“I’m bettin’ she needs them all the same. She’ll drop them like a bad habit when she does. That’s who she is.”
“I don’t disagree. And until they get whatever it is they’re after, I suspect they’ll be pretty protective of her. Hasker’s going to want her team out of the picture anyways, so we have to let them take their chances in the events. Accidents do happen, ya know? Who's their sponsor?”
The other two Hunters smiled.
“Speakeasy manned up this year and entered, not reppin’ Hasker but independently. Wants to move up, I guess,” Carter said.
“Ha! You must be joking? I thought it’d be JabberJaw or ForkTongue, but Speakeasy? Ah, such pleasant surprises The Games have this year. Well, alright then. Find out what Speakeasy’s got in his bag of tricks.”
“And then?”
“Her team needs to go. We’re bound by the house ceasefire, so we can only make their chances of breathing just a little bit slimmer. And, for Christ's sake, don't harm Kimmy or Hasker will tie a big bow on your head and send you off to Wargame.”
“He wants her alive? After everything she’s done?” Carter said. “Just because she’s one of the foster daughters?!”
“Must be it,” Blake scoffed. “She’d be dead by now.”
“I don’t know why,” Lindsey sighed. “Let’s just get it over with, shall we?”
The two Wordhunters reluctantly mumbled under their breath and disappeared into the crowd again as they activated their optic camouflage.
Lindsey pushed himself off the wall and casually walked into the busy crowd. After all the trouble she took to plan her well-orchestrated escape and the vicious manhunt that ensued, Lindsey could only wonder, What are you doing back, Kim?
He didn’t understand the trifle between the boss and Kimmy. Had it been any other Wordhunter that betrayed Hasker, they’d be hunted and killed or have a bounty on their head big enough to guarantee their death. He figured it had something to do with the fact that she was one of his stepdaughters. Lindsey scoffed at the idea of special treatment.
3
PANIC AT THE SOL
Kimmy stood in line rocking back and forth on her toes, waiting patiently in the contestant check-in, where the sophisticated deck-scanning apparatus waited, designed to spot fake and unsanctioned Sol-Fate cards.
The card parlor, or Gauntlet as the players called it, was a massive floor space with over two hundred dueling tables. The area was crowded with patrons waiting to spectate the first round of eliminations but mostly had players mingling with their possible future opponents.
The Gauntlet was extremely ornate and cozy to her. It was dramatically more kept than the levels below and, as an added bonus, the Sol-Fate game attracted a more sophisticated type of person so barely any psychopaths were competing out of the hundreds of contestants.
Kimmy was up next and was excited to present her prized deck. It was a carefully balanced ENF faction deck built from years of experience and careful scavenging for rare cards. Every deck had to be balanced with different unit types and force multiplier cards, but the main attraction was the rare hero cards. Kimmy held in her possession an ultra-rare ENF Spirit Dreadnought faction leader card, which was only one of five known to be in existence. It made her deck powerful enough to withstand even the strongest decks around the system and Kimmy had rarely lost in her hundreds of games played.
“Speaky, I’m checking in right now,” Kimmy said into her earpiece.
“Most excellent, Kimmy! I trust you’ll make quick work of the noobs in the Chamber?”
“Some of these guys look like they’ve never played before. Some of them are asking others about point division and hero strategies like they just bought a starting deck on the InfiNET yesterday! Amateurs.”
“Well, I wish you luck, Kimmy. Remember, if you win the Sol-Fate tournament, that’s fifty points to Martian Grey’s score overall, which is considerably fantastic!”
“I know, I know. Are the others keeping you good company?”
“McKenna and the others are having a drink right now at the lounge bar. They’ve proven to be quite good company, but I fear they don’t much understand the game or they just don’t have an interest sadly…”
The man ahead of Kimmy stepped aside, prompting a man sitting behind a wooden grate to motion her to come forward.
“Oh, got to go, I'm checking in.” Kimmy stepped forward to greet the less than enthusiastic man operating the terminal.
“Team?” the man uttered in a horridly neutral tone.
