by Rick Scott
Bruce sighed. “Let me see if I can arrange you some help then.”
“Nah, I’ve got it,” she said. “I can move faster alone, to be honest.”
Still tough as nails. “Okay, you’re the boss.”
She stretched and then let out another cough. “I’ll start fresh in the morning. I need to map out a plan to optimize the search.”
“Fair enough,” Bruce said. “I’ll at least get to carry your tools home for you.”
Gina chuckled at that.
Bruce was about to grab the bag from the floor when a voice called out behind them.
“Hey, Peters!”
His heart leaped at the sound of the voice. One he knew all too well. And dreaded. Over his shoulder he spied Novak, his burly form blocking one of the walkways to the control platform. Standing at a fraction of his height, a young boy in dirty clothes pointed at them as if for confirmation. Novak ruffled the kid’s long hair and handed him a cred chip.
“Well done, Joshy,” he said as the kid departed, greeting them with a grin. “Catch you at a bad time? You know it’s unmannerly to enter someone’s territory unannounced, Bruce.”
Bruce snorted at him with a scowl. “Like my office?”
Novak laughed genuinely, wagging his index finger. “Touché.”
“What do you want, Novak?” he said. “We’re busy here.”
“And who’s this?” The mountain of a man eased towards them with three slow steps and then jerked his bearded chin at Gina. “A little side-squeeze of yours?”
What an animal. Bruce was about to open his mouth to respond when Gina spoke ahead of him.
“I’m the one who’s going to shut down your little gun problem,” she said with steel in her voice and a fury in her deep-blue eyes. “So you can back off with your insinuations, you filthy pervert.”
“Ah.” Novak grinned bemusedly. “Got spunk. I dig it. So this why you ain’t called your Board meeting, Bruce? You betting you can get around this thing, can you?”
“The problem is fixable.” Bruce took a step in front of Gina, shielding her from the ape. “We’ve found the leak and it’s not internal. Some punks rigged a standalone system. We solve it and your offer to help, while appreciated, will be unnecessary.”
Bruce met his gaze with as much determination as he could muster. He needed this punk to know that they had other options and that his option was at the bottom of this list.
Novak huffed out a scoff. “That right? And this little girly girl of yours is fitting to solve this problem for you, is she?”
He didn’t like the way he said that.
Gina was about to reply to him again, but Bruce stopped her. “We’ll have this solved in a matter of days.”
“And if you don’t?” Novak said, eyeing Gina disturbingly.
“Then you get your damn board meeting,” Bruce said. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but he needed to keep the hope of negotiation alive within him.
Novak stepped back and tucked his hands in his pockets. “I see…I suppose we’ll just have to hope nothing falls into a crisis till then, huh?”
Predictable, Bruce thought. He’ll try and force the situation now.
“Just remember my offer to help stands 24/7. Don’t bet on the wrong horse, Bruce.” He then scoffed at Gina. “This one looks a little frail.”
The big man then turned and left down the walkway.
Bruce breathed out a sigh of relief as his knees fell weak. “Sorry you had to witness all that, Gina.”
But Gina didn’t look fazed at all, in fact she looked more than ready for a fight, her blue eyes still blazing. “I’ve dealt with enough idiots like that in my lifetime. All show and no stones.”
Wow… Now I see where Mike gets it, Bruce thought. He nearly said it out loud as a joke, to ease the tension, but he remembered she wasn’t aware of their relationship.
That would have been awkward.
“Bravado or not,” Bruce said. “He knows about you now and what you’re here to do. I don’t know about having you do this now, Gina.”
“Tell you what,” she said. “I’ll take you up on that offer of yours.”
Offer? “You mean the treatment?”
She rolled her eyes. “The help, Bruce.”
“Ah right,” he said with a laugh. “No problem. I’d feel much better if that were the case.”
“Good,” she said. “Send them to pick me up at my hab tomorrow morning. And make sure they can handle themselves in a tussle. I wouldn’t put it past that thug to try and flex some muscle.”
