by Rick Scott
“If you find it?” I shake my head. “No way. I’m not leaving here without an answer. And I know how long it takes for you to check on something like that. Like less than a second.”
“So you’re an expert at being a CEO now?”
“Are you just trying to waste my time or what?” He has to be. But why? “Look, if you don’t know something, you’re supposed to just say so, so I can…”
I stop short as the puzzle pieces start to fall into place.
“You don’t remember anything, do you?”
I expect another quip, but he stares back at me like I’ve just caught him in a lie. His neck pulses with a swallow. “What are you talking about?”
“It makes sense now,” I say, shaking my head at him. “You won’t give me access, because you know there’s nothing there. Is there?”
Again he doesn’t say anything, but his eyes shift back and forth uncomfortably.
“Is that why you closed it in the first place?”
Your Barter increases by 0.7.
Skill up! Your Barter is now 10!
“I’m not quite sure what you’re talking about,” he says.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
“I bet you’re not in your true form, because you probably don’t even know what that is.”
“Hey, hey,” he says, pointing at me. “Let’s not get personal here, mate.”
I release a curse of frustration. “Dang it, man! I can’t believe we went through all this trouble for nothing! I expected you to have a little memory loss, but not this bad. This is pointless!” I think back to that ID tag we found out in the wild. Maybe that was our best hope for finding Citadel. And now it’s gone…forever. “Karlis knew way more than you and she barely knew anything.”
“Who?”
“Your sister, man,” I say spitefully. I then think back to the Gun Queen, calling out for him with her dying breath. “Do you even know you’re controlling an entire city down there? Your daughter was calling out to you? Did you not hear her?”
He shakes his head. “Look, I’m a businessman. I don’t get involved with the day to day.”
“No,” I say. “You think you’re a businessman, because that’s what this place makes you out to be. And maybe that’s all you became when your memory was damaged. But you’re not a CEO. You’re a Builder. The god of a safe zone. Don’t you even realize what that means?”
“Let’s not go accusing people of having brain damage, yeah?”
I release a deep sigh and feel all our hopes slipping away. Everything was riding on this and now it looks more futile than ever. I check the timer and watch the seconds ticking away.
2:58
2:57
2:56
I busted my butt for a week to fight the Gun Queen, nearly lost our whole team doing it and now the idiotic rambling from this clueless jerk is the reward?
“Look mate, if there’s nothing I can help you with, then perhaps it’s time for you to leave.”
I glance back at Lennox, anger and resentment building in my gut. I almost feel sorry for him. He’s as brain-dead as the Gun Queen ever was. Worse even. At least she knew who she was in the end. This guy has no clue. I’m wasting my time here.
“You’re right,” I say, irritated by the whole thing. “You can’t help me at all.”
I’m so ticked off, that I nearly head straight for the door, but thankfully my better sense kicks in.
No, he can’t help me, but maybe I can help him.
I wasn’t thinking we’d need to go back to the Labyrinth so soon, not until after the tournament perhaps. But Karlis knew more than Lennox because I’d already destroyed that sphere within the Labyrinth and the Other hiding inside it.
If I could do the same for Lennox, then maybe it would restore the archives or at least enough of his memories to have a proper conversation with him. Maybe he could even recall them all. But there’s more possibility too. Besides the fact that he can’t remember anything at the moment, the zone itself is set up like an information HUB. I think Gilly’s right. If the answer to Citadel is anywhere, it’s got to be here. I just need to help Lennox remember it all.
Hope springs within me again.
We only have a few days until that tournament, though. And that means participating in a death race, gaining access to the labyrinth, getting through a jumping quest or worse and then facing an enemy that’s already looking forward to seeing me again.
Yeah, I think to myself sardonically, piece of freaking cake.
Still it’s a better option than waiting till the tournament arrives, because who knows what’s going to happen then. The plan was always to get Gilly access to the archives first and then worry about the tournament afterwards. Unfortunately gaining access just became ten times harder and now we have a time constraint to boot. But if I’m going to go through with it, I need to ensure there’s a payday at the end.
“You’re a businessman, right?”
Lennox eyes me cautiously. “I consider myself so, yes.”
“So I want to make you a deal.”
“A what?”
“If I get you your memories back, you need to promise me—”
“Look, for the last time. I don’t have any memory problems, okay, mate?”
“Will you cut the crap, man,” I say. “I know you’re bluffing. You see this?”
I post a link to my HUD for him to see.
Recall Restoration
Re-enter the Labyrinth of Onizoso and restore the memories of the domain lord Karlis.
Reward: 2,000,000 XP
Favor of the gods x 10
“This is what your sister was willing to offer me for restoring her memories. She offered me this because I was able to partially restore them before. And I can do the same for you. If you drop this act and trust me.”
Your Barter increases by 0.8.
Skill up! Your Barter is now 11!
“Come on,” I say. “You’ve seen what I can do. You know I know things that you don’t. How do you think that’s all possible?”
Long seconds pass, the timer slipping past the one-minute mark.
