't but who knows about Bryce, right?"

"You're so horny," Cliff teased, pushing him away. "Come on man, he just woke up. Give him some time."

"If that's you trying to weasel out of our bet, try again."

He shot Arthur a challenging look, his fangs baring in a savage grin. "Oh hell no. I'm still game if you are."

It had started off as a joke back when Cliff had first moved in with Ryker several months ago, back before Ryker became an Independent. Cliff was usually used to getting a reaction from people when he told them his name was 'Cliff Runner' but not Ryker. When they had first been introduced, Ryker was all business and barely managed a 'huh' of interest when Cliff used his icebreaker. That had sparked Cliff's curiosity. When Cliff had told Arthur about it, they plotted to see how Ryker would react to the idea of the two being fuck-buddies. Of course, they were subtle about it and given how often Arthur came over and all the times he had Arthur sleep over, he could have sworn that Ryker would have at least said something.

But over months, the gray wolf barely even interacted with him.

Up until the moment that Cliff revealed that he was part of the Custodes Libertatis, Ryker became this unobtainable McGuffin. So much so that Cliff and Arthur made a bet on who could elicit the first kiss from Ryker or at least the first sexual act out of him. Of course that changed as he got to know the wolf more. Ryker could just be incredibly_self-absorbed and oblivious sometimes. For some reason, that actually made him cuter and more desirable. Ryker's stunned reaction when Cliff revealed his identity as 'Bandit' of the _Libertatis was priceless and made him squirm a little inside.

He had a taste and now he wanted more.

And Arthur wanted to even the score.

"Bitch, I am still in the lead," he said. "I'm not giving that up so easily."

Arthur grinned broadly. "You're on."

Ryker didn't return until just before it was time for their shifts to begin and that gave Cliff an opportunity to start planning his next moves. These were all derailed, however, as halfway through the morning, he got a message from Si.

"Don't worry about Horizon_. They now know your faces. All subtly is gone and your identities could be compromised. Stay low and_ do not do anything to provoke them."

These words cast a dark cloud over the rest of his day. Naturally, he didn't let it mess with any of his work as the light-weight trainer of the gym. Though he had no degrees whatsoever in the field, he was still fit enough to at least pass as a trainer. None of his clients complained though he did wonder if he was vulnerable for a lawsuit. He made a mental note to look into getting an official license at one point.

When his break came about, he caught Arthur just as the boar was finishing his training session with Ryker.

"Hey man," he said, "guess what I just got."

"A half-chub from seeing _me_work out with Ryker?" Arthur teased.

"Yes but also no." He held up the message he had received from Si and let his IP read its contents.

"Huh," the boar said. "Well, I guess that's that."

He gave Arthur a puzzled look. "Wait... really? Dude, Si is just telling us to back off from the company that stole your life. You're just letting it go?"

An equally puzzled look was thrown back at him. "Uh... yeah, bro. He makes a good point. We went in there without our masks. They totally know what we look like. If we go back into the Overworld, they'll have Corpsmen running around and if they spot us, they can find out where we live and hurt the people we love." He dropped his voice, leaning forward. "Hayden could get in big trouble. Remember, his dad is a corporate CEO too. If they find out our identities, your family could be in danger too."

Arthur rested a hand on his shoulder. "Just remember, dude, I don't have anyone else but you and the guys here. You_'ve_got family. If we were to balance the trade off..." Arthur lifted and dropped his two hands as if measuring some scales. "... your family takes priority."

"Yeah but..." Cliff's eyes dropped. "That doesn't make you any less important."

He got a huge hug from the boar. "I know, dude. I love you for that. But it's the smart thing to do. Just let it go. I've lived this long without knowing. I can live without it."

With those words, Arthur turned and left.

That would have been the end of the situation until later that evening. Cliff was lounging about in the kitchen after work, his laptop on the kitchen counter while he was absently surfing the web and doing some homework. That was when Arthur and Bryce came back in, laughing heartily, arms around one another.

"Did you fuck?" he greeted with a cheeky grin.

Arthur stuck out a tongue at him and winked. "No but it totally would've been hot. We just went out to dinner. Bryce heard of this awesome place for wings a few streets down from one of his clients. He doesn't have any money right now so I paid."

"And wings in the Realworld are so_much better than the Overworld," Bryce exclaimed. "Everything in the Overworld is so _perfect. Here, it's so different! I remember one wing that wasn't covered in sauce at all! It was so plain."

Cliff couldn't fathom how anyone would be thrilled over subpar service like that but he guessed that was why he was a Host and Bryce was an IP. Thinking back to the night he found Arthur that first time he dropped into the Overworld, he felt a pang of pain in his chest like he had just been stabbed. In contrast to how the boar was now, Arthur's golden armor was battered, dirty and scrappy. The boar's hair was scraggly and he even had a bit of a hobo-beard going on. Of course, at the time he had caught Arthur masturbating on the Overworld equivalent of his bed but it was still a heart-wrenching sight. He never wanted to see Arthur like that again... and somewhere in his heart, he wanted to punish those that had put him in that situation in the first place.

"I'm going to take a shower," Arthur announced. "I stink. If either of you dudes want to help this boar wash his back, I won't complain."

Cliff waved away the offer. "Sorry dude, I know you boars. You fuck and orgasm for hours. I've got homework."

"I'll pass," Bryce said. "Yes, you took me out to dinner but I don't put out until at_least_ the third date."

Arthur laughed heartily and gave Bryce's ass a light slap before heading off to the showers. That left Bryce to wander over to Cliff and lean over his shoulder at the laptop.

"Whoa... that looks like some complex stuff," commented the red-furred wolf. "What is it?"

"Basic schematics for servers," answered Cliff. "Configurations for blades, firewalls and other stuff to make a working virtual server on the cloud. I've got a paper coming up on the benefits of migrating existing systems to the cloud versus keeping things on-prem and the current trends in modern technology to..." He caught Bryce's partially-glazed-over eyes. "... I got homework."

"Is it due tomorrow or something?"

"Three weeks. I'm almost done but there was this article that came out today about how a vulnerability was exposed in AWS_and because so many people use _AWS as a basis for their infrastructure, it could actually be pretty bad. Amazon patched it up quickly but it was pretty damn scary." He pointed at the screen. "I was just reading up on it and thought I could add it in to my paper."

Bryce straightened and ruffled his own hair a little. "Wow... I never took you to be so..."

"Nerdy?" That was a common misconception that Cliff was more than happy to play off. People underestimated him all the time.

"I was going to say tech-savy. You act like such a jock."

"Jocks can be smart. Not every jock has to play football and be a communications major looking to work at their dad's auto-shop for the rest of their life and marry their high-school sweetheart. I'm actually studying law but I'm thinking about going into tech-law. There is a lot of lawsuits going around because of technology. New tech keeps popping up and because it's new, either it isn't regulated or legislation doesn't cover it so people can abuse it."

Bryce leapt up onto the table, seating his shapely ass on the counter. "Oh yeah? Who are you going to marry, then?"

"That's what you picked out of all that shit?" He snickered and went back to the article in front of him. "Probably Arthur. Once we establish his identity and all."

"Probably?" repeated the wolf.

"I never really believed in marriage. It works for some people but really, people can be perfectly happy without ever signing some legal document saying you can only fuck the one person forever or until one of you dies. I think people would be much happier if we were all just comfortable with our relationships that we could sleep with whomever we wanted and still love those we hold dear."

Bryce nodded in understanding. "As the product of excessive Rule 34 exposure, I can get behind that idea."

He turned towards Bryce in surprise. "Seriously?" He appraised the wolf up and down. "I can honestly say I'm not surprised." He flicked his ears at the wolf. "But hang on... if you're on the internet, why were you orphaned and under Horizon?"

Grimacing a little, Bryce pointed at his laptop. "Look up 'B-Rice Mascot'. Maybe throw in Rule 34 in there."

