“That… was interesting.” Quinn said with what sounded like genuine fascination, “And not one sign of fatigue on the Code Jumper who initiated the teleportation… very interesting…”
“Ha! Me? A Code Jumper?” Owen scoffed as he flopped down in one of the dozen or so bean bags, gesturing for me to do the same, “Not that I have any problem with Code Jumpers, of course, but I sure as Hell ain’t one of them, nowhere near.”
I took the opportunity to take a seat and immediately regretted it as I realized that I was unlikely to ever want to stand up again, “Says the guy who just beamed us onto his super-secret private island that he built using nothing but code and good vibes.”
“What, that?” Owen replied, pointing his thumb over his shoulder, “That was nothing compared to what you and yours can do. I know a couple of neat tricks, sure, but that’s about it, kiddie magic show crap.”
“Alright, so now that that’s out of the way,” Quinn said as if she wasn’t absolutely stunned a few seconds prior, “let’s get on with what we’re here to do.”
“Do you mind if I get some info first?” I asked with a bit more snippiness than I’d intended, “Last thing we need to do is go in half-cocked.”
“Hell, full-cocked and you’ll still have some trouble,” Owen interjected, “don’t get me wrong, being able to use your… ‘powers’ without drawing Callomezi’s attention will help, but he’s still a powerful dude.”
“So, what? We’re Batman sneaking up on Supes with a kryptonite rock?”
“Try Jimmy Olsen sneaking up on Darkseid.”
I wanted to have a little laugh at the comparison, but then I realized how bad that was for me and grew somber, “Alright, so what can you tell us about him then?”
“What can’t I tell you?” Owen laughed, all signs of seriousness gone from his voice, “If you wanna go simple, he’s the God of this place now, if you wanna go more in-depth… well, I’ll start from the beginning and work from there, sound good?”
I didn’t want to be sitting in there forever, but at the same time I felt like if I told him to skip parts I’d end up missing something integral. Like when you do a dungeon crawl, doesn’t matter if you’ve killed all the enemies and completed the quest, you’ve still got to check that one door that leads to a different path.
So, much to Quinn’s obvious displeasure, I nodded.
“Okay,” Owen said with a clap of his hands before sitting forward in his beanbag, “so, you know how you had the bright idea to hand over that book? Actually, s’pose it would’ve still been a PDF or whatever when yo-whatever, doesn’t matter, point is…”
He was obviously having some trouble going back that far in his memory, if it weren’t obvious from the random mutterings here and there, it was from the head rubbing and the hard blinking.
“So… alright, imagine you’re learning to spell, right? It’s some foreign language that nobody speaks and there’s not so much as a dictionary in your world to help, you with me so far?”
I was thrown by the sudden question, but I quickly gained some composure, “Yeah, I get you, I’m the Don in this situation, right? He’s the guy learning to read?”
“Exactly!” Owen exclaimed in delight, clearly grateful that I was following his line of thought, “Now, imagine that, by some sheer freakin’ miracle, some guy comes to you and dumps an encyclopedia of all the world’s languages in your lap.”
“Right…” I said, pretending to know what Owen meant when he didn’t continue on, and then it hit me, “Oh! Oh, oh, oh… Heh, shit, eh?”
“Shit eh indeed.” Quinn muttered, “I thought that it’d only give him a rudimentary understanding at best.”
“It did, until it got into the neural net and ended up as shared information.” Owen said with a sort of defeated smile, “Guy didn’t think for a second that there would be others out there waitin’ for the opportunity to start screwin’ around with the code, seeing what they could change and what was static.”
My eyebrow raised in curiosity at his apparent reminiscence, “Would’ve been chaotic, wouldn’t it?”
“Eh, not so much. Like I said, there’s not much we could do beyond what amounts to simple magic. Anyway, the Don ended up deciding that he didn’t like the competition and locked that file down into an actual, physical book that he’s somehow solely attached to himself, like admin privileges or something. He keeps it hidden away in his office. Oh yeah, and blocked all access in and out of the base game so as to apparently avoid any further… contamination.”
