Making Game: CH 144 – Profile Fitting (Patreon)

Dorian walked briskly into his expansive underground hangar. "Leo, fuel up the Falcon and put it down to the ground layer," he commanded.

The heavy docking bay lights above the Millennium Falcon instantly flared to life. A mechanized fueling system extended from the side wall, locking securely onto the ship's fuel pump.

Athena tilted her head slightly, watching as Dorian dumped a massive assortment of clothes onto a nearby supply crate.

Dorian immediately equipped his Stardew Valley profile, [Farmer of the Past]. His body shifted into the rugged avatar, and he quickly changed his outfit into something significantly more discreet. Next, he switched into his Hades profile, [Prince of the Underworld]. He swapped out the divine armor for another set of mundane clothes, specifically equipping a heavy pair of boots designed to completely hide the trail of fire he left behind whenever he revealed himself as Arthur.

As he smoothly transitioned into his Pokémon profile, [Regional Champion], Athena crossed her arms. "Are you really going to use every single profile in this mission?"

Dorian adjusted his red cap. "You always tell me to over-prepare for every battle when I have the chance, right?"

Athena just smirked, allowing Dorian to continue his frantic wardrobe changes. He shifted into his Assassin's Creed profile, [Prince of the Renaissance], and began swapping out Ezio's iconic robes.

"Why are you changing the Assassin attire too?" Athena asked, her grey eyes narrowing in confusion. "Isn't the attire of an assassin inherently designed for stealth?"

"Well, the classic assassin attire will just attract unwanted attention with its unique shape and heavy layering," Dorian explained, pulling a plain jacket over his shoulders. "A simple modern hoodie and casual attire will suffice for blending in."

He then swapped to his Sky profile, [Children of Light]. The moment the avatar materialized, pure, radiant light poured from his body and passed directly through the casual clothes he tried to put on.

"Pointless," Athena commented dryly.

Dorian just sighed and dropped the fabric. "Yeah."

"How exactly are you going to infiltrate this high-society party with these casual stealth outfits anyway?" Athena asked.

Dorian changed back to his real self, a confident smile spreading across his face. "That is exactly where I come in."

He focused his mind and called upon Dionysus. The God of Wine materialized in the hangar with a spectral flourish.

Athena raised an eyebrow, finally realizing the true plan. "You are going to just walk in and join the party."

Dorian smiled widely as he walked backward up the docking ramp of the Millennium Falcon. "The party is entirely meant for me anyway. Recon next, right?"

The massive hangar lift rumbled as it ascended, carrying the ship upward. The surface doors opened, revealing the quiet Friton night sky still cloaking the estate. With a whining whirl of its repulsor engines, the Falcon took off into the atmosphere.

Inside the cockpit, Dorian tapped several controls, punching the coordinates into the star map. The nav-computer beeped, displaying a travel time of exactly three hours in hyperdrive.

He clicked his tongue in mild annoyance. He then activated his divine boon, calling Hermes to his side.

A blur of golden light flashed in the copilot seat, and Hermes appeared with a relaxed grin. "What's up, boss? Need somethin'?"

"I need recon," Dorian ordered firmly. "Go to the Leothon System. Look at this coordinate on the star map for Club Na'ini."

Hermes squinted his eyes at the glowing planetary projection on the console. "Hmmm... anything specific to look out for?"

"Someone claiming they are the Kepler farm heir," Dorian said.

Hermes let out a highly amused, proud laugh. "Your real self already has a dedicated impostor! It seems success is really chasing you with a speed compared to my own, hahaha! Give me fifteen minutes."

With a brilliant flash of speed, Hermes blitzed directly out of the Millennium Falcon, leaving Dorian to prepare for the long flight ahead.

…

Hermes returned exactly twenty minutes later. "I got it," the god announced, materializing directly inside the cockpit.

Dionysus took a slow sip of his ghostly wine. "Glad to have you back, feather foot."

Hermes rolled his eyes. "Shut up, limp. Do not talk about speed with me."

"Oh darling," Dionysus chuckled, "I deliver complete satisfaction over mere speed."

Athena stepped forward, cutting the banter short. "Enough. Is he still there?"

Hermes nodded confidently. "Yes, he is. Short brown hair, thin lips, piercing blue eyes. He was leaning against the VIP wall. It seems he will stay put. He looks quite content with the whole arrangement he has got."

"Yeah, an arrangement entirely in my name," Dorian muttered, crossing his arms.

"Alright," Athena stated calmly. "That is indeed one of them. Let us get down to business."