"Okay..." He turned back to his computer, typed in Bryce's name and his search. "I'm getting different things like different celebrities and stuff..."

"Oh. I meant B-Rice. As in the letter 'B', hyphen and then 'Rice'. Like the common staple in many dishes."

"Ah..." He tried it as Bryce intended and searched. His eyes widened. "Oh... Oh no..."

"Yep," sighed Bryce. "Wow, we're down to just three search results. Guess I really am fading from the world." He pointed at the image of a vastly different hyper-masculine version of Bryce currently pregnant and being fucked by another two mascots with the 'pups' in Bryce's stomach currently pushing against his distended belly.

"Wow..." Cliff said, immediately shutting his laptop. "That... That was someone's kink. Amazing."

"Uh-huh." Bryce shrugged. "Unfortunately, that's where I came from. Back when I was a cereal mascot, people really wanted to fuck or _be_fucked by me. I guess it sort of gave me a new-age outlook." He grinned at Cliff. "Lucky for you boys, huh."

He laughed a little nervously. "Yeah. I guess so, dude. Still, I'm sorry. That really sucks. Is that why you were discontinued or something?"

"Pretty much. Corporate hated the idea that their 'healthy' cereal was being associated with online porn, made a statement, threatened lawsuits and stripped me from all media."

The only thing worse than being sold to a corporation was your own corporation not wanting you. "That must've hurt."

"It did. Worse because I didn't understand what was going on. The internet moves fast and the corporate world is just one step behind most times. I was _barely_conceived before I was cut off."

"Do you ever want to get back at the corporation?"

Bryce laughed, his eyes going distant. "Sometimes I have fantasies about finding the corporate executive that decided to abandon me and catch them in a headlock while I burn their face off. Other times, I want to find all those horny neckbeards who either decided to give me tits or a dick and balls so big I couldn't move and fuck them until they bled. I still do." He shrugged absently. "But it's all just a fantasy. It'll never happen."

Cliff's eyes fell back on his laptop. "Supposing you could. If you had the opportunity to get back at them or at least know more. Would you take it?"

The wolf grimaced. "Honestly, if we were talking now, I probably wouldn't. I've got a good thing with Ryker right now. He saved my life. I wouldn't want to give that up for my own personal vendetta. But if I was alone, maybe, yeah."

"I guess it's a little about how comfortable you are with your relationships, huh?" Cliff mused. "If you're confident enough that what you have can take the strain of whatever is behind that door, you should take that chance."

"Not how I'd put it," Bryce mumbled. "But I suppose so. Honestly, I think the better option is not to test the relationship at all. Just ask the other person that you want to do this. If they know you as well as you hope, they'll support you. It's about trust."

"Trust..." Cliff shook his head and opened his laptop, taking pains to delete the browser history of the abomination that he had just seen. "In this world, dude, trust is the last thing you should be giving out for free and the first thing everyone wants."

"Are you talking about trusting someone like Ryker or trusting yourself?"

He turned his sky-blue eyes towards the wolf. "What are you talking about?"

Bryce's features darkened and his claws scraped across the table. "Arthur told me about your little bet. Ryker is my Host now. I'm going to protect him with my life. That means if I have to keep conniving, manipulative assholes like you who use the 'lies of omission' as an excuse to outright deceive people, I will." Bryce leaned forward, almost nose to nose with Cliff. "So I'm going to trust you not to tell Ryker that I outright threatened you and you will have to trust me not to tell him about you and Arthur making a bet over him and basically treating him like an object or conquest to add to your belt. Deal?"

Cliff didn't flinch.

"Fine."

Bryce straightened, glaring at him. "Good."

Then the wolf turned and left, the entire kitchen once more without another occupant apart from himself. Cliff waited for a few short minutes just to make sure no one else would come in. Once he was sure he was alone, he brought up the chat window that he had been using, grateful that his Contact in the _Libertatis_hadn't messaged him during his confrontation with Cliff. His quick fingers had hidden the conversation before the nosy wolf could spy what he had been doing.

"Hey, I'm back, sorry," he typed. He had moved to the kitchen knowing full well that if he worked in his own room, Arthur would eventually migrate to his bed and he would never get to finish this conversation. Out here in the kitchen, even if he had to risk people coming in and out, he had a better chance of completing this conversation.

"Cool, dude," answered his Contact. "So as I was saying, the Kappa Nu Taus are having a party tomorrow. I have it on good authority that one of them is actually in with Horizon_. You might actually be able to get some info off his equipment. You got a hacking tool._"

Cliff smirked. "Still got one from my other raids. Should be enough. Got a name?"

"Yep. Sending the details over. Shouldn't be guarded. It's a frat party. The Kappas have connections everywhere so even if you enter via the Overworld, there won't be any Corpsmen there. It's kind of neutral ground."

That made sense. This particular fraternity was notorious for corporations grooming them to be the next executives. Not one corporation had claim on the Kappas and that meant if any Corpsmen were caught trying to manipulate their proteges, it could very well mean outright war. Besides, the Kappas_apparently had a very powerful IP - their mascot - that was _very old. Going in via the Overworld was risky.

Which meant he had to go via the Realworld. Waltzing in as another party-going would be easy enough. The Kappas had an open-invite policy in that regard. Part of their attempt to make more connections. But Arthur couldn't know about this. At least not yet.

The good thing was, Arthur would be busy tomorrow. He wouldn't be inclined to attend the party. But if Cliff made the offer and was subsequently shutdown, he would have a better chance of keeping this hidden from the boar at least until he had something more substantial. He looked forward to the day that he would surprise Arthur with his revelations.

"It's all about trust," he whispered to himself. "You'll just have to trust me, dude. I know this is eating you up inside. I'm going to set you free."

Chapter 6

The restaurant was called Toast-For-Two. A French-Japanese fusion restaurant that prided itself on churning out unique desserts while also serving some decent meals. It was not exactly the kind of establishment that Ethan Maydoor would frequent. The environment was far too noisy and busy for his tastes. Too many bright colors, too many people and too much noise. Even as he entered, the chime of the door irritated him.

"Be with you in a minute," exclaimed one of the waitresses, a tall white-furred mouse that looked a little too masculine for his tastes. "Just take a seat anywhere."

Just another thing that annoyed him about this place. If it weren't for the personal embarrassment of having an Independent slip through his fingers, he would have assigned this task to someone else. Raven was never one to hold grudges and accountability wasn't really something that the CEO held in high regard within Horizon. But Simon, on the other hand, would never let him live down this insignificant slight. If it would shut up that British rabbit, he would even subject himself to being served greasy food from a low-brow diner.

"Over here," Zoom suggested, gesturing towards an empty booth.

That was why he had his IP, Zoom. The excitable Mako Shark was always the extra hand that he needed so that he could devote his time and effort to what really mattered. It was what made them such a perfect combination and why they were the perfect team when it came to the operations of The Horizon Channel. Ethan could focus on the big picture, the big wins while Zoom oversaw the smaller but by far more numerous issues that would plague the network. It was the perfect arrangement and they were so in-synch that often times, Ethan never even had to utter a word.

This was evident as he approached the booth. Zoom was several steps ahead of him. The lean shark had already grabbed a napkin and was wiping down the plastic-covered benches and table before the COO even sat down. The menus were wiped down before he had grabbed them. Not that Ethan was even really interested in eating but he decided to spare thirty seconds regarding what was on offer in case it could inspire him to kick off a new show. As he expected, there was nothing inspirational.

A small countdown triggered in the back of his mind. After overseeing so many reality TV shows about cooking, he expected someone to at least greet them and take their order within the next five minutes.

Seven minutes later, that same, white-furred mouse came over, beaming and clearly exhausted.

"Hi there," she greeted with a bright, chirpy tone. "My name is Teresa and I'll be helping you out to day. Can I get you any drinks?"