Bruce’s stomach dropped a little. He didn’t want to put her in that kind of danger, but her reaction, once again, took him by surprise. Perhaps she was more used to this kind of thing than he realized. Nevertheless, her wellbeing was still his responsibility. “I wish you would reconsider that treatment as well.”
“We already made a deal on that one, Bruce,” she said with a good-natured smirk. “Now are you going to find me some security or what?”
Bruce smiled. “I have the perfect girl for you.”
Samantha would work well with her, I think, Bruce thought to himself. And it’d be a good test for Samantha as well.
“Fine,” Gina said. “Tell her to free up her schedule too. We have a lot of floors to check.”
Chapter 27: Leading
Congratulations! You have gained a level!
You are now level 12!
I breathe heavily from my latest gun battle with one of the mutant zombie creatures infesting the newbie zone. The creature lies at my feet, a tangled mess of pale tentacles and claws. If I were to liken it to anything, it would be a hairless dog with a cuttlefish for a head. Even dead, the thing gives me the willies.
“Who comes up with these creatures?” I ask, looking back at Gilly, who is recovering her TP a few yards behind me.
“I know, right?” she says, making an icky face. “Totally gross. And gratz by the way!”
“Thanks,” I say, grinning. “Twenty-five more to go.”
I shield my eyes against the afternoon sun as it settles over the top of the jagged skyline of derelict buildings surrounding us. We’ve been at this for the better part of the afternoon and have grown in strength considerably. Even with sharing our XP, we’ve levelled up at least 8 times each. I have a whole new perspective of the game now playing a semi-ranged class. For one, it feels a whole lot easier. Even though my attacks aren’t very strong, by using spacing between myself and my enemies I can kite them till they’re dead, especially with Gilly throwing fireballs.
“How long till you reach level 15?” I ask, knowing that that’s the level she’ll gain Stun, the primary reason she’s leveling Elemental Mage in the first place.
“About 10 more of these should do it, I think,” Gilly says. “At half-way now.”
“Let’s keep going then. We can probably take a break after that.”
The zone we’re in has a post-apocalyptic feel to it, burned-out buildings and unrecognizable junk riddled with rust and decay. The mutants range in size from the small dog-like ones we’ve been hunting, to ones as big as elephants that sometimes appear and stroll about looking for prey. They’re level 25 however, so we steer well clear of them.
I find a new pack of ‘squid-dogs’ as I’ve come to call them, and start the process of drawing one in with a Heavy Shot from my pistol.
You use Heavy Shot!
Minor Terror Beast takes 17 Piercing Damage!
The Terror Beast yelps and snarls as it runs towards me on all fours. I unload on it with my pistol, snapping the trigger in quick succession, taking off small slivers of its health bar. It gets close enough to lunge at me and I deftly sidestep its ferocious attack before wheeling with my combat knife.
You use Stun Blade!
Minor Terror Beast takes 14 damage.
Minor Terror Beast is Stunned!
The beast freezes and I run away, Sprinting while Gilly blasts it with her Elemental spells.
Gilly ca
sts Fireball!
Minor Terror Beast takes 21 Fire Damage!
Gilly casts Iceball!
Minor Terror Beast takes 19 Ice Damage.
I take aim as the beast unfreezes and start the process all over again with another Heavy Shot. Blam! With its attention back to me, we keep going at it until the creature dies before we repeat the process for a fourth time.
Gilly defeats the Minor Terror Beast!
You gain 350 experience points!
One down, nine more to go, I think, before seeking out the next one.
Besides leveling, which I’m actually enjoying quite a bit with my new class, I’m reveling in the opportunity to spend some quality time alone with Gilly again—something I feel like I haven’t done in ages. After dropping us off, Lexi told us which way to head to reach the HQ by foot and then Gilly said goodbye to her new BFF with another high five.
