Levi slid into Maury’s base. “How’s it hanging?”

“I got a request,” Maury grumbled.

“I thought you don’t do this anymore?” he asked, kicking off his shoes.

She shrugged. “It was someone who’s covered my ass before. I couldn’t refuse.”

“Aight. What’s the situation?”

“Nothing big, just a contract killing. I’ve contacted a few underworld types who are still active, and they’re sending their expendables. If you’re interested, it’s downtown Central Square, noon tomorrow.”

Levi grinned. He gave her a thumbs up. “I have a date there around that time anyways. I’ll swing by and see if they could use an extra hand.”

Maury grunted. She reached into a locker on the wall and pulled out a pile of clothes and a mask, tossing the whole thing Levi’s way. “Here. You can’t go like that, can you? I found these way in the back. Don’t think you ever used them.”

Levi took them from her and turned them over in his hands. Belts clinked, tapping against the hard outline of the mask. His eyes sparkled. “Wow… the Night Sparrow gear. How nostalgic. I never could find an opportunity to bring it out to play.”

“Well, here’s your chance. And the corpse…” She thumbed at the empty table. “I had to process her before the meat got too cold. Grabbed her stat points. They’re in the case in the corner, next to the cash—grabbed that out of her pockets.”

“Good call. Thanks, Maury.”

“Hmph. Don’t kill yourself absorbing them. She’s only a ten-pointer, no more than ten in any given stat, so it shouldn’t be overwhelming. Think I grabbed seven or so.”

Levi waved his hand. “Worst case, I die.”

“Worst case, your stat points corrupt and you lose some stats. All of them, in the absolute worst case. You’ve still got debug mode active, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, I do, thanks, Mom. You know, I actually had to work really hard to lose all of them. It’s not just going to happen on accident,” Levi grumbled, shaking his head at her.

Maury crossed her arms. She leaned against the wall, taking the weight off her mechanical leg. “Even so, be careful. Now that you’re active again, this is basically my last chance to see you beat Alpha. I’m old. Too old. If you get backed into a corner and go dark again, well… you might still beat Alpha, but I won’t be around to see it.”

“Don’t worry. I’m gonna do it.” He paused. For a moment, their eyes met. Levi held her gaze, but only for a beat before he looked away. He twitched his nose, not saying a thing.

“Yeah. I know you will.” Maury pushed off the wall and stomped away toward the far end of the cave. The plastic sheeting crinkled as she passed.

“Hey, Maury, before you go…”

The clunk-thump of Maury’s steps paused. “What?”

“Ice Queen have any cash on her?”

A familiar grunt. “It’s on the nightstand. You deliver it yourself, this time, if you’re sending it ‘home.’ My drones are all tied up.”

Levi saluted to the sheets and backed toward the bed. “I’m crashing here, okay?”

No response.

“I’m going to need an enthusiastic ‘yes’ for consent!” Levi called, cupping his hands to his mouth.

“Shut the fuck up and go to sleep.”

“Thanks, Maury!”

Plopping down on the bed, Levi almost bounced the syringe off it. He lunged, catching it in both hands. “Whoops! Didn’t see you there, precious.”

The syringe had nothing to say.

Levi hummed, pinching his stomach as he lifted the syringe. “Let’s see, let’s see. I’m all in on SPD right now, so let’s grab some ATK, hmm-hmm.”

A prick. The plunger dropped, and cold swirled into his gut. He held his breath, bracing against the pain.

Nothing came.

Levi hesitated, then sat up, setting the syringe on the bedside table. “Huh. Guess that one wasn’t so ba—”

Ice slammed into his gut. Cold swirled through his blood. His stomach went numb where he’d injected it, and a small circle of frost unfurled from the puncture wound, an icicle of blood growing from its center. He hissed, curling up around it, pressing both hands to the wound in a futile attempt to warm it.

A chill spread through his veins, cloaking his entire body in cold. His whole body shivered uncontrollably. The frost spread over his skin, covering half his stomach, climbing up toward his chest.

Come on. Don’t die. Not now. I’m gonna lose the points if I die before assimilating them. Come on! It’s just a little ice. What’s a little cold to me?

The ice closed in. His body crackled and snapped, skin distorting as his blood and tissues crystallized. He grimaced, tensing. “Come on! Pop the skill points already!”

AP: +7

AP: 7

Levi breathed out, relieved. He trembled one more time, then laid still. The ice crawled over him, freezing him solid. He went still.

The sheeting wrinkled. “Levi…”

Maury stood there, holding the sheet back as she stared at his frozen body, so still in death unlike his ever-motive living self. Her lips pressed together, and she lowered her eyes, her gaze full of regret. “Sorry, kid.”

[You lost a life!]

[Lives remaining: -17250]

DEBUG: Corruption Level Medium | Ability Points non-degraded | status GOOD

Press X to reallocate your ability points.

The frozen body crackled all at once. Heat radiated off of it, vapor clouding the air as the ice sublimated. Levi twitched, then sat upright all at once with a whoop. He pushed his hair back, looking around with dazed eyes. “Fuck! What a trip. Maury, man. Trying to fuck me up, huh?”

“Getting sloppy in my old age, is what it is. You alright?”

“Still fine. Status GOOD and all that.”

“Didn’t lose any points?”

Levi paused. He gestured at the air, calling up his status menu to check his stats, then shook his head. “Nope, all there. Aaaand… eight total attack. Not shabby, not shabby.”

Level: N/A

ATK: 8

DEF: 1

PWR: 0

PDEF: 0

SPD: 12

EXP: 0 | To next level: 0

AP: 0 | To next AP: 0

He plopped back. “I’m exhausted. Absorbing skill points and dying takes it out of a guy.”

“Yeah. Get some sleep. Big day ahead of you tomorrow.”

Levi gave her a sleepy thumbs up and curled up. In a few moments, he began to snore.

Maury shook her head. Letting the sheet fall, she vanished again, leaving him to his dreams.