Come on, guy…
Slowly his expression changes, softening and becoming more unsure. He releases a deep sigh and stares out the window at the stars. “How the hell did I end up like this?”
Finally!
He’s dropped his façade, but I need to be careful to not cause him to raise it again. “It’s not your fault this happened. There are other entities responsible for doing this and you might not even be aware of them, but they’ve corrupted the entire system. You don’t need to prove to me who you are. I already know who you are and what you are. I just need for you to trust me and to honor my request if I come through for you.”
Your Barter increases by 0.5.
“Access to the archives?” he says.
“Yes,” I say with a nod. “For me and my whole team. That, and/or the location of the underground city of Citadel. Either will work.”
“Citadel?” He scoffs out a mirthless laugh. “I don’t even know what that name means.”
“Don’t worry,” I say. “You will if I succeed.”
Your Barter increases by 0.5.
Skill up! Your Barter is now 12!
Lennox stares at me a moment longer and then gets up from behind his desk. He rounds it and stands in front of me, dwarfing me with his imposing six-and-a-half-foot frame.
“Reece, was it?” He extends his hand and I shake it with a firm grip as he gives me a smile. “You have yourself a deal, mate.”
The real world returns in a flash and I find myself staring at a new quest notice scrolling onto my HUD.
You have received a new Quest:
New Quest: Fix my bloody head, mate…
Keep your promise and all you want is yours.
Reward: 1,000,000 XP
Key Item: Grand Archives Access Pass
Gilly’s standing next to me, looking at me like I’ve got two heads.<
br />
“You okay?” she asks. “You spaced out for like…a second. Is it over already?”
“Yeah,” I say, my mind shifting back into real-time. Just like with Karlis, I have to remember that while I experienced close to 5 minutes in a CEO’s office, barely a second passed in the real world.
“So what happened?” Aiko asks. “Did you get it?
“Not exactly.”
Gilly’s countenance falls.
“What do you mean?” she asks.
“Yeah,” my brother says. “Don’t tell me we did all this for nothing, man.”
I release a sigh.
“Well, the good news is, yes, we can get access to the archives,” I say and then I share the quest with the rest of the party. “The bad news is, we need to go back into the Labyrinth of Onizoso to do it.”
Chapter 37: Proxy
“Compete in the Thunder Ball Rally?” Queen Angela looks to each of us like we’ve all gone mad. “Absolutely not. No one is doing that before the tournament.”
It’s been less than a minute since I announced our new game plan and already we have a hiccup. I look back to Rembrandt, who just finished detailing what we needed to do in order to enter the Labyrinth in this zone. Back in the fantasy realm it was defeating the Shadow King, but here it’s a race. And if the Shadow King is any kind of measure, then this race is going to be hard.
“Rembrandt,” Becky says. “Are you 100% certain winning this race will grant us access to the Labyrinth?”
“Aye, I’m sure,” he says. “I met the last winner and he described the place to a tee. He booked it out of there as soon as he started losing XP.”
Maxis releases a sigh. “That sounds like the place, all right.”
“It’s not happening.” Queen Angela folds her arms. “The tournament is in four days. We can’t jeopardize that by any of you getting killed.” She specifically looks at Rembrandt. “And by any I mean you.”
I feel a subtle rumble of discomfort in my gut. We all just had a nice Kumbaya moment with Queen Angela, but she’s asserting herself like she’s our leader again. And that’s something I need to stand up to.
“Queen Angela,” I say respectfully. “We need to get this sorted out before that tournament. Again, it’s the whole reason we came here. Unless you have a surefire way to pardon Rembrandt, we need to take care of our priorities first. I need Rembrandt to navigate that labyrinth.”
“Why?” Lexi asks. “What is this labyrinth place exactly?”
“It’s like a special dungeon,” Rembrandt says. “A place where we think we can fix the problems Lennox has. Get him to remember, unlock the archives and all that. And don’t worry, Angela, I won’t shirk my responsibility. I’ll be here for you. I promise.”
“Like last time?” she says with a grimace and Rembrandt lowers his head with a sigh. She then looks back and forth between each of us. “Do you all have any idea what’s at stake here? The entire amnesty, the thing that allowed you to even get in here and get what you want, is riding on us complying with this.”
“I understand,” I say. “And trust me when I tell you, that what’s at stake for us, is even more.”
I meet Queen Angela’s gaze and convey as much determination as I can. We must stare at each other for a good ten seconds before she finally inhales a sharp breath and looks away.
“I can see there’s no swaying you on this,” she says, again referring directly to me and not the entire team. “And truthfully I can’t stop you if you all want to throw your lives away. But you should at least understand what it is you’re getting into before you make that decision.”
I admit, we’ve only referred to this as a death race, but I don’t have a clear understanding of what that means. “It won’t change the outcome,” I say, “but please, go ahead. Tell us what’s involved exactly?”
“Besides being one of the hardest street circuits in the city,” she says, “the track itself is full of traps. But worse, it’s considered a sanctioned activity by the council.”
“Which means what?” Val Helena asks.
