by David Petrie
“And what’s that?”
“Oh, I think it’s pretty obvious.” A wave of smug satisfaction filled him from top to bottom as the overly serious elf froze. It was already too late. Alastair was already moving.
He dropped down to grab the elf’s ankles before leaping back up and lifting his unsuspecting assistant’s legs up to tip him over the rail.
“Sorry about this.”
“Wait, what are you–” J3ff caught one hand on the side so that he fell against the ship’s hull, his feet dangling over the ground below. “You can’t…”
“Oh, I can.” Alastair pried one of the elf’s fingers free. “This is the only way, just try not to hit anyone down there when you land. That would be bad for our public image.”
“Stop, I can find another–”
Alastair sucked his teeth. “Sorry, no time, bye now.”
The elf’s face was priceless, consumed by complete and utter shock as Alastair pried his last finger from the rail. He fell into the night, leaving Alastair alone. He didn’t even scream.
With a bit of luck, J3ff would hit the ground close enough to another player so that the ban would latch onto someone in the village down below instead of anyone on the ship.
Alastair leaned on the railing and let out a maniacal laugh, indulging in the ridiculous video game villain persona he played. He settled down a minute later, letting out a depressed sigh and staring down at Noctem’s surface below.
“So long… Jeff-with-a-three. See you at work tomorrow.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Looks like Alastair came through.” Ginger snapped her journal shut after reading a short message from Checkpoint’s CEO. “He actually pushed J3ff off the ship.”
“Wow.” Max gave an approving nod.
“He did what?” Seven slipped into Lockheart’s box from the hallway outside.
Echo brushed her hands together as if saying, problem solved.
“He does call himself Alastair Coldblood.” Farnsworth shrugged, then pulled the balcony curtain closed so that