Again, I was confused, “If you know where the book is, why not make a move for it?”
“Everyone knows where it is, the issue is that no one can get to it. Doesn’t stop people from tryin’ though.” Owen scoffed dismissively, “Bunch o’ freedom fighters tryin’ to take back the game, but, in case you hadn’t noticed, it’s been a long time of fighting, and they aren’t makin’ any progress.”
“You don’t sound too fond of this resistance,” Quinn interjected, “figured you would be all for a free New Paradisum.”
“What, ‘cause I’m a hippy?” Owen laughed, “Don’t get me wrong, I was all for getting things back to the way they should be, but again, it’s been a long time and it’s proved to be pretty futile.”
An involuntary grin spread across my face, “What’s futile?”
Owen regarded me with confusion for a few seconds before letting out an unsure “Resistance?”
“And another way of saying that would be..?”
“Uh… Rebellion?”
“No, no, how would you say it in one sentence?”
I was only confusing Owen further, but I was desperate to hear the line, “Um, rebellion is futile?”
“No, I… ugh, never mind,” I moaned with a defeated sigh, “where are these rebels?”
“You can’t be serious?” Quinn whispered, “The last thing we need to be doing right now is getting involved in some ridiculous fight.”
“I don’t see how I’m meant to get into Callomezi’s tower otherwise, do you?”
Owen was looking at me like he was watching his friends argue, which was an interesting look given that the argument was happening in my head and he had no one else to look at, but Quinn was quick to notice this and surrendered to my idea with a dejected groan.
“Now that that’s out of the way,” I said, making no effort to hide that I was fairly annoyed that there wasn’t some part of Quinn that wanted to help fix what we broke, “you were telling us where the resistance is holed up?”
“I…” Owen started then stopped, still clearly waiting for Quinn to start snapping again, before straightening up and flopping back into his chair, “If you wanna stick around for another hour they’re comin’ by to pick up some of my Freedom Two.”
“Freedom Two?” I asked, “What’s Freedom Two?”
“That’s right!” Owen practically squealed as he shot out of his beanbag, “Come, come, you have to see this.”
I didn’t get much of a chance to ask what ‘this’ was before Owen had clapped his hands, teleporting us to a completely different section of his island, where I fell flat on my ass courtesy of there no longer being a bean bag.
We were in some sort of lab, complete with hydroponics that had a few decent bushes growing with what looked like holographic charts hovering in front of each one, as well as what looked like a meth station attached to one of the walls.
Owen couldn’t have looked more excited.
“You know how you brought me all that Freedom, yeah?” Owen asked as I struggled to get up to my feet.
“I think that should be obvious considering the fact that I came out to find you.”
“Ah, yes, of course.” Owen replied with an odd amount of sophistication before walking over to the meth station, “Well, I was using some of it with the soil to try and grow untraceable weed, but I was also studying it to see if I could synthesize it by myself.”
Quinn didn’t even bother trying to hide her laugh, �
��Synthesize it? It’s code, not chemicals.”
“Obviously,” Owen said, obviously hurt by the mocking, before riffling through what looked like a high-tech cooler, “but I wanted to take a swing at it anyway, and then that book came into the equation and bing-bang-boom, you’ve got Freedom Two…oom.”
I smiled at his need to finish in a rhyme, and then at the purple inhaler he pulled out of the cooler, “What’s that?”
“This,” Owen said as he tossed me the inhaler, “is Freedom Two. It’s… different from the stuff the Code Jumpers used to bring, but it’s potent, much more than the original Freedom, and it’ll make sure you’re as good as invisible to people like the Don.”
“Mind doin’ a scan of thi-”
“Already on it.” Quinn interrupted out of excitement.
Really had to admire her enthusiasm at times.
“How long’s it last?” I asked while turning the small piece of plastic over in my hand.