“Martian Grey's,” Kimmy said excitedly. The man chuckled after hearing the name and then burped unexpectedly before wiping his smile away. He typed a bit into his terminal.
“Will you be competing in Sol-Fate?”
“Well, why do you think I'm here?” Kimmy said as she fluttered her eyes and forced a smile.
“Ma’am, please retard your anger level or sign up for The Red Fields. And what faction will you be fielding?”
“Earth Naval Fleet.”
The man finished typing and opened a glass box beside him with a scanner inside.
“Please place the deck you wish to field into the security box.”
Kimmy smiled and reached into her pouch to remove her prized deck. Her cards wore moderately to severely worn as she both played often and had a number of ultra-rare cards that had been bought or traded between other enthusiasts for decades. Kimmy placed the deck in the small container and watched the small grid scanner run over the deck numerous times. It checked for illegal cards, counterfeits, and whether the deck was within the game type rules. Kimmy twiddled her thumbs as she watched the scanner take an abnormally long time.
“It will only take a moment, ma’am.”
Suddenly the small grid flashed red and shut off. The man looked at his terminal, irritated by the lack of a smooth check.
“What is it? What's the matter?” Kimmy asked nervously. The man didn't acknowledge her but rather squinted at his terminal. Kimmy knew she didn't have anything illegal and all her cards were genuine, so the abrupt alert made her nervous.
“Ma’am, you only have fifty-nine cards. You’re missing a leader card. You cannot field a deck without a—”
“What do you mean fifty-nine?!” Kimmy said as she picked up the deck and skimmed through them. She quickly realized her most prized faction leader card was missing. “Where’s my Spirit Dreadnaught?!”
“Ma’am, the scanner doesn't make mistakes and I'm sure I would've noticed such a card. Don't worry, ma’am, it's a common novice mistake, but you must have sixty cards total with a leader to field your deck and enter the tournament.”
“Do you know who I am?! You're cracked!”
Kimmy swiped her deck from the container and began passing through her cards once more, holding them close to her face almost in disbelief. She passed through ten, then twenty, then fifty-nine. Her deck was one card short and the missing card was the one in question. Kimmy felt her veins begin to boil as she clutched her deck tightly. Soon, the steam rushed out of her lungs.
“Fuck!” Kimmy yelled at the top of her lungs. Several patrons turned and looked. Some of the more intoxicated ones saw any commotion as a good time.
“Hey, fuck you too!” a drunken patron said from the back of the room.
Kimmy brushed some of her misplaced hair over. The man behind the terminal rested his head on his palm.
“Ma’am, competitor check-in ends in forty-eight minutes. I'm sure you could buy another card off a scalper at the main hub.”
“You don't understand! It was… It was a Level 15 ENF Spirit!”
“I'm sure it was, ma’am. All novices have their dream decks.” Kimmy ground her teeth and clenched her fist, hovering it over the man's face. She turned around in absolute frustration and stamped her feet out of the room.
Dill began to take a sip of his glass of whiskey when he suddenly felt a bump to his back, causing him to spill a bit of it on his jacket.
“Oi!”
he said.
Kimmy set her hands on the table; she was breathing heavily in frustration. McKenna raised his finger to signal the bot bartender who promptly rolled his way over.
“Something to calm her down, please,” McKenna said to the Bartender-Bot. The bartender rolled on his tracks to grab a standard bottle of bourbon when Kimmy raised her palm out to stop him.
“No, two percent!” she said, panting. The bot bowed quickly and sharply and poured a glass of two percent milk into a chilled glass and handed it to Kimmy. She took it and gulped it down quickly before letting out a long breath.
“That was a quick match, Kim,” Dill said with slight irritation in his voice as he wiped away the spilled liquor from his jacket.
“Kim, what happened?” McKenna asked.
“My deck is not legal, you guys. After this long trip down to this calamity, it's not legal!”
“Why not? Did you cheat or something?” McKenna asked.
“I didn't even get that far! I'm a card shy from being able to compete. I have a fifty-nine-card deck. My prized leader card is gone! Gone! The bastard even suggested buying some shit card from a vendor down there. Unbelievable!”