"I don't know, can you?" Maydoor retorted in a whisper barely audible.

"I'm sorry, hon," the woman said. "I didn't quite catch that."

"We'll just have some waters," replied Zoom with a bright, toothy smile. "And we're actually ready to order."

"Well sure thing!" exclaimed Teresa bright a bright smile. "What can I get you?"

Zoom ordered for the both of them. Something bright and fresh. The springy mouse wrote down their orders on an archaic notepad and was bouncing off to the kitchen with a spring in her step. Another timer started in Maydoor's mind. It shouldn't take more than three minutes to grab two glasses of water for the two of them. As the COO, schedules were like a gospel to him. If something was not done exactly at the expected time, he grew anxious and irritable. Seconds ticked by and Maydoor was already reaching for his phone, ready to leave a scathing review online about this place.

Toast-For-Two was saved when Teresa returned with two glasses of iced water.

"Didn't even ask if we wanted tap or sparkling," Maydoor muttered.

"Sorry," Teresa said apologetically. "I really can't hear you. This place is super busy so you may have to speak up."

"We were actually just checking this place out," Zoom chimed in once again speaking for him. The shark, held out his own phone. "We heard that these two came here. They're going viral right now."

The mouse laughed softly and brushed back her blonde hair. "Oh yeah. They're the reason a lot of people are here right now. I've got to admit. That Bryce can be a hot head."

That settled it. After having received a briefing from the other Corpsmen, they had identified that the traitor was Bryce Byrne, one of the 'moles' put into the contests to make things interesting and 'groom' the IPs they actually wanted to win. Bryce had been with Horizon_for years and hadn't shown any signs of defection. Then again, after the fall if _AllAle several weeks ago, the Overworld was rapidly changing.

"Is that his name?" replied Zoom, putting on his charm. "People have been calling him 'Righteous Red'."

"Because of his rant against that bigot," Teresa exclaimed. "I know right! Ah, but poor Ryker looks so flustered! Honestly, if I had known Red had done that just before coming here, I wouldn't have been so hard on him."

So she _knew_Bryce and the other wolf - this Ryker - personally. They now had a name. Ryker would be a normally uncommon name but it wasn't like they had access to personnel records. Maybe they could get Simon to run searches for the name 'Ryker' who happened to be a grey wolf that frequented Manhattan but Ethan's pride demanded he not turn to the arrogant CSO. He could figure this out himself.

"Do you have a last name?" he asked softly.

Before Teresa could again ask him to speak up, Zoom was again speaking for him. Sometimes he wished his IP wouldn't do that but there was no point resisting. This was more efficient anyway. "What's Ryker's last name, by the way? I haven't seen it anywhere online."

For a second, there was a faint wavering in Teresa's easy-going smile. "What? Are you guys with the media or something?"

"Something like that. We'd be interested in interviewing him. Him and Righteous Red. You know, before someone else pounces."

"Slow news day," Teresa chuckled. Her eyes regarded them both with a faint smile. "It may impact my tips but I'll have to say that I don't sell out my friends that easily. If you want, you can come here tomorrow morning or something. Ryker usually likes to come here every other morning before ten for breakfast. You might be able to catch him then."

Zoom beamed. "Thanks for the offer. We might just do that."

"We don't have the time," Ethan whispered sharply. This time, their waitress seemed to hear him. That was good. He could finally talk to her over the roar of the busy morning crowd.

"You know what?" Zoom began, regarding Teresa with a smile. "I like your style. Ever thought about moving up in the world? Getting out of the waitress gig?"

She leaned down, placing a paw on her him and smirking. "I don't know. Can you handle all this woman?"

"I'm sure I can," answered the Mako-shark with a toothy grin. With a flick of his wrist, he offered her a card. "How about we meet up later tonight? After you get off work. I'm sure there's a position I can find for you."

She took the card and made a show of sliding it between her breasts. "I might just take you up on that offer." She turned, swaying her hips at him. "I'll go get your order boys."

As she left, Ethan exchanged glances with Zoom, the shark's smile fading.

Now they had a lead and as everyone knows, once a shark bites it never lets go.

******

For the first time in two nights, Ryker woke up in someone's arms. Waking up well-rested reminded him just how much he loved getting a good night's sleep. But that moment of serenity was broken when all the stress of the previous night and the events that had preceded it came crashing back down to reality.

First of all, there was the arm now draped around him. It was not thick, hairy or covered in soft, white fur. It was gray, surprisingly smooth and lean. Then there was the fact that he had effectively fucked the owner of said arm by proxy the previous night which was followed by the two of them returning to his bedroom where they cuddled, kissed and subsequently fallen asleep in one another's arms. It occurred to him that all he really needed to truly get a good night's sleep was to have some company... and some modicum of silence that wasn't pierced by Takoshi' thunderous snores.

All this came coalescing into a single emotion: guilt.

While he hadn't penetrated personally Decanter, he had nonetheless treated him how he would treat an actual boyfriend. They had both cum, they had passionately kissed one another and they had slept together naked. Short of saying the 'L-word' to one another, this could easily be constituted as cheating.

The noise of New York City was already stirring him from his sleep and he needed some form of energy in him before he started spiraling or at least to fuel the spiral. Slowly, he began to slide out from underneath the sheets distinctly smelling of himself and the grape-infused scent of Decanter. It was a stark different from Takoshi's icy, musky smell. The moment his toe touched the awful blue carpet floor, Decanter stirred.

"Your pants are at the foot of the bet," mumbled the rhino sleepily.

Ryker froze, the fur on his neck standing on end. "Uhm... Thanks."

Decanter shifted, resting on his back and curling his arms behind his head. "I apologize. Normally, I'd already be up and running, preparing your morning schedule by now but I was rather comfortable."

Ryker closed his eyes for a moment, mentally sighing before sliding back under the sheets, resting a paw against Decanter's muscled chest and nuzzling up against the rhino's neck. His IP tensed immediately. That sinewy neck _was_one of his buttons as Ryker had discovered last night.

"What are you doing?" asked Decanter warily.

"Just cuddling," he answered. "It's still early. We don't have to be up and getting ready for work at least for another hour. If we just cram a simple breakfast, we'll make it."

"No... I actually meant more about..." Decanter gave him an incredibly confused look. "Why are you lying in bed with me?"

Ryker pulled back, returning that look. "Why is that weird?"

The white-haired rhino looked just as puzzled. "I... I don't know. I suppose I'm just used to my Host getting out of bed before me and going straight to business. This is... Uh... Strange to me."

"That honestly sounds a little... impersonal," Ryker said, leaning back into the rhino. He made a point of taking Decanter's arms and wrapping it around his shoulders so that they could hold onto one another tighter. "Aileen and I are very different people."

Decanter gave him a pointed stare. "No offense but how is Aileen leaving me in bed different from you sneaking out from under Takoshi after every morning?"

Ryker grimaced, burying his muzzle into Decanter's shoulder. "Yeah, I deserve that. I was... kind of using him. As a sleeping aid of all things. I wasn't fair to either of you. Just like it wasn't fair of me to keep secrets between the three of us. It's probably going to get even more complicated with Bryce around."

"Everyone deserves their secrets," Decanter mumbled. "I know we are perpetually at risk of being desynchronized but I think I like my individuality. I would rather not become one homogeneous blob, thank you."

"Or one of those couples that finish each other's sentences and speak in unison."

The rhino shuddered, his vibrations running all over Ryker. "Even when we were together, Aileen and I remained separate people. I don't think our synch-rates ever got higher than 70%. I never quite understood why it was so important to be one with your Host. It was always a disturbing idea. Especially now knowing what would happen if IP and Host did merge completely."