“That’s one of the issues,” Owen sighed disappointedly, “each dose lasts maybe two hours, three at max.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad.” I replied, “Half the time is still solid.”
“Yeah… except for the fact that it loses its potency after thirty minutes.”
Again, that didn’t seem too bad, and then it occurred to me what it’d be like driving in the city, “So you’re tellin’ me that I might get five miles into the CBD with this stuff before it farts out on me?”
“Why do you think the freedom fighters are having such a hard time getting to Callomezi?”
“I’m sorry,” Quinn jumped in, pausing her scan, “what exactly is the plan with that? They get to him, kill him, then… what? He respawns and comes right back?”
“Has she always been this bitchy?”
“Hey!” I snapped, surprising everyone in the room, including myself, “She’s not being bitchy, she’s a realist. We’re going in there for… the point is we’re going to Callomezi, and neither of us want to die before we get there.”
Owen still seemed to be reeling slightly from my sudden outburst, but he quickly regained his composure and crossed his arms, “Then you should be talkin’ to one of the freedom fighters.”
“Well there aren’t any aroun-” I started then stopped as Owen raised his forefinger to me and turned his ear to the roof.
“You might be in luck… Back in a flash.”
With that, I was left alone to stand in Owen’s lab like a confused kid being abandoned by their adult and told that they aren’t allowed to touch anything.
“Scan complete,” Quinn chimed robotically, “I’m afraid there’s no way I could duplicate this.”
“Ah well,” I replied distractedly, “good thing we tried, probably would’ve just ended up beating ourselves up later if we didn’t.”
Another few seconds of silence rolled by and my curiousness was about to get the best of me.
“Thanks,” Quinn said softly right before I started fiddling with the row of flowering bushes, “it meant a lot.”
“Wha-oh, oh that thing with Owen? Don’t worry about it, I’m sure you would’ve done the same for me if it came down to it.”
“Still though, the old Eddie would’ve probably gone ahead and thrown me to the wolves, especially considering I was arguing against what you wanted to do.”
“Well… he had no right to call you bitchy, you’re just concerned, and he should respect that.”
Quinn giggled at that, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re going soft.”
“Ah, shut up.” I bit back light-heartedly before turning somewhat serious, “I know you’re concerned that we’re straying from the mission, but I want you to know that, if it comes down to either saving here or going through the portal, I’ll definitely choose the portal.”
“It’s not that I’m worried we’re straying from the mission, it’s that… These people don’t give a shit about you, you know that, right? They’re just going to use you to get to their ends and then toss you to the wolves.”
“Heh, not if I toss them first…” I trailed off as two figures appeared before me.
Owen I knew, but the other guy was like a friend from elementary school, recognize the face, forget just about everything else.
It wasn’t until the large man’s eyes widened and his nostrils flared that the necessary switch in my brain clicked and the face had name.
“What?” I asked with a smile, “No green SUV?”
ENEMY OF MY ENEMY...
At first everything seemed more or less cool, Benny seemed kind of scary, but I’d dismissed that as being a due to his obviously armored three-piece suit and heavy flak jacket.
Then he came at me, barreling like some kind of speed-fueled rhinoceros, stopping only when I raised my hand, my thumb pressed firmly to my middle finger in preparation for a snap.
“One step closer,” I warned, “one step closer and I level this whole place with you in it.”
“Bull,” Owen scoffed, “you do that and you’re basically painting a big red target on yo-” he said with a gasp as I interrupted him by putting the inhaler to my lips and pressing the plunger.
“Sorry,” I choked out, “you were saying?”
“What the Hell is this piece of shit Code Jumper doing ‘ere Owen?” Benny growled, “You tryin’ to make it so I have a reason to stop coming?”
“What? How was I s’posed to know you two knew each other?”
“Everyone knows who he is, along with the rest of the Code Jumper trash.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” I mocked, my fingers still waiting to snap, “sticks and stones may break my bones…”
“But I’ll kill you with a fuckin’ brick.” Benny snarled back, the fact that it didn’t match up with the verse hurting me more than the threat, “Why are you here?”