McKenna and Dill stared at her curiously and swallowed the whiskey in their mouths slowly, not really up to speed on the foreign terminology she was spouting.
She looked to her left to see Humphries staring at his own glass of whiskey, seemingly disappointed that he couldn't drink it. The Bartender-Bot slowly stared down at the glass along with him before nodding his head and rolling away to help other patrons.
“Oh, forget it!” Kimmy said as she sunk her head into her arms.
“Easy, Kim. Did you have it when we arrived here?” McKenna asked.
“Of course! I painstakingly assembled that deck to counter almost every faction and my card was a Level 15 ENF Spirit Dreadnought.”
“Level 15… okay,” McKenna muttered, not sure on what she was talking about. “I'm sure it was—” McKenna reassured.
“Argh! You sound just like that guy! Why doesn't anyone believe I have that card?!”
McKenna placed his hand on Kimmy's shoulder to calm her down. “Kimmy, it’s okay.”
Kimmy looked at McKenna and was surprised by how calm he could be. “It might have been swiped,” Kimmy said. “That's what’s really bothering me. We bumped past hundreds of people just walking up here.”
“Hold it a tick,” Dill said. “What's so special about this card?”
“Well, first off, every deck has to have a leader card embedded into it. Mine just happened to have insane bonuses when active. It is rare beyond all that is holy, Roberts! Without it, the deck is useless since I can't even enter.”
“And your leader card was, I take it, unique?”
“One of the rarest. Only five are known to be in existence. They're based off the five ENF Dreadnought Sister ships, so they're not hard to miss but you can go a lifetime without seeing one.”
“It sounds like you’re just a card short. Don't you have some sort of backup? A replacement card?” McKenna asked.
“No. No, I don't.” She ran her hands over her face. “That card is, I admit, a sign of power. I won it by playing and beating the best player in the world. I earned my way to that card.”
“Well, it kind of sounds like you could do it again, right? Without it?” McKenna said.
“That card was practically a guaranteed victory. It was ridiculously powerful. Now, without it, I'm just another player. I'll admit I was arrogant relying on it. Shit, is this karma?!”
“Come on, Kim. It's not like it’s the end of the world or anything,” Dill said.
“The card grants insane bonuses to a properly built deck and, considering the winner of The Games gets any piece of information he wants, I would say the end of the world is not an idea too far removed. The guys that play are like super insane nerds. There's no telling what evil scheme they've dreamt about!”
“Oh dear,” Dill said, his eyes widening as he took another swallow of his drink, sincerely seeing the possibility.
“Well, Kim, I saw that the check-in closes in thirty-five minutes,” McKenna said. “You’re going to have to fight hard without it. We'll go down and look for another hero card right now.”
Kimmy placed her hands on her hips, thinking heavily. The card was gone and there was no changing that. Kimmy hadn't played seriously in the years since she had the card. But she obtained it by beating the best-known player in the city at the time. She knew she could do it again. She just had to toss her arrogance aside and get clever. Sol-Fate wasn't a card game for the faint of heart.
“Where's Speaky?” Kimmy asked.
“He's chatting with some of his other introvert broker friends,” Dill said as he sat up and looked to a table in the back; Speakeasy was dining with a few of Hasker’s brokers.
“Good, let's not worry him and go now,” Kimmy said. Humphries got up and accompanied the three down to the main hub.
As they exited the elevator, Kimmy stopped in front of the others and turned. “Okay, time's against us, so our only option is to hit the legitimate vendors,” Kimmy said.
“There's actual legitimacy down here?” Dill scoffed as he looked around.
“Just don't go looking for the creepy guy in the alley trying to sell you something, okay? That’s like, so bad, in any area of the city.”
“Okay…” the three said in unison with Ripper barking below them.
“Now, we're looking for an ENF Faction Leader Card, Level 15 preferred. And we'll cover more ground if we split up. If you're not sure what you're buying, just shout, okay?”
“Okay…” they repeated in unison, with Ripper barking once more.
