My Scumbag System Chapter 649: The Thursday Invitation

The afternoon bled into evening. Natalia and I lay tangled in her sheets, the air thick with the smell of sex and the faint ozone tinge that always accompanied our bond at full intensity. Her head rested on my chest, purple hair spread across my skin like spilled ink.

"We should eat," I said.

"Later."

"Your parents come back tomorrow."

"Still later."

I couldn’t argue with that logic. My hand traced lazy circles on her lower back, feeling the muscles shift beneath her skin. She’d been training hard. The definition in her shoulders and arms had sharpened since I’d been gone. The telekinetic exercises combined with the cryo abilities I’d gifted her were transforming her into something genuinely dangerous.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked.

"Your ass."

"Liar." She bit my chest. Not hard enough to hurt. Just enough to remind me she could. "You’re thinking about the integration."

"I’m thinking about both. Multitasking is a skill."

She propped herself up on one elbow and looked at me. The violet of her eyes had softened back to their normal shade, though traces of the darkness from earlier remained. Like she was still hungry despite everything we’d done.

"Three days," she said. "Complete isolation. No contact with anyone. Not even through our bond."

"That’s what my father said."

"And you trust him? The man who experimented on you before you were born? Who made a deal with a cosmic entity to turn you into a weapon?"

"Not even a little bit." I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "But I trust the data. The integration process makes sense. The architecture he described matches what I’ve observed about my own abilities. And the crystal..."

I glanced at the satchel on her desk. The faint pulse of light was visible even through the leather.

"The crystal is real," I finished. "Whatever else my father lied about, the technology works."

Natalia was quiet for a moment. Her fingers traced the pendant hanging around my neck. The metal was warm from body heat.

"When?"

"Soon. But not yet." I pulled her closer. "I need to establish the Helena Vasquez contact first. Get an inside source in the VHC before I’m out of commission for three days. And I need to check in with the others."

"The others." Her voice carried a sharp edge. "Your harem."

"Our court."

"My rivals."

"My pillars." I caught her chin and tilted her face up to meet my eyes. "Each of them brings something different to the table. Reyna’s combat power. Skylar’s stealth and intelligence. Emi’s healing and emotional support. Akari’s connections and resources. Cel’s access to the VHC inner circle."

"And me?"

"You’re the foundation. The first. The one who saw what I really was and didn’t run." I kissed her forehead. "Without you, none of it works."

She melted against me. The tension in her shoulders eased. I felt the change through our bond before I saw it in her body language.

"Flattery."

"Truth."

"Same thing when you say it."

Fair point.

My phone buzzed from somewhere on the floor. I ignored it. It buzzed again. And again. The pattern was too insistent to be spam.

"Someone wants your attention," Natalia said.

"Someone always wants my attention."

"The burden of being a harem protagonist."

I laughed despite myself. She wasn’t wrong. The phone kept buzzing. With a groan, I extracted myself from her warmth and retrieved the device from the pile of discarded clothes.

Seventeen messages. Eight from Reyna. Three from Skylar. Two from Emi. Three from Seraphina Vance. And one from an unknown number that made my blood run cold.

The unknown message read: HELENA VASQUEZ. PROMETHEUS ARCHIVE. SUBLEVEL 7. SHE WORKS LATE ON THURSDAYS. ALONE.

No signature. No explanation. No request for payment or favor.

Someone was feeding me intelligence. Someone who knew about my conversation with my father. Someone who wanted me to make contact with Helena Vasquez.

The list of people who could have that information was terrifyingly short. My father. Natalia through our bond. And whatever cosmic entity had been watching my entire life.

"Satori?" Natalia’s voice cut through my thoughts. "What is it?"

I showed her the message. Her eyes widened. Through the bond, I felt her mind racing through the same calculations I’d just made.

"It’s Thursday," she said.

"I know."

"Today is Thursday."

"I’m aware."

"She works late on Thursdays. Alone." Natalia sat up, the sheets pooling around her waist. Her breasts were still flushed pink from our earlier activities. "Someone is trying to push you toward contact faster than you planned."

"Or someone is trying to trap me." I scrolled through the other messages. Reyna checking in about her recovery. Skylar warning about surveillance near the Academy. Emi worrying about my nutritional intake. Seraphina requesting a status update. Nothing urgent. Nothing that couldn’t wait.

Except for the anonymous tip.

"You’re going to go," Natalia said. Not a question.

"I’m thinking about it."

"You’re going to go tonight."

"Probably."

She threw a pillow at my head. I caught it without looking.

"You just got back. We had plans. Twelve hours, remember? Twelve hours of reminding you what you’re fighting for?"

"We’ve been at it for six. That’s half credit."

"Mathematics isn’t romance, you ass."

I tossed the pillow back and sat on the edge of the bed. The anonymous message glowed on my phone screen. Thursday. Late. Alone. The information was too specific to be coincidence. Too convenient to be trustworthy.

But also too valuable to ignore.

"Helena Vasquez is the key to the VHC archives," I said slowly. "She has access to classified files about Project Prometheus. About my father. About everything the VHC has been hiding for twenty years."

"She’s also protected by the Sanctions Division. The black ops team that makes inconvenient people disappear."

"Which is why approaching her in the open would be suicide." I stood and began gathering my clothes. "But if she really works late on Thursdays alone..."

"You could make contact privately. Without surveillance. Without witnesses."

"Exactly."