Ryker absently began running his fingers up and down Decanter's smooth chest, his fingers idly gliding between the rhino's strong pectorals and following the valley of strong muscle over the washboard abdominals. Strange as it was since he was surrounded by big, muscled, handsome men, he had never been able to actually lie down beside any of his IPs like this and examine them in great detail without it leading into sex. Not that he didn't want_to bone Decanter; blood was already rushing to his cock. It was more like the comfort of just hanging out with Decanter overrode the desire to stick his dick in the rhino's muzzle and hold onto that horn for dear life. Maybe it'd be nice to just 'hang out' with his IPs without having to talk about a corporation, the _Custodes Libertatis, the stress about work and life in general or somehow ending up having sex.

"I guess I can see why it'd be tempting to be an Overlord," Ryker admitted. "To be the 'god' of anything is too big an opportunity not to take."

"Really now?" Decanter replied, giving him a knowing smile. "And what kind of god would you be? What would you hold dominion over?"

Ryker's stroking fingers stopped just as he felt the thick fluff of Decanter's crotch hair against his fingers. Just as he was about to retreat back up the abdominals, the hot, wet length of the rhino's cock kissed his pinkie. Tempted as he was to seize it, he continued to bring his fingers further up the rhino's torso.

"I don't really know," he admitted. "I mean, it's always been my dream to be a famous videogame developer."

"So you'd be the God of Videogame Developers or the God of Videogames?"

"I don't know," Ryker laughed. "Why does it matter? It's not like I'm ever going to be an Overlord."

Decanter shuffled up the bed slightly, leaning against the headrest and forcing Ryker to similarly straighten. "Why not? If anyone is fit to become an Overlord, I honestly think it'd be you." When he gave the alabaster-haired Adonis an incredulous look, Decanter justified his statement. "You are the first person in recent history to ever have more than one IP at any one time. Not even your own IPs. You've managed to make a Pact with three IPs that are not your own. There's something special about you, Ryker."

"Uh-huh," he answered, rolling his eyes. "And what happens if I become an Overlord, huh? All four of us merge together? I'd be some sort of two-headed wolf with the build of a bear and the horn of a rhino? No thanks. I've designed monsters for my videogame before. I'd rather not be one of them."

Decanter's smile remained even as his brow furrowed in curiosity. "You made a videogame?"

It surprised him that Decanter hadn't heard the story of what happened with him and Syntax Games. He recounted the tale of the idea that began his journey to becoming a videogame developer: a dynamic story telling system where the narrative was told through interactions with people instead of arbitrary quests. Where each monster in the world was a person that you had to interact with and not just kill for experience. Each had their stories, each contributed to the main villain's plan and it was up to the player to tell their story through how they dealt with those monsters; befriend them, neutralize them or outright kill them.

"The idea was basically that the story was constantly fluid," Ryker explained. "The villain could be weaker or stronger depending on which monsters you dealt with. Even leaving certain enemies alone could be a detriment to the villain. Each playthrough would also be different as the various character's motivations and personal quests would change."

"That sounds incredibly complicated."

"Not really," Ryker said with a shrug. "There's already been systems implemented for semi-dynamic quest generation out there. It's basically a thing where you have various dungeons around the world and list of objectives that are all randomly generated. I would've gone into more depth than just 'go here and pick up this thing' and tied it into the story of the character but that's the whole appeal of it. I even had the AI ready to go before Syntax Games came in, patented the idea and slapped me with a cease and desist order."

"I don't understand," confessed Decanter. "If you created the system, even if Syntax_'s_system is similar, they don't own the idea. Certainly the law around an idea is not so ironclad that simply using the same mechanic as another game is instantly punishable under the patent."

Ryker shuffled a little, feeling his temperature rise just thinking about Syntax._Takoshi was right. On some level, he did want to go after _Syntax for what they did to him. But would his personal vendetta be worth the livelihoods of potentially hundreds of people? Maybe even more given Syntax was an enormous company that had shareholders and stocks?

"It's less about the law and more about the fight to win," he responded sorrowfully. "Look at me, Decanter. I'm a poor post-graduate college student. Maybe I could've made a stink about it on the Internet. Maybe even got the media's attention and gotten people to back me up but the chances of that happening are slim. Even if I somehow managed to hire a lawyer and won_the case, that'd probably take _months. Years!" He turned away, shaking his head. "As it stood, I had more to lose from fighting than trying."

Decanter's surprisingly soft hands gently cupped his chin, forcing his gaze to lock with the rhino's again. "There is no shame in turning away from a fight if you see no benefit from it. Discretion is the better part of valor. But if you wish to turn from that fight, do not look back and lament over could have been. Hold your head up with pride. Do not wallow in lost possibilities."

"That's the thing." Ryker straightened, resting the back of his head against the headrest. "Part of me wishes I had fought. Maybe it's Takoshi rubbing off on me but if I were to pick between Arthur's choice of moving on and Takoshi's of confronting the problem, I'd go with my bear. I don't think it's just time either." He absently waved a paw in an arbitrary direction. "When I spoke with Arthur, he said he was grateful for what happened to him. He reasoned that it was because he would never have met Cliff, me or Takoshi if he had remained famous and ended up becoming a Doser. I mean, I get that. I really do. I wouldn't trade my experiences for anything."

Realizing those 'experiences' included the murder of Decanter's Host and the transition from the comforts of being a corporate IP with free will to living and working in a gym, he froze and turned apologetically towards Decanter. "I... uhm... Sorry."

Decanter lifted one of his eyebrows. "For what?"

"I just thought that... What I said was insensitive. We basically got Aileen killed."

The rhino smiled at him and leaned forward, gently kissing to the top of his forehead. "No. Whoever killed Aileen was after her already. You had nothing to do about it. Perhaps you provided the appropriate distraction but I am sure they would have been there had you opted to take her offer or not. I am grateful to you. You were there so that she could bequeath me onto to you. You have given me the opportunity to avenge her while keeping me alive. I cannot thank you enough for that."

Ryker let out a soft laugh and regarded Decanter earnestly. "Do you still love her?"

A strange, rollercoaster-like smile crawled across Decanter's lips, rising and falling to illustrate his mixed feelings. "I don't think I ever loved her. More than anything, our relationship was a close professional relationship. Yes, I may have expected to be more than a trusted adviser and nightly sex toy but I don't think we ever crossed that threshold into 'love' territory. One of the reasons we never got beyond 70% synch-rate despite my intimate knowledge of her."

Synchronizing with one's IP was clearly a two-way street. Even knowing everything about your IP would not be enough to raise the relationship. Even if he had strong feels for Takoshi, if Takoshi did not feel the same, their synch-levels would remain forever stagnant. Even if Bryce knew everything about him, if he knew little to nothing about the red wolf, he would never reach the level of intimacy he'd want with the wolf. Even if he and Decanter had a mutual respect for one another, if they didn't trust each other, they would never become stronger both as Host and IP and a couple.

He mentally kicked himself for the image of being with Decanter. His boyfriend was Takoshi... or was he...? The thought and the raging boner he was hiding beneath the sheets made him grimace and shut his eyes, trying to push all those awful but arousing images out of his mind.

"Is something the matter, Master?" Decanter asked.

The use to the honorific jarred Ryker back to reality and he flashed his fangs at the rhino. Decanter lifted a hand in apology.

"Sorry. The alliteration was there and it just slipped out." Genuine concern crossed the rhino's features. "In all seriousness, is something the matter? Are you feeling sore?"

"Apart from what you called me," Ryker grunted. "Honestly, it's just this weird idea that popped into my head."

Decanter draped an arm across his chest, gently sliding it across his abdomen. The sensation sent tingles up his body and even caused his toes to curl. "Tell me. If it is troubling, you I will do what I can to allay your fears."

Lowering his gaze a little with his cheeks afire with embarrassment, he admitted, "It's nothing... really that discomforting just... I kind of had this image in my head that we could be a couple." Before Decanter could react, he quickly said, "I know, I know. I'm with Takoshi. It's just... I guess after the previous night I really feel much closer to you. Then that kind of spiraled and I had this primal instinct to be with Bryce as well, you know, like a 'pack'. Then there was this idea that maybe all _four_of us could make it work... But love triangles never work and I don't know how a 'love-square' would happen."