It still tickles me to see the two of them getting along so well, but right now, I’m enjoying some time only with my BFF. We don’t talk much and mainly just focus on learning our new classes and fighting as a team, but it brings me back to the days when Gilly and I would spend hours together in the mines, hacking away at rocks with dumb smiles on our faces, chatting aimlessly to one another about nothing in particular—just enjoying each other’s company.
The process here is much the same and before I know it, Gilly bursts into a glow of bright white light.
Gilly has gained a level!
Gilly is now level 15!
“Gratz, babe,” I say.
“Finally!” Gilly says and then gives me a mischievous grin. “Ready for a big one?”
“Huh?”
“We have two stuns now,” she says. “We should try one.”
I chuckle as a familiar sense of exhilaration rises in me: the thrill of taking on something way above my level and prevailing from my skill alone. Gilly’s probably right; we have a shot at taking one down with two stuns. But as I think about it more, something else clicks in my head.
As much fun as I’m having, I need to start thinking differently.
Acting differently.
Like a leader, as Queen Angela had said. Between killing the squid-dogs and chatting with Gilly, thinking about my conversation with her has been playing on my mind non-stop. About what she really meant by it. Our encounter with the Other worshipers too, has been plaguing my mind. And on top of that, there all the other things we need to do to unlock the archives and find the location of Citadel.
But I think I understand a bit of what Queen Angela was talking about now. I can’t achieve all we need to accomplish by just being a Dodge Tank. And while taking on a level 25 mob as two level 15-ish noobs might be exhilarating, it’s down-right dangerous without a safety net of some kind. And while the old me would have gladly rolled the dice for that chance of a big win or loss, I can’t afford to take losses right now.
Not with what’s at stake.
“How about we give it a shot in a few more levels,” I say.
Gilly gives me an overly disappointed frown. “Aw, you’re no fun.”
I chuckle and despite feeling a bit of chagrin at not challenging myself, I feel good about the decision. I need to focus on higher-level things. Achieving all this will take a lot more than just being able to fight. It’ll take strategy.
And leadership.
“Let’s head back,” I say. “I want to call a team meeting tonight.”
* * *
It takes a few hours to round everyone up for our meeting, including Lexi, but by six o’clock we’re all sat around the entertainment center in our loft, polishing off the last of our cheeseburgers and fries which Rembrandt graciously hand-picked from the nano-processor. It’s not the first time I’ve had a burger, but as Rembrandt had promised, these are the best I’ve ever tasted.
I’m stuffed on my third one, by the time I see everyone close to finishing their own meals. The atmosphere is so relaxed and jovial I almost don’t want to break the mood, but if we’re going to succeed we need to be focused and on the same page.
And I guess it’s my job to make sure that happens.
“Okay, guys,” I say. “Let’s talk about what we need to do to defeat the Gun Queen.”
“You’re still leveling, aren’t you?” Val Helena says in between bites of her double-dipped onion rings. “I don’t think we can do much before that.”
“Maybe not as a full team,” I say. “But there’s stuff we can each be working on separately to get us there quicker.”
The room goes quiet as I seem to get everyone’s attention.
Wow, I guess Queen Angela was right.
A new emotion fills me now—anxiety, not just for being the center of attention, but actually realizing that I’m the one calling the shots, so to speak. I take a deep breath and lay out for them what I’ve been pondering in my head for the last hour.
“I need to level, but before then, we need a concrete strategy for beating the Gun Queen,” I say. “And for that, we need practice.”
“You mean the simulators?” Lexi asks and I nod at her. But then she frowns. “My mana trees won’t work with those things. You’ll be without your spells.”
“I know,” I say. “But you can repeat that fight over and over without much consequence in the simulator, right? So long as Aiko can tank a bit, we can learn her pattern. And Val, I think you’ll be best at leading that.”
“Me?” she says.
“Oh course,” I say. “You put together the team that beat Vulnar for the first time ever. No matter how far we manage to get into the fight, I’m sure we can learn a bit more each time. And if Aiko gets lucky on casting her Shadow Copy we might even be able to progress pretty far.”
