Page 379 -- XLIV.

Chapter Forty-Four: ‘Hark! Thy distant troubles...!’
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Gina sat up in her chair. “Master Roman! Where are you? You haven’t contacted me for weeks.”

<“Yeah, my phone kind of blew up. It’s no big deal. I’ve got a new one now.”>

“How did your phone get destroyed?”

<“Oh, um. I dropped it.”>

Gina squinted. “You dropped your phone, and it exploded.”

<“Yeah. That’s a thing that can happen. I don’t see what’s weird about it.”>

“Master Roman, why are you lying to me? And moreover, why are you sucking at it?”

<“I have other things on my mind right now, okay? Dammit, Voreese! Shut up! I’m trying to talk to Gina! Agh--she can’t hear you! You know she can’t hear you, so you’re just being annoying for no fucking reason! Stop already or--”> There was a pause, then a sigh of exasperation. <“Voreese says hi.”>

“Hi, Voreese.”

<“Gina says hi. Yeah. Great. Now shut up. Yes, I know you can’t let go of me right now! Just be quiet!”> Another pause, and Roman cleared his throat. <“Sorry about that. It’s been a stressful week.”>

“Did something happen?”

<“We met up with some more Vanguard forces, but they weren’t very forthcoming. They were giving us the run around and just generally being unhelpful pricks.”>

“And?”

<“And Lynnette stole something from them, and they got all pissed. Then I stole a bigger something. An airplane-shaped something.”>

“You stole a plane from the Vanguard?!”

<“Yeah!”> laughed Roman. <“Stole the pilot, too. Pretty nice guy. Bit jumpy, but nice.”>

“Wait.” Gina’s brow lowered. “What happened to your private jet?”

<“Oh, um. Yeah, don’t worry about the private jet. It’s fine.”>

“It’s not fine at all, is it?”

<“It’s at the bottom of a swamp.”>

“How did that happen?!”

<“That’s not important.”>

“I think it is!”

<“Everything is under control. I only called to let you know that we haven’t died horribly yet.”>

“Fantastic. In that case, I have news for you, too. You remember Hector, yes?”

<“Yeah?”>