Decanter was silent for an agonizingly long moment. When he took a breath before saying something, Ryker's heart stopped for a moment.

"I don't think that is truly possible."

Ryker sighed heavily. "I was afraid you'd say that."

"Not for the reason you're thinking," Decanter said, lifting a finger. "Aileen and I were very close. She was my original Host but even then, we could only reach about 70% synchronization rate. Assuming the best case scenario, the maximum synchronization rate we could reasonably achieve is 70%. That's not accounting for the fact that you inherited me. The same thing can be said for Bryce and Takoshi. The three of us all have different personalities as well. We all have different relationships with one another as well. Mathematically speaking, if we were to split that 70% amongst us three, we would possibly allocate 23% to one another."

"What about the remaining 30%?" Ryker countered. "That could still count for something."

"I'd say that would be dedicated to you maintaining your own sense of identity. If you dedicate yourself entirely to others, you will be empty without them. I would say that keeping that 30% for yourself is just healthy." Decanter smiled gently and kissed his cheek. "That said, I have no objection to us getting that last few percentage points with casual sex. Perhaps include Bryce or Takoshi in some sessions. I'm sure we would have fun enjoying one another's company."

Ryker recoiled in shock. "Wait... You're open to the idea of having sex with more than one person?"

Decanter chuckled and looked away with a coy smile on his lips. "Let's just say that Aileen was open to the idea of 'sealing the deal' by having me service potential clients. Sometimes she'd join in as well to 'show them how it's done'."

Suddenly, his fantasies were becoming more real. "So... you've had threesomes before...?"

"Threesomes, foursomes, fivesomes and X-somes." Decanter snickered as he looked away. "There was this one time that Aileen was overseeing the takeover of a moderately successful whiskey brand. Had a board of directors consisting of five men and one woman. Had me fuck the woman on the conference room table while the men took turns with my ass or mouth. Ended with them all cumming all over me."

Ryker did a cartoonish shake of his head in disbelief. "You had a seven-some!?"

"Eight," Decanter corrected. "Aileen was in on it too."

"Uhm..." He scratched the side of his muzzle. "I'm not sure how I feel about that..."

Laughing affectionately, Decanter leaned down and kissed his cheek. "Trust me. I'm clean. Aileen made sure I was at the top of my game in every way. She could always use Refresh to get rid of anything I may have caught."

"It's not that. Just that... You've had a _lot_of sex."

"True." Decanter gave him a worried stare. "Will that be a problem?"

Ryker frowned, pursing his lips. "I don't know. It's just that... aside from Takoshi, you're the only one that I've had any intimate_moments with. Sex has always been this kind of _sacred thing that is like the height of any relationship." He glanced away. "Kind of hypocritical of me to say since that my relationship with Tako isn't that great but still... I kind of see sex as this... milestone in a relationship. This...goal that we all aspire towards. You're_literally_ letting someone inside you or someone is letting them into you." He found his gaze remaining incredibly heavy and unable to look Decanter in the eye. "I... I just don't know how I feel about anyone treating sex so... casually."

Decanter lifted a finger and hooked the underside of his chin with it, gently giving him the strength so that their gazes met once more. He was caught off guard when their lips once more. Ryker melted like butter against the tenderness of that kiss. It only lasted a second but it felt like an eternity.

"I think it all depends on how you define it," said the rhino gently. "There are those relationships that treat sex as the ultimate goal. To have sex with someone is the pinnacle of any relationship. Some would immediately break it off after that seeing as they have achieved said goal. Others would kill themselves to maintain that level of trust. Then there are those that would take it in another direction."

"Not have sex at all?" Ryker suggested. "Or throw sex around like it was pennies?"

"More like devalue the act of sex to the point of treating it as just another biological fact of life. Yes, there is still a great deal of trust required between the partners of the act but I think the greater trust comes from the idea that you can have multiple partners and still have that level of trust with those you truly love that it will not shake your bonds." Decanter tilted his head to the side, a knowing smile on his face. "And let's face it. What is the stronger bond? The one that can be broken by a single act of physical weakness or the one that can transcend the body and is tied together by true emotion?"

Ryker groaned and rolled his eyes. "When you put it like that, the choice is obvious."

"You would think so but most people don't see it that way. In fact, I have seen many people outright not understand how anyone could forgive when one partner cheats on another. _That_is true love."

Those words struck home and Ryker's brow furrowed. "Do you... do you _love_me, Decanter?"

The rhino's coy smile returned and he pulled away slightly. "I am unsure how I feel about you, Ryker. But I will tell you this much; I greatly admire you. You have your flaws, certainly, and you hurt me when you did not disclose your agreement with Takoshi to put your full trust in him to pursue Horizon. But, I think that makes you a far greater person than Aileen." His eyes grew distant. "She was always this goddess to me. Perfect in every way. I may have loved her but it was the love one gives a deity; tempered by the knowledge that she may love you in some respect but never the way you love her. Her affections may ultimately turn to someone else and you will be left in the dust but that is something you fully knew and accepted when you entered the relationship."

The white-haired rhino turned to him. "With you, however, you are flawed. If I love you, there is every chance that you will love me in return."

"But no more than 23% of my total love, right?" Ryker asked with a snarky smirk.

Decanter let out one, short, derisive laugh. "I suppose so." His eyes glimmering, he turned towards Ryker with a smile. "It is a new adventure for both of us, Ryker. For _all_of us. If you wish to pursue a relationship with all of your IPs, maybe even Cliff or Arthur, I don't see why sex _has_to be the limit, the ultimate goal. There is more you can learn about a man and even yourself without having sex."

"I sure hope so," he chuckled, straightening and reaching down towards the floor to pick up his phone. The clock reminded him that it was almost time to start work. "Having sex with myself is either really awkward or just masturbation." Out of sheer curiosity, he switched to his contacts on the Independent App. A smile touched his features.

"Something you find amusing?" Decanter asked.

"It might just be the completionist gamer in me," began Ryker, holding up the phone towards Decanter. "But I don't think I'll be satisfied with just a 23% relationship rating with anyone."

On the screen, it showed his current synchronization rates with each of his contacts. He was currently hovering at around 20% with each of his IPs but something that Decanter forgot to account for in his calculations were the other relationships he current had. His synch-rate with Cliff was currently at 15% and with Arthur he had 17%. Then there was Oliver, Soren, Kanoth and Cedar, all of whom currently had a strong 100% synch-rate. Decanter's eyebrows shot up.

"If my math is right, I'm roughly at 500% right now," Ryker said with a smirk.

"You know it doesn't work that way, right?" countered Decanter.

"I know. But I'll try." He lowered his phone, regarding the graphs in front of him. "I think I'll make it my new goal." His eyes turned back towards Decanter, the light of determination burning behind his green irises.

"I'll make sure I have a 100% synch-rate with all of you."

******

Energized by his newfound goal, Ryker began considering exactly how he would somehow achieve a 100% synchronization rate not only with his IPs but all his contacts and keeping it at the maximum level. He was wary of overextending himself as Decanter had suggested but he was nonetheless encouraged with what he saw on his Independent App. The lessons of his professor rang back in his mind, warning him to make sure his goal was achievable and realistic. Bryce's advice of breaking down his objectives to smaller bite-sized pieces also helped.

Taking Takoshi's advice, when things were slow in the gym, he brought out his phone, accessed his personal files from his computer upstairs and began revising his do-to-list. Having learned the value of just spending time with his IPs from Decanter without sex being involved or speaking about being an Independent while also being social as Arthur suggested, he decided that he would at least have lunch out with each of his friends once a week.

Speaking of which...