Dorian paused, looking back at her in confusion. "Wait, hold on. One of them? There are more?"

"He is simply the most destructive one," Athena explained smoothly. "The others can easily be handled by Ratik or Raja, or just let go entirely. As far as I'm concerned, the rest merely lie for the sake of free drinks and a few quick credits."

Dorian narrowed his mismatched eyes. "So what exactly does this guy do?"

Athena sighed softly. "Let us see. Where shall I begin..."

…

"Cheers!"

The loud shout and the clinking of crystal glasses echoed around the open VIP table of Club Na'ini. A man with a lean build, brown hair, and bright blue eyes sat between two beautiful women. He laughed loudly, pouring his own expensive drink directly into the mouth of the woman beside him. The area was a high-octane sensory overload filled with alcohol, illicit substances, and loud music. The absolute life of the party was the self-proclaimed Kepler heir, Julian Kepler.

Julian leaned in and playfully bit the neck of the woman on his left. Suddenly, a massive bodyguard standing directly behind the sofa reached out and firmly pulled him back. The bodyguard gave a stern shake of his head.

The woman giggled, wrapping her arms around Julian. "Mmmph, a Kepler heir being kept on a tight leash by his own bodyguard."

Julian laughed smoothly. "I can't let my mother and father become early grandparents, can I?"

Several hours later, the chaotic party began to wind down. The two women were being physically carried out by the bodyguards. They were clearly entirely too drunk to stand. The club security would normally stop anyone attempting to drag unconscious patrons out the back door. However, the Kepler name clearly held massive weight. With a little bit of credit slipped to the right bouncers to smooth things out, everyone turned a blind eye.

The group walked out into the cool night air toward a parked speeder. Absolutely none of them realized that eyes were watching their every move from the rooftops above.

Dorian looked down from the ledge and clicked his tongue in pure disgust. "How come an active member of the Golden Rock Guild is directly connected to a trafficking group?"

Athena stood gracefully beside him, her grey eyes scanning the alleyway below. "Any immediate expansion always carries a massive risk. From my investigation, your father's friends over at the Golden Rock Guild had absolutely no idea one of their members was tied up with these kinds of people. Not even their guild leader knows."

Dorian gripped the edge of the roof, his knuckles turning white. "It's still a massive oversight on their end. I need to clean these traffickers up completely. Then, I'm going to have a very serious talk with them."

He focused his mind and equipped the Prince of the Renaissance profile. The familiar weight of the Assassin tools and weapons settled over him, perfectly disguised under his casual jacket. He immediately broke into a sprint and launched himself off the edge of the rooftop. He sailed over the wide alleyway below, rolling perfectly onto the adjacent building to preserve his forward momentum.

He parkoured seamlessly from building to building, keeping a strict, elevated pace with the speeder far below. He vaulted over heavy ventilation units, slid smoothly under glowing neon signboards, and leaped across precarious gaps with practiced grace.

Ahead of him, Hermes darted around as a literal blur of golden energy. The god guides him to avoid the security cameras and looped surveillance feeds to keep Dorian's pursuit entirely hidden.

Suddenly, Hermes appeared directly in front of him with a raised hand.

"Stop," Hermes warned. "There is way too much surveillance ahead."

Dorian halted his sprint, skidding slightly to a stop right at the ledge of a commercial roof. He looked down and watched Julian's speeder descend slowly into the dark basement of a massive, half-constructed high-rise building.

"We need a re-route," Dorian commanded.

Hermes blitzed around the perimeter and returned shaking his head. "No, we are completely boxed in. Sorry boss. The only way forward is to let them see you for this next part."

Dorian sighed heavily. "No."

He instantly equipped the Sky profile. His physical body shifted into pure, weightless light. Before the high-tech cameras could even register a human figure, Dorian dashed across the open expanse as a blinding, unrecognizable blur of warmth. He safely reached the shadows of the construction zone and immediately swapped back to the Prince of the Renaissance profile.

Athena stood waiting in the shadows. For a brief, fleeting second, a genuinely impressed expression crossed her face. Dorian caught the rare look of approval before she smoothed her features back to a stoic mask.

They slipped quietly into the basement level. Several high-end sensor arrays were placed along the concrete walls. However, with Hermes pointing out the invisible laser grids and Dorian utilizing his own tech-savvy skills, they easily bypassed and deactivated every single trap along the way.

Deep within the basement, the echoing sound of voices and loud laughter bounced off the concrete. It was Julian and his crew.

"Hermes, recon," Dorian whispered.