“But you won’t be able to take over tanking without Bullet Weave,” Aiko says.
I chuckle. “I know. Which is why I won’t be with you guys. I’ll be leveling on my own while you guys are learning the fight.”
Gilly looks at me quizzically. “On your own? But you’re still level 12. You don’t want me to help?”
I shake my head. “You’ve already hit 15, Gilly. No sense you hanging around to help me when you could be working on the Gun Queen battle.”
Gilly shrugs and looks a little glum. “Okay…”
It hurts me to hear her say that. But while I would love her company, I know it’s probably not the most efficient way to spend her time. Got to put the needs of the team before mine.
“So what will you do?” Maxis asks after taking a sip of his thick vanilla shake. “You going to solo the rest?”
“I want to get the hard part over with first and focus on leveling on Ninja to unlock my skill slots for Bullet Weave. It won’t matter how quick I unlock it on Gun Blade, if I can’t slot it for Ninja, right?”
“I suppose that makes sense,” Becky says. “But you plan to level…by yourself?”
“Fastest way,” I say. “Trust me. It’s how I did it before back in the Shards. Shadow Copy gives me a huge advantage to take on stuff much higher level than me. Big XP drops. Which is where I need a favor from you, Lexi.”
“What’s that?” she asks.
“I need you to come with me,” I say. “And to bring your buggy with one of your mana trees onboard so I can cast Shadow Copy reliably.”
Lexi rolls her eyes. “Well that sounds bloody boring for me, now doesn’t it?”
Gilly laughs and nudges the goth girl with an elbow. “Trust me, watching Reece solo can be a heck of a good time. Edge of your seat action! I’m mega jealous you get to spend time with him while I don’t, though!”
Gilly sticks out her tongue at me playfully and I’m relieved she’s taking it all so well. I’m more than certain her reaction would have been the exact opposite had she and Lexi not become friends.
“Cool,” I say. “Hopefully it won’t take me too long. I just need to fight mobs that are mostly melee.” I then look between Lexi and Rembrandt. “Anything like that around here?”
Rembrandt
strokes his chin thoughtfully. “Normally I’d say something like that was impossible, but with the amnesty in place, you could probably tackle the Overlords in the Badlands.”
“Overlords?” Gilly says. “Geez, they sound scary.”
“They are,” Lexi says and then turns to Rembrandt. “You expect him to solo one of those?”
Rembrandt doesn’t respond right away. “Maybe better to take Gilly with you for the first couple or so. Just in case.”
Great, I think. But I guess this works in my favor as well. It’s a good reason for Gilly to hang with me again. “Will you be able to heal the Gun Queen fight on your own, Becky?”
“I’ll be fine,” Becky says. “I do have ten years of experience, you know?”
Gilly lets out a cheer. “Awesome then! We get to be the Three Musketeers again!”
I chuckle while Gilly and Lexi give each other high fives. Three Musketeers…I guess we fit the bill to an extent, but perhaps even more so for Gilly. I’m reminded of when she called me her only friend back in the Shards. Making friends with Lexi is perhaps far more significant to her than I realized. Thinking of it that way, it warms my heart even more so to see them laughing and smiling together.
“All right,” Maxis says, slamming a fist into his palm. “Sounds like we’ve got a game plan.”
“Wait…” I say with a grin. “One more thing for you, Coach Max.”
My big brother looks at me with a cocked brow.
“PvP sparring lessons every night for you and Rembrandt and anyone else who wants to join in to lend a hand.”
Rembrandt peers over his mirror shades at me. “You serious, mate?”
“Hey, we’re under an amnesty for a reason,” I remind him. “If you’re going to end up fighting every king in the ring, you need to be in top form.”
“I second that,” Becky says. “Looks like Reece has given you two some homework to do.”
That gives everyone a laugh. It’s probably not the best plan, but honestly I don’t know how else to try and prepare for what might be coming with this tournament. It’s still a grayed-out area in my mind, a bridge we still have yet to cross.