"Hey Bryce," he said, throwing the call over his shoulder. "You want to have lunch together upstairs?"

The red wolf's ears perked in surprise. "You don't have to do your workout with Arthur?"

"Rest day," he explained. "Besides, it's nothing special. Probably just some sandwiches or something. You in?"

Bryce gave him a bright grin. "Yeah! Sounds great!"

When it came for lunch, he had Decanter take care of the front desk while he and Bryce headed upstairs. Takoshi was being unusually aggressive with his clients as the bear's shouts and orders followed them up the stairs to the second floor. When they came to the living quarters, Ryker moved towards the cupboard while Bryce headed towards the refrigerator.

"What do you feel like?" he asked.

"Kind of limited options right now," admitted Bryce. "Do we have any bread?"

Ryker retrieved two loaves of white bread from the cupboard. "Plenty."

In response, Bryce took out some ham and cheese slices. "I guess we can make some stuff with this."

"Ham and cheese sandwiches?"

Bryce grimaced and stuck out his tongue. "So vanilla! You ever have a croque monsieur?"

Lifting one eyebrow, Ryker said, "Isn't that just a ham and cheese sandwich with an egg on it?"

"That's a croque madame."

"You know the difference?"

Bryce laughed softly as he pulled out a saucepan and a normal frying pan. "Horizon didn't exactly provide company housing or food for me. I had to find something decent to eat. Food in the Overworld is the perfect version of anything that you ever would want in the Realworld." The crimson wolf let out a short, bitter laugh. "I learned how to make some of this stuff from those willing to teach. Thought it'd make me more attractive and Horizon would keep me on longer if they knew I could cook. Maybe even bring me on as an actual IP with free will to be their personal chef in the Realworld."

Suddenly feeling bad watching his fellow lupine start up the stovetop, Ryker said, "You don't have to cook for me, you know. God knows, Decanter would be more than happy to..."

"No, it's fine," laughed the taller, more muscular wolf. "I actually ended up enjoying the practice. Even when I realized no one would want a shirtless red wolf with battle scars cooking for them, I still went along with it. Sometimes you just need a hobby to decompress, you know?"

Ryker was just about to mention he wouldn't mind having a shirtless red wolf in his kitchen, he bit back on the seductive and lewd comment. Instead, he replaced it with, "Must've been really stressful, huh? Living each day fearing you'd be kicked out of Horizon or turned into a Doser? That was a fine line to tread."

"Like you wouldn't believe," laughed Bryce, beating some eggs for the meal. "Sometimes people don't know what they have until it's at risk or when they don't have it at all. Living every day like I was either going to be all out on my own and starving or be stripped of what made me _me_always kept me on edge." He glanced over his shoulder at Ryker, offering an apologetic smile. "So you'll have to excuse me if I'm a little protective or distrusting. Maybe even a little manipulative. Things like that are hard to shake."

"It's okay," Ryker responded with his own bitter laugh. "I'll admit that I'm not exactly the most social person either. I felt _so_awkward going to that frat party with Cliff."

Bryce suddenly went rigid, his hackles rising momentarily. Ryker could _swear_he heard a faint growl from the wolf over the sounds of eggs being beaten.

"Something wrong?" he queried.

"I didn't know you went out with Cliff the other night," replied Bryce. "I've never been to a frat party before but I've heard that they're cesspools of sex, disease and drunken idiocy." Bryce snorted softly. "Then again, I heard all this from middle-aged men who looked down on the 'youth of today' and called them 'whippersnappers'."

"Really?" Ryker laughed.

"Naw," Bryce responded, waving one paw over his shoulder while he coated the bread with another. "They used 'hooligans' or 'punks'. The people in Horizon look down on all the people they manipulate with their Dosers. Even lesser employees are kind of treated more like warm bodies than anything else."

"How were you treated?"

The red wolf who struck a rather handsome image with the light glinting off the curves of his tight-fitting gym uniform, was silent for a long moment. "Pretty much like a starving dog that was only worth table scraps."

Ryker's paws closed into fists, angered at how anyone could treat such a noble and kind soul so poorly. "If I ever treat you like that, you have my permission to slap me."

Bryce laughed and did something out of view to the meal in front of him. The wolf's back was very wide. "I'll hold you to that, Boss."

With a smile, Ryker mulled over what he had learned, feeling his heart grow heavy at the thought that so many other IPs like Bryce were treated so poorly. It sparked the fire of inspiration once more in him to make that dating app but every time he thought about it, he would immediately hit a wall and he would immediately deflate. A goal had been defined. He had the motivation and the inspiration. Just what was stopping him from stepping forward and pursuing the project?

His moment of introspection must have lasted for a while as Bryce turned around and placed a large plate stacked with five croque mossieurs. The golden brown ham and cheese sandwiches with a lovely toasted bechamel sauce on top made him salivate. A smile crept onto his face when he picked one up and bit into it.

"Wow, this is good!" he exclaimed. "You know how to cook!"

Bryce leaned against the kitchen counter, taking one for himself and taking a big bite out of it. Muzzle full, he said, "When you're alone and have to fend for yourself, you kind of need to know how to find little bits of food and sustenance for yourself. Eating food people created in the Overworld is the_much less_ nutritious version of cannibalizing another IP."

When asked to clarify, Bryce explained that since the Overworld didn't actually have any real resources to build or create anything, IPs had to sacrifice some of their own energies to create something. When Independents or Corpsmen observed, ate or even were just exposed to these creations, they give some of their own energies back to the creator. IPs could not generate the energy required to sustain other IPs unless they were bound to Hosts. That said, they could still partake in the food, water and shelter provided by other IPs and, in some way, sustain themselves somewhat on those energies.

"Law of conservation of mass," Ryker intoned. "Matter can neither be destroyed nor created. In this case, Hosts provide their time and effort to feeding IPs and those IPs create stuff for them to consume. Other IPs can consume that stuff as well and it sort of sustains them."

"Exactly," Bryce replied, tapping the side of his head. "Thing is all of this is just in the mindscape. It's nowhere near as satisfying or filling for an IP than eating the real thing. Being bound to a corporation, people didn't really trust me and I was kind of stuck getting scraps. I tried to make those scraps as appetizing as possible. I was hungry most of the time."

"You make hungry look good."

The words just slipped out of his muzzle, causing Bryce to blush and avert his gaze slightly. "Thanks, Boss."

Ryker took a deep breath and placed his sandwich down, eliciting a look of concern from his fellow wolf. "Okay, I'm just going to say it outright. Last night, Decanter and I had some fun in the sauna."

"We have a sauna?"

"Yes and that's_what you ask?" Ryker shook his head. "Anyway, it made me realize something. You keep saying you were starved. Basically, you were starved for attention. And in some way, I am too. Nowhere near as dramatic as outright _fading from existence if I didn't eat because I didn't get enough attention but basically, I was always so focused on my work, studies and career that I pushed away all relationships until I basically only had one person I could really call a friend."

"Teresa," Bryce concluded.

"Yeah. And I guess... I've had a 'sexual awakening'. Takoshi started it and then fooling around with Decanter and sleeping with him last night kind of... 'unleashed the beast'." He squeezed his eyes shut and reached out towards Bryce, momentarily causing the other wolf to jerk back in surprise. "I mean, it's taking every last bit of my self-restraint not to push you down on this counter, lather that bechamel sauce all over your abs and lick it off!"

"Oh..." Bryce's cheeks were turning bright red. "... Boss, I..."

"I_know_," Ryker groaned, clutching the sides of his head. "It just hit me that I not only _can_sleep with other people but I _want_to. I want to feel your muscles, I want to lick your abs, I want to taste your cock! I want to rub my dick against Decanter's, I want to penetrate him and hold onto his horn while I fuck him like crazy! I want to feel Takoshi's hairy pecs clench while I slide my dick up between them, I want to feel him above him as he rides my dick and I even want to see what it's like to have that monster of a cock all up inside me! Worse, I want to feel all _three_of you pressed up against me as we make sweet, sweet love to one another."

