Chapter 380: Rebecca Number Two

"So, Ryan, what’s the latest news?" Sydney asked once it was settled that both Lucy and Ivy were coming with us. Lucy was fine.

Ivy was different.

She had made it pretty clear that if we told her no, she would just go on her own anyway, and there was no way I was letting that happen. Better to keep her with us where we could watch her than risk her heading into that mess alone because she’d made up her mind. I was still worried, obviously. But I couldn’t deny she had handled herself better than most people since the beginning of all this. Calm, capable, impossible to shake. So in the end, I trusted her.

"What latest news?" I asked, looking at Sydney where she sat on my bed like she owned the room.

She rolled one shoulder. "The latest from the Boardwalk. This whole last week. What have you actually been doing there?"

Rachel, Cindy, and Christopher all looked at me too after that, curious now that Sydney had brought it up.

"Nothing that exciting," I said. "I’ve just been helping out where I can. Working, carrying things, fixing stuff, doing favors." I shrugged. "By now, pretty much everybody knows me. I think they trust me at least a little."

That already sounded weird to say out loud.

A week ago, I had still been the outsider hanging around their territory. Now I had people greeting me by name, handing me jobs without suspicion, and acting like I’d been part of the place longer than I really had.

"Carmen was kind enough to let me sleep at her house," I went on. "Marlon’s still training me, or more accurately beating the hell out of me while I wear that anti-symbiote collar, and... yeah. That’s about it."

Sydney’s head snapped up at once.

"Wait a second," she said. "You sleep where?"

I already knew that tone.

"At Carmen’s house," I repeated. "Shannon’s mother. You’ve seen her. She was there when Marlon and the others came by."

Sydney stared at me for half a second, then grinned with zero shame.

"Oh. That insanely hot woman. A perfect milf."

I winced immediately. "Don’t call her that."

Sydney lifted a brow. "Why are you offended all of a sudden?"

"Because you’re talking about a woman who’s been taking care of him," Cindy cut in before I could answer.

Sydney threw both hands up. "I’m not insulting her. I’m praising her."

"You have a strange way of praising people," I muttered.

She pointed at me dramatically. "Do you even know what a milf is, Ryan?"

That question alone made me wary.

"N...No," I admitted, and yeah, I probably stuttered more than I should have.

Sydney’s smile widened like she had been waiting for exactly that answer.

"It’s a compliment," she said. "A huge one. She’s had two kids and still looks that good. That’s impressive."

Then, because of course she couldn’t stop there, she leaned back with that shameless look of hers and added, "Honestly, I’m jealous. Hopefully after I have two of your babies, I’ll still look like that."

Christopher reacted instantly.

"Jesus Christ, don’t put that image in my head."

Sydney turned to him, delighted. "What? You can’t imagine me pregnant, Chris?"

"I can’t imagine you as a mother," he shot back. "That’s where the problem starts. Spare any future children from that."

Then he looked at me.

"And you too, Ryan. Think very carefully when it comes to Sydney."

I snorted. "It’s not happening anytime soon anyway."

A baby was about the last thing on my mind right now. Especially with Sydney. Especially with everything still going to hell around us. Surviving the next few days felt ambitious enough.

Sydney pouted and turned back toward me. "Hey, come on. You don’t want to give me some babies?"

"Not really the right time for that," I said. "We’ll see once Gaspar and Callighan are dealt with. And once Elena and Alisha are back."

That took a little of the humor out of her face.

"Yeah," she said with a sigh. "So not anytime soon."

Rachel shook her head at her. "Try being positive once in a while."

Sydney sat up straighter at once. "I am positive."

She said it with enough confidence that everybody actually looked at her again.

"I’m telling you," she went on, "tonight’s going to go well. We’ll pull it off, and all of us are getting out alive."

Christopher blinked at her like she had just spoken in another language. "That might be the first genuinely good thing you’ve ever said."

Sydney put a hand to her chest. "And what about my unwavering support of the Chris-Lucy ship?"

"Fuck you."

Sydney grinned. "Knew it."

Cindy let out a long sigh and looked between the two of them. "You really never stop, do you?"

"No," Sydney said immediately.

That got a small laugh out of me before I could help it.

After that, I went with the others to check on Kunta, and as usual she was holed up in her room with her two newest favorite people, Rebecca and Daisy.

At this point, those two were practically glued to her.

Kunta was sitting up when we came in, looking bored in that specific way only she could manage, like being stuck inside was an insult personally crafted for her. Sonny was nearby too, quiet for once, resting on the floor with that eerie mechanical stillness of his that never really stopped feeling strange no matter how often I saw it.

"So, you’re back?" she asked.

I looked at her, then at Rebecca and Daisy. "They didn’t tell you about tonight?"

"About tonight?" Kunta repeated, one brow lifting.

I paused.

Oh.

So they had actually kept quiet about the attack on the hotel.

Honestly, that surprised me more than it should have. My eyes shifted toward Rebecca automatically. I hadn’t expected her to keep something like that in without it slipping out by accident the second Kunta started asking questions.