Hermes crossed his arms. "Wow, I really do a lot of heavy lifting here."

Dionysus manifested lazily beside them. "Alas, we only partied for thirty minutes."

Hermes rolled his eyes in profound annoyance and darted forward into the dark corridor.

Dorian reached into his pockets and tossed two capsules into the air. In bright flashes of light, his Articuno and his newly evolved Shiny Metagross materialized in the basement. He then equipped his Regional Champion profile. As Red, his vision shifted dynamically. He could instantly see the exact tactical stats of his Pokémon, the environmental situation of the concrete area, and precisely which moves would be most effective for a breach.

"Articuno," Dorian commanded softly. "Use Mist."

The legendary bird flapped its magnificent wings. Slowly, the basement area became incredibly chilled, and a thick, obscuring mist began to creep across the floor.

A moment later, Hermes blitzed back to their side. "Alright, here is the situation inside..."

…

Meanwhile, deep inside a reinforced captive cell, the heavy iron door slammed shut. The two unconscious women from the club were unceremoniously dumped inside onto the cold concrete floor alongside several other prisoners. Every face in the dark room was a picture of distraught misery. Each person had been dragged here under completely different, tragic circumstances.

Among the captives sat Vulpy, a dedicated LNN reporter who had simply found herself in the wrong place at the worst possible time. She had originally infiltrated this construction building for an entirely different investigation. Extreme bad luck had caught up to her, and the syndicate guards had snatched her before she could transmit her findings.

She weakly banged her fists against the thick cell bars. "Let me out! I am an official network reporter!"

A heavily armed grunt standing guard outside sneered at her. "Shut it, bitch. If your body could not fetch a high price, you would be unconscious and bleeding out on the floor right now. Now shut your mouth."

He then swung his rifle butt hard against the metal bars. The deafening clang rang sharply inside the cramped cell, echoing off the bare walls.

Vulpy winced and tightly blocked her ears. She leaned back against the damp concrete wall, sliding down to the floor, and began to cry silently.

A moment later, a gentle hand touched her shoulder. A younger girl crouched beside her and offered a small, compressed food ration. She spoke with a very strange, thick accent. "It is okay, sister. The scary part will pass soon."

Vulpy barely glanced at the dry food. "I am full."

The young girl sat down comfortably beside her. "Which planet were you running from?"

Vulpy blinked in confusion. "What?"

"The nice people outside said this is just 'the standard procedure' to safely get out of Yustea," the young girl explained innocently. "I am sure we will all get to a much safer core planet very soon."

Vulpy turned to look at her fully, a sinking feeling forming in her chest. "We are kidnapped. We are going to be sold to the highest bidder."

The girl tilted her head, completely lost. "Highest bidder?"

At that exact moment, a spark of recognition hit Vulpy. She remembered exactly who this girl was. It was from the day she covered the Yustea centennial meteor showers on live television. This was the exact same girl who had sung so beautifully the moment the shower illuminated the sky.

"You..." Vulpy stammered, her voice shaking. "You are that Yustean girl."

Vulpy could not even bring herself to explain the horrible reality. Yustea had already been liberated. This poor, naive rural girl probably just wanted a better life in the core worlds and had ended up walking straight into a trafficking ring's false promises.

Suddenly, a plume of unnaturally cold mist began to seep under the heavy steel door. The white fog rolled across the floor, rapidly plunging the entire basement corridor into freezing obscurity.

The grunt outside took a confused step back, his boots scuffing the floor. "What the... where is this chill fog coming from? I can barely see my own ha–"

SHINKK!!

A sharp metallic sound echoed through the thick mist.

The guard gasped. A wet, guttural gurgle immediately followed. The horrifying sound of tearing flesh and cold metal piercing bone filled the sudden silence. A heavy body slumped to the concrete floor, completely neutralized by the hidden blade of a phantom lurking in the cold.

Note: Why Hermes called Dio limp?

Dionysus's mortal mother, Semele, died while pregnant after witnessing Zeus's true divine form. To save the unborn baby, Zeus stitched Dionysus into his own thigh until he was ready to be born.

Carrying growing Dionysus inside his leg muscle forced Zeus to walk with a highly noticeable, heavy limp.

When Dionysus was finally born from the thigh, Zeus handed the infant over to Hermes to hide him from Hera. Looking at his father still hobbling around, Hermes jokingly named the baby "Zeus's Limp" (Dio-nysus) to mock his father's temporary physical awkwardness.

Yet another story of Hermes being a trickster. :D