He whimpered, looking pleadingly at Bryce. "I don't know how else to explain it but I want to know_you guys. Not just to have sex. I want that sex to _mean something. As I told Decanter, I want to reach 100% synchronization rate with all of you." A bitter laugh left his muzzle as he swept back his brown hair. "There was this plan in my head, you know. Get a good education. Steady job. Become a famous videogame developer, get a house, find a girl to marry and have two kids, one boy and one girl. But now..."

"Now...?" Bryce pressed.

The laugh that left his lips was partially nervous and partially relieved now that he was saying it out loud. "Now, I kind of envision the four of us getting this big house together right next to Cliff and Arthur's place or maybe the two of them even living with us. I imagine waking up in a different bed each night, one or more of you in my arms, having fun cleaning up afterwards. Going to our jobs only to come back home to a nice home-cooked meal and then spending the evening relaxing before having some steamy sex with one another. Hayden might be there too. He's really hot."

He grimaced and shook his head. "God... I sound like a horny teenager."

"From what you've told me, you never really had a normal teenage experience."

Ryker closed his eyes briefly, looking sullenly on the ground. "Dad wasn't around. Mom was always bouncing from boyfriend to boyfriend before settling in with a navy officer. I always had to be the responsible one. I guess all of that is finally catching up with me."

Bryce reached over, grasping his paw tightly. The touch was warm. "I think it's cute. For what it's worth, I find you attractive as well. Wolves travel in packs, right? It's also kind of nice having someone looking out for me for once. And I will admit..." Bryce's eyes rolled away. "... that first night, I _was_tempted to cuddle up to you because I was worried about you getting cold and never waking up. Then when we had that talk, I _really_wanted to kiss you and tell you how grateful I am. But..."

"But...?"

The crimson wolf gave him a smile before bringing Ryker's paw towards this broad chest, pressing it against the slab of muscle barely contained by that gym shirt. "How about we start with this?" Bryce asked. "If you want this relationship to have meaning, we've got to know each other first, right?"

"Agreed," Ryker said. "But since my paw is there..."

Bryce came him a coy smirk. "Fine. You can squeeze it. But you've got to tell me how hard you are right now."

Smirking, Ryker gave the firm pectoral a squeeze and grinned bashfully. "If I was as hung as Takoshi, I'd have torn through my pants right now."

"Well damn," laughed Bryce, lowering his paw. "Now I really want to see what Takoshi is hiding between his legs. You can let go of my chest now, by the way."

Blushing but still grinning, Ryker lowered his paw and tilted his head to the side. "You can come out now, Tako."

The red wolf's ears perked up as the heavy footfalls of Takoshi shortly followed and the big bear emerged from the stairwell, crossing his arms and smirking at them knowingly.

"How long have you been there?" Bryce exclaimed. Then his eyes went to Ryker. "How long have you known?"

"Not used to being on the receiving end of being tricked, huh, super-spy?" Takoshi teased. "For future reference, I usually take my break around the same time Ryker finished his workout. We fuck like rabbits in the showers and then have lunch together." He moved forward, leaning casually against the kitchen counter while smirking at Ryker. "Bet you timed this."

"You'd lose that bet," Ryker responded, glanced over to the big bear. "I just saw the time and guessed you were there." With an earnest look on his lupine features, he turned to Takoshi. "So what do you think?"

One of the polar bear's bushy eyebrows rose. "About what? The batshit idea you've got in your head that you'll 100% each of our synch-rates or the horny-ass dream you've got of running a brothel?"

He nudged Takoshi lightly. "About us all living together, one happy... pack, separate but equal, friends and in love."

Takoshi grunted and Ryker could have sworn he saw a little twitch in the bear's shorts. "You're fucking stupid. It's never been done before." He broke his gruff demeanor to sigh at Ryker and give him the faintest of smiles. "Then again you're getting into the habit of doing the impossible."

"So...?" Bryce asked. "Are you in?"

Takoshi leaned forward, doing that teasing thing where he would smirk and stick his tongue out at Ryker. "If it ends up with our pup here taking my 'monster of a cock' all up inside' him, sure."

Ryker let out a soft whimper but his ears remained perked and brightened. This seemed like a turning point. They were finally getting on the same page. Having a goal to work towards helped reorient them. But, to Bryce's point, there were many smaller steps that needed to be done before they could achieve their goal. His eyes fell on the unfinished sandwiches before him and the cogs began ticking away.

"We've got a long way before we get there," Bryce concluded. "Ryker still has to graduate school. We_need to get decent jobs not to mention actual identities. I don't think we can cruise on Hayden's generosity forever. And you've got your hangups against _Horizon."

"And you don't?" Takoshi countered icily.

"Oh no. I want to see those bastards burn. I'm with you there. But we have got to play it smarter." He made a slicing motion with his paw. "Horizon isn't like the mob that AllAle was. You saw what Maydoor did. They're all about spectacle and turning the public against you. Doing something like jumping into the fight like what you did when we met will only get us killed or indoctrinated." Bryce pointed a finger at both Ryker and Takoshi. "That goes for both of you."

Ryker nodded. "You're right. We've got to be more in synch. And I've got an idea on how we can do that."

Takoshi groaned and slumped into the bar stool right next to Ryker. "If this is going to be some stupid team building exercise, can we just montage our way through it already?"

"No, I think you'll like it." Ryker held up one of the untouched croque mossieurs. "The game is to eat this sandwich."

"Easy. Watch me take it in one mouthful." The samurai reached for the meal but Ryker pulled it away

"Not so fast," he countered with a sadistic grin. "First, each person on this table is going to put whatever they want in the kitchen _in_the sandwich."

"What!?" Bryce exclaimed, looking utterly crestfallen. "Did you like it?"

"I love it. It's one of the tastiest things I've eaten."

"Then why would you ruin it?"

"So that each of us can say something personal about ourselves." Ryker set the sandwich back down. "We will each take turns. Every time we say something personal about ourselves, we can put anything edible in the kitchen on or in the sandwich. The moment one of us doesn't want to say anything, they _eat_the sandwich."

Takoshi paled - as much as his creamy-white fur would allow. "It's the fucking _Truth, Dare, Love, Kiss or Promise_game we played against Oliver." When given a quizzical look from Bryce, the burly bear explained that when they were first starting out, they had 'captured' a Corpsman by the name of Oliver Klein. They became friends with the feline and ended up playing a game where they took turns either telling the truth to a question, accepting a dare, professing whom they loved, kissing another player or making a promise. "It ended with all three of us getting kind of drunk and fucking," Takoshi concluded.

"If that's how this is going to end..." Bryce said with a grin.

"Well?" Ryker asked, challenging Takoshi. "Are you in?"

"Why the fuck would I subject myself to humiliation and needed my stomach pumped?" growled his burly ursine.

Knowing full well how to get Takoshi to play, Ryker simply said, "Because then you'd be at the bottom rung."

Without contest, Takoshi slammed a fist into the counter. "Fuck it! Who goes first!?"

"I'll go first," Ryker announced, getting up from his seat and wandering over to the refrigerator. "And for the sake fairness, we need to all take a turn putting something on it first before we dare to eat the unholy sandwich." He rifled through the refrigerator and came out triumphantly with a jar.

It was Bryce's turn to pale. "Oh no... Why, Boss? Just why?"

Grinning from ear to ear, he opened the jar of pickled jalapeno peppers and placed one delicately on the sandwich of choice. "Just because. Oh and I already confessed my deepest, darkest dream so that's my free go."

"Joke's on you," Takoshi said, "I _like_spice. I'm based on a Japanese character. Wasabi runs in my veins!" He got up off the counter, reached into one of the cabinets and pulled out a jar of his own.