Rebecca caught the look immediately and snapped before I could even speak.

"How low do you actually think of me?" she said. "I’m intelligent enough to have studied at Lexington."

She had read exactly what was on my face and clearly didn’t appreciate it.

"Don’t start, Rebecca," Rachel said with a tired sigh.

Rebecca folded her arms and looked away, still annoyed.

I let that go and looked back at Kunta. "We’re moving tonight," I said. "The hotel."

That got her full attention.

I explained the plan to her properly after that. Not every detail, not enough to turn it into a strategy session, but enough. The Golden Nugget. The timing. The fact that it was happening tonight and not later. The fact that this was the first real move toward getting things in place.

Kunta stared at me for maybe half a second after I finished.

Then she shot to her feet.

"R...Really?!" she asked. "So you’re saving Zakthar?!"

"Yeah, yeah," Sydney said immediately, dragging the whole thing in the worst direction possible as usual. "Soon enough you’ll be back in the warm embrace of your beloved boyfriend, Zakky."

Kunta’s whole face turned bright red.

"You—!" She pointed at Sydney like she wanted to throw something heavy at her. "He is not my boyfriend! H-He’s just a friend!"

"Yes, yes," Sydney said with a lazy smirk. "Your friend. We all understand."

That only made Kunta look angrier and more embarrassed at the same time, which for some reason only encouraged Sydney more.

I stepped in before she could keep at it for five more minutes.

"I’m not promising you Zakthar," I said, looking straight at Kunta until she finally pulled her glare off Sydney and back onto me. "He’s part of the plan, yes. But anything can happen between now and then."

Her expression tightened.

"And if we do get him," I continued, "you are not seeing him right away."

That made her narrow her eyes at once.

"Why?"

"Because whatever his reasons are, he’s still been working on Callighan’s side," I said. "So until proven otherwise, I’m not treating him like an ally. I’m treating him like a possible threat."

Kunta’s jaw set hard after that. I could see the anger come right back up in her.

"Don’t expect us to handle him the way we’re handling you," I said.

At that, she glared at me so sharply that even Sonny reacted. The mechanical dog lifted its head and adjusted, the sound of its inner parts shifting low and metallic in the room. Neither of them actually moved beyond that, but the warning was there all the same.

Rachel stepped in before Kunta could explode properly.

"We’re not saying we’ll kill him," Rachel said, calm and gentle in that way of hers that somehow always made the whole room lower its shoulders whether it wanted to or not. "But we do need to make sure he isn’t dangerous to us. That’s all."

Kunta’s anger didn’t disappear, but it softened around the edges.

Not much.

Just enough.

"Damn," Sydney said, sounding weirdly impressed. "As expected of Rebecca number two. She melts fast when the big sister talks nicely."

"Who is Rebecca number two?!"

Rebecca and Kunta shouted it at the exact same time.

The room went quiet for one beat.

Then both of them looked at each other.

And both of them flushed.

Christopher let out a long sigh. "Here we go..."

Cindy started giggling beside him.

Rebecca crossed her arms even tighter. "What? Just because we don’t sit around acting meek and obedient doesn’t mean we’re alike."

"No," Sydney said, waving a hand like Rebecca had completely missed the point. "That’s not why I called her Rebecca number two."

Rebecca already looked like she regretted speaking.

Sydney kept going anyway.

"It’s the way she acts all cold and defensive about Zakky," she said. Then she tilted her head toward Rebecca with a mean little grin. "Kind of like how you act toward Ryan while actually liking him a lot, little Becca."

That made everything worse instantly.

For a second, Rebecca just stood there staring at her.

Her face went red enough that even her freckles nearly disappeared under it.

"Y—You are seriously the worst woman alive!" She snapped.

Then she stormed right out of the room.

The door banged behind her.

Daisy stayed where she was, awkward and quiet, clearly caught between wanting to follow Rebecca and not wanting to stand up in the middle of that mess. She looked at me for one second, then quickly looked away like eye contact itself had become dangerous.

Meanwhile, Kunta looked me up and down with open disbelief.

"Liking him?" She said. "Seriously?"

And the expression she made after that was like disgust.

I looked back at her, then at the still-shut door Rebecca had just gone through, and honestly only one thought came to mind.

Yeah.

Rebecca was an angel compared to this one.

Anyway, I just came to ask Kunta if she could give us any help like that grenade like object she gave me which would work well against Symbiote Hosts but she said unfortunately, everything was in Zakthar’s hands and that they didn’t bring much of weapons to begin with, just the minimum as it wasn’t the purpose of their visit.

Well, there was that Matrix Box in Kunta’s possession but Zakthar might be the only one who could make it work and use it. Its greatest ability being to create a dome of power and barrier around a specific area. Unfortunately it was an Anti-Symbiote dome so it would affect us as well inside it.

Hopefully Zakthar could correct or alter it a bit so we could make the dome surround the whole hotel or even better, the whole area we were currently living in.

In which case we could prevent Zakthar from invading our place and I could be at peace knowing that Margaret’s community would be protected for a while, even during my absence.