“Business, you?”
“Business.”
“I know that this is a bit of a bad time,” Quinn whispered, “but I do believe that Benny is the leader of those freedom fighters Owen was talking about.”
“Oh, in which case-” I said before snapping my fingers and making everyone in the room flinch, “welcome oh gracious leader.”
After a few seconds of looking around to make sure I hadn’t set a pack of angry ostriches on him, Benny turned back to his normal, snarling self, “What business do you have with Owen?”
“Private business, but business that could benefit us both, provided you’re willing to play nice.”
“And why would I want to do any kind of business that could help your busin-”
“Stop it with the business!” Owen snapped, drawing all the attention in the room to him, something which he clearly didn’t expect, “Alright, good? Good. Now, Eddie ‘ere is willing to help out with your Callomezi problem.”
“Our Callomezi problem,” Benny clarified, losing some of his temper, “just because you ride the bench in your little purgatory doesn’t mean he’s not your problem.”
“I beg to differ,” Owen muttered dismissively, “but that’s beside the point. Do you want Eddie’s help or not?”
For a while Benny seemed genuinely unsure, his mind clearly wrestling with the pros and cons of having a Code Jumper on his side versus the much more appetizing thought of beating a Code Jumper to death.
He eventually buckled with a heavy sigh though, his little resistance movement coming out as being more important to him than his pride, “Fine, he can help.”
“Why thank you.” I said facetiously with a bow, “May I also be permitted to lick thy boots?”
“Don’t push your luck,” Quinn warned, “I truly believe that he might kick you in the teeth.”
“On with business then?” Owen quickly said before I could mutter anything back to Quinn, his face immediately showing signs of regret about him using the word ‘business’, “How much’ll you be needing this time?”
“Forty,” Benny replied without taking his eyes off me, “and eighty of those imploders.”
/> “Forty?” Owen scoffed, “That’s a bit big for a stealth op, isn’t it?”
“The endgame isn’t a stealth op, we’re attacking his tower with everything we’ve got.”
“And when did you decide to do this?”
“Just now,” Benny said, a grin spreading across his face, “we’ve got ourselves a Code Jumper, which says to me we should be making a big move, something that the Don won’t be expecting.”
Owen’s brow furrowed, but he held his tongue and closed his eyes, which I correctly guessed was him going to work on transporting Benny’s order to the beach.
“Bold,” I quietly said as I finally let my guard down, “you think I’m up for the job?”
Benny shrugged, “Doesn’t matter if you are, all that matters is that Callomezi wants you dead a whole lot more than he wants me dead.”
“So I’m gonna be a distraction, is that it?”
“Is that gonna be a problem?” Benny asked, crossing his arms and smiling wider as he did, “Or are you gonna bitch out?”
A little huff of amusement escaped me and I smiled, “Oh, I ain’t gonna bitch out, but there’s every chance in the world that I’m just gonna leave you guys to fight your little fight while I go and complete my real mission.”
“I s’pose we’ll just have to wait and see if you do then, won’t we?”
Benny was goading me on, I knew that, and I also knew that it didn’t matter what I did, he’d win. If I bailed, I’d prove him right, if I stayed, I’d help him beat Callomezi.
It’s petty, I know, but that made me just want to go back to Owen’s bean bag room and smoke weed until everyone got hit by the Rapture.
“That’s all sorted now,” Owen said, looking like he just woke up from a bad trip as he opened his eyes, “your guys are loading everything into the van.”
“Good,” Benny replied, “mind getting us back to the beach?”
I didn’t get a chance to weigh in before Owen had clapped his hands, teleporting all three of us onto the sand beside my car.
“Heh, you’re still driving that?” Benny mocked.
“Comin’ from the guy driving around in a futuristic rape van,” I replied, pointing to the floating white panel vehicle with blacked out windows, “we hitting Callomezi or a playground?”
Code Jumper Page 23