“It means the amnesty won’t apply there,” Angela says. “You enter and you’re back to faction infighting again. Weapons and all.”
Damn, I don’t like the sound of that.
“And those will be just the other players you have to worry about,” Lance says. “You still have the NPCs.”
“Aye,” Lexi says with a frown as she looks at me. “You’ll have to contend with the Twins if you actually want to win that race, love. And that’s the real hard part.”
“Twins?” I ask.
“Dual motorcyclists,” Queen Angela says. “A brother and sister team, we think. Although no one knows for sure. They always wear black and are ruthless as hell. They usually take out most of the players before the real PvP even starts.”
“They almost sound like a boss,” I say. Which makes sense if they’re guarding the entrance to the labyrinth. “So to defeat them, we’ll just have to beat them, right? And then we can all enter?”
“No,” Rembrandt says with a sigh. “That’s going to be another thing. We can enter as many vehicles as we want in the race, but there can only be one winner. And there’s a two-person limit per vehicle.”
Crap…I work out what that means for us real quick. “So only two of us can make it into the labyrinth even if we do win?”
“Correct,” Rembrandt says.
“That’s crazy, man,” Maxis says. “That place nearly killed us all. We can’t just send in two people.”
“We have to,” I say. “And since I’m the only one who’s faced those things before, I’ve got to be one.”
“You can’t get through the labyrinth by yourself,” Aiko says. “Remember those angels? You need keys to get through.”
I post a link from my inventory to the party chat
Labyrinth Key [43]
Warden’s Key [18]
“I picked these up from Ziegfried when we toasted him,” I say. “I should have plenty of keys to get through without killing any mobs.” I then look to Rembrandt. “I just need a good navigator.”
Rembrandt smiles. “You see now, Angela, why I need to go. But I’ll be back. So long as we can get inside, I guarantee we’ll return in time.”
Time…crap, the time dilation! I wonder if Rembrandt remembers that. Once we enter we’ll have even less time than we think. We’ll need to cut our preparation time to account for that. Four days might have to become two…or even one! I’m about to mention it aloud, but then figure that’s not going to make things look more appealing to Queen Angela.
“You guys are going to go in without a healer?” Gilly says, looking at me pale-faced. “No way, Reece. I need to go with you. I can figure out the navigating…probably.”
“No, Gilly.” It breaks my heart to say it, but I have to. “We’ll need to move fast in there to make it back out in time. And I need someone who knows how to do that. Someone who has done it before.”
“Sounds like this is a real bad idea all around,” Lance says with a smirk. “You sure about this?”
“We have to do it,” I say. Then something inside me clicks and I say again more forcefully, “No, correct that, we are doing it. The only thing we’re discussing now is how.”
“I’ll help,” Lexi says, raising her hand.
Everyone looks to her, Queen Angela especially with an expression of shock or annoyance perhaps. “Help how? I already don’t approve of this, so no way am I risking faction resources on it.”
“I’ll do it on my own dime,” Lexi says. “I promise.”
Angela huffs out a sigh. “And just what are you going to do?”
“Reece needs to learn how to ride properly to win that race,” Lexi says and then looks to me. “I can train you for that, but you’ll also need some backup on the track too. If you can be healed and use magic, especially that Shadow Copy thing, I think you guys might have a good chance at beating the Twins.”
“I’ll ride with Lexi an
d the mana tree then,” Gilly says and squeezes my hand before looking up at me, no nonsense. “Not a word. I at least want to be sure you make it in there alive.”
I smile back at her. “No arguments there. Thanks, Gilly.”
Aiko steps forward. “I can help too. I’ll ride as Ninja and slot a few Gun Blade skills for ranged attacks.”
“I’ll do the same,” I say. Although I’ll probably need a few more slots if I want to keep Bullet Weave, which does sound important for this.
“I can ride with Aiko, to backup heal,” Becky says.
“You’re going to ride with her?” I balk.
The Halfling sighs. “Not something I’ll be looking forward to, but if it’s what we need. I’m there.”
“We’ll race too,” Maxis says. “Me and Val.”
“Two melee?” Lexi says. “You won’t be much help, unless you’re just going to ram stuff for interference or something.”
“We’ll do whatever,” Val Helena says with a grin. “Ramming stuff sounds more our speed anyway.”
“Not you,” Queen Angela says, eyeing my brother. “Miss Giant here can play battering ram on her own. You however will need to stay with me.”
“What?” Maxis says.
“You’re Rembrandt’s proxy for this tournament,” she says. “If he doesn’t show up, it’s you that’s going in that ring.” The android gives me a sideward glance. “And since your captain here seems hell bent on making this happen, I’ll need some assurance that you’re all going to stick around and live up to your promises.”
Her words send an uncomfortable chill throughout the room.
“Which means what?” I ask.
“Which means until the start of the tournament and Rembrandt’s return, I’m going to insist that Maxis submits himself to my custody.”
My stomach drops.
“Say what?” Val Helena says, lunging forward. “You want to lock him up? Are you crazy?”