“Alright, Humphries, want to pal up?” Kimmy said, nudging his metal arm.
“Only if the master permits—”
“Just go with her, Humphries. Keep her safe,” McKenna said.
“Those are acceptable parameters, Master. Kimmy is most pleasant company.” Kimmy and Humphries walked off into the crowds and got to work while McKenna, Dill, and Ripper veered left and down another strip of shops and vendors.
Kimmy kept poking her head above the many spectators to spot some card vendors.
“Humphries, do you see anything?” she asked.
“I see two vendors dealing in the items we require,” Humphries said as he scanned the area.
“Great! Take me to the first!” The two walked through the crowds to reach the first vendor, an old man selling not just cards but hot dogs, marbles, dice, and other various playful objects. Kimmy immediately got to shopping.
“Yes, young lady, do you see something you like?” the old man asked.
She looked at his small trolley and inside the glass case. Most of his cards didn't stand out to her, as they all consisted of low-level units from various factions: Martian ground troops, Auroran guardsmen, Hasker Keepers, Interpol Enforcers. None of them were the ENF faction or even hero cards.
“Is this all you have?” Kimmy asked, almost disgusted.
“Ah, you're after something specific, aren't you?” The old man smiled.
“Well, kind of. I'm looking for Faction Leader cards, Sol-Fate.”
“Ah, I keep them on me. Just a moment!” Kimmy smiled and nudged Humphries in excitement.
She found Humphries had become fixated on a small yo-yo sitting on the trolley. She looked at him for a response, but he gave none.
The old man was shaking a lot in his old age, but he eventually grabbed a small stack of cards from his pocket and placed them on the trolley.
“May I?” Kimmy asked politely with a smile. The old man smiled in trust of the young woman. She picked up the stack and started flipping through them.
“Let's see… Martian General Mathias, MkII Christensen Bot, Hasker, King of the Lost, bleh.” Kimmy placed the stack back on the trolley. The old man never seemed to stop smiling. He was old enough to not care if he sold anything or not. “Thanks for your time,” she said as s
he began to walk away.
“Ah, but it seems I do have something you like!” Kimmy looked at the man who was staring at Humphries. Humphries picked up the yo-yo and manipulated it in his hand.
“Humphries?” Kimmy said curiously. Humphries startled and put the yo-yo down.
“I was only analyzing!” Humphries said. Kimmy smiled and opened her OPIaA to pay for the toy. The old man smiled and nodded.
“Go ahead, Humphries, it's yours.”
“Madame Kimmy, you are too kind! I really don't know what this is, but it is oddly fascinating!” Kimmy and Humphries walked towards the next vendor in haste, seeing the time steadily ticking by.
The vendor was an actual card vendor as they inspected on closer look. He had a few people gather around him as he attracted other Sol-Fate enthusiasts. She pushed her way through and tapped the vendor on his shoulder to get his attention. As he turned, Kimmy leaned back as she saw the huge scar across his neck. He was chewing on a toothpick and raised a brow.
“Fuck you want?” he said with a deep and calm voice.
“I'm looking for ENF Faction Leader cards,” Kimmy said as she cleared her throat.
“I don't do trades so, unless you've got the coin for the most expensive faction, I suggest you get steppin'.”
“I’ve got coin, bubba. Let me see the damn cards.”
The man reached under the counter and grabbed a slightly larger stack than the old man had. Kimmy felt her heart flutter as she saw the thicker stack, and all ENF at that. She picked up the stack and began going through them.
McKenna walked alongside Ripper and Dill, oddly not concerned about the card hunting. The drinks from the bar had them loosened up, the stress of the games feeling a bit lighter. Still, they looked carefully for card vendors while taking in the sights. Ripper was close to McKenna the entire way, following closely beside him and sightseeing.
“So, what do you think about all this, sir?” Dill asked.
“Pretty wild. Just last week on Mars I heard a broadcast about The Games. Never thought I'd end up here, much less compete.”
“Sir, we can still back out if you don't wish to partake in Red Fields.”
The Bloodlust: (Volume Three of the Virion Series) Page 3