Bryce looked on incredulously. "Good lord!? Seriously!? Peanut butter!?"

"Chunky peanut butter." He grabbed a spreading knife and speared the brown, lumpy paste all over the top, mixing it with the beautifully golden crust of made from cooked bechamel and cheese. "And if we're going to be totally honest, I'm a top. I won't lie that I like how it feels like to be fucked every now and then but I prefer to be the one doing the fucking."

Ryker smiled at him, grateful for the honesty. "Thanks, Tako. Hey, Decanter has some dildos, you know. Maybe if we work at it, I'll be loose enough to take you one day."

"I'd rather fuck that tight-assed, white-haired, invasive butler but sure."

Dejected and disheartened, Bryce defiantly straightened and marched over to the kitchen sink. There, he grabbed a bottle of dish soap.

"Whoa! Hang on!" barked Ryker. "That's not -"

"It's_edible_," growled the red wolf. "And you said anything_in the kitchen so..." Just out of spite, he squirted three long, blasts of bluish-green goo onto the top of the sandwich. "For my confession, I will admit that I have considered sleeping with each of you if it'll buy me my way into being accepted into the group." He bobbed his head slightly from side to side. "Honestly, I came from a bastardized, sex-corrupted interpretation of a discontinued cereal mascot. I've been depicted in some _very strange situations."

"I would've taken you up on that offer," Takoshi admitted. "Wouldn't mean I'd like you. Maybe _dislike_you a little less if you're willing to go that far."

"Thanks, I guess?"

It was Ryker's turn again and he went back to the refrigerator where he retrieved some tuna-salad that had been sitting there for a few days. The fishy-smell was mild but the moment the mushy mess flopped onto the sandwich, Takoshi looked utterly green with sickness.

"I haven't just been procrastinating with my dating app," Ryker admitted. "I genuinely feel a block on it. Barring the usual questions of what if it's not a success or what if it's not enough, there just... something blocking me. I don't know what it is. It's just... like I want_to do it. My mind is buzzing with ideas but every time I look at my PC, I just get hit with... this _fear_and loathing that I can't physically bring myself to sit down and _do something without anxiety gnawing at me from the inside."

Takoshi wrapped an arm around him, pulling him close and letting him rest his head on the bear's furry chest. "Yeah. I know. Whatever it is, we'll work it out."

"Would it help if we got you a new PC?" Bryce chimed in.

Ryker's ears perked up. "Uhm... I don't know. Why even suggest that?"

"Well..." began the former-cereal-mascot. "Sometimes all you need to do is just hit the reset button. Sometimes, computers just hang, right? So you have no choice but to pull the plug and reset. Maybe getting you a new PC will be your reset button."

Laughing softly, Ryker said, "Okay, that's sweet but a new desktop is really expensive. We're just starting to turn a profit. I don't want us spending money on something we don't need."

"That's a maybe then," Takoshi said, reaching down Ryker's sides. For a second, he thought the bear was going to pull him in for a kiss... then Takoshi's paw went down into those tight-fitting shorts. His jaw dropped at the thought of giving his bodybuilder boyfriend a blowjob there and then... until Takoshi pulled out about three strands of pubic hair.

"No!" Bryce exclaimed, shaking his head. "No! Absolutely not! You are not putting that on -"

In utter defiance, Takoshi dropped those three, black, curly strands of air on the sandwich where it formed twisted bridges between tuna-salad mountain and peanut butter-topped-jalapeno hill. "I'll be honest and I don't know what I'll do if and when I find out what happened with my movie. All I know is I _want_to know."

"Nothing wrong with that," Bryce said, straightening. "And certainly nothing wrong with conceding." His muzzle wrinkled, his lips twisting in disgust. "I'm going to eat this thing now before it grows legs and grabs our faces so it can plant its unholy eggs into our guts."

Reaching for the chimera of a sandwich, Bryce lifted it tenuously towards his muzzle. Ryker already had his phone up, Takoshi was leaning forward in anticipation, a broad grin on his face. Inch by inch, that sandwich got closer and closer. Bryce's lips opened ever so slightly, his tongue basically shriveling back and retreating down his throat as the sandwich -

"Ryker!"

The door to the floor burst open and Decanter came rushing in.

Both Ryker and Takoshi threw their hands up in annoyance. Bryce froze in place, his muzzle hanging open with the sandwich just barely touching his fangs.

"This better be good, man!" roared the bear.

Wide-eyed, Decanter shook his head. "Oh no. It's far from good. It's -"

Before he could finish, a familiar shark dressed in a bright, pink suit strode in accompanying a much smaller Fennec Fox.

Ryker's blood immediately ran cold.

"Maydoor..." he breathed.

Takoshi was getting out of his stool and it looked like Bryce was about ready to throw the demon sandwich as a weapon but Maydoor raised a paw, beckoning for a moment. Zoom - his IP and the shark in the pink suit - spoke.

"Hello everyone," said the shark, beaming brightly with with a menacing edge to his smile. "My name is Zoom and this is Ethan Maydoor. We're here representing The Horizon Channel. The corporation whose audition you attended a few nights ago. Since you didn't leave your contact details with us, we couldn't reach you. So we're here to give you our heartfelt congratulations. You passed!"

"Passed?" growled Takoshi. "Passed what?"

Maydoor whispered something but Ryker couldn't pick it up.

"Why, the audition, of course!" exclaimed Zoom. "You're all welcome to come and join the The Horizon Channel as fully-fledged employees complete with all the benefits it entails. Host and IP will be working under our name, you'll be offered protection against all other corporations and even the Custodes Libertatis and you're guaranteed a lifetime of comfort! All we ask is that you work with us and grant us your unique Functions and sign an exclusivity contract with us." With a flourish, he pulled out a few documents from his coat, holding them out to them. "Just sign these contracts and you can start on your journey to be the next start of The Horizon Channel."

Ryker was stunned. He thought he was safe. They had escaped Horizon via the Recall function. Tracking them should have been impossible!

"How did you find us?" he whispered.

"Oh, that's simple," Zoom chuckled. "There was a video circulating online about two wolves arguing about homosexual representation near here. We simply followed the news, found you went to a nearby diner and asked around."

That video... that confrontation! How could he have been so stupid!?

"If you think we're signing those contracts, you've got another thing coming," Takoshi snarled. "There is no way I'll be turned into a Doser!"

"Oh you misunderstand!" Zoom laughed. "You'll have full rights and maintain your individually. We won't be using your image in any way in any of our products but we will be using your expertise and abilities in case we need to defend ourselves. After all, the Custodes Libertatis would never expect other Independents fighting against them."

"Mercenaries," Bryce sneered. "You're going to be treating us like mercenaries."

Again, Maydoor said something in the softest of whispers that Ryker could not understand.

"Well-paid mercenaries," Zoom exclaimed. "There is also a clear line of succession. Each of you could very well be on your way to be executive officers upon signing the contract. Naturally, there will be a probationary period but the moment you start sharing your Function with us, we can guarantee that on your first year anniversary working with us, you will be promoted to an executive with your own team and security detail, a six figure salary and your own corporate credit card! At your third year anniversary, provided continued employment with us, you will be the head of your own department." Zoom winked at them. "With this expansion, Horizon could be thinking of spreading beyond New York and into other states! Maybe even globally! In five years, depending on the market, you could be the heads of your own branches!"

If Ryker didn't have principles, that offer would have been incredibly tempting.

But...

"No," he snarled. "I would never think of joining _anyone_who treats IPs like they're just stepping stones to more ratings!"

"Before you say no..." Zoom said, never losing his smile. "You should listen to this..."

He held out his phone. It was receiving a call from someone. Cautiously, Ryker took the device and placed it to his ear.

"Hello...?" he asked.

"Ryker!? Is that you?"

His heart plummeted past his feet and crashed into the ground floor.

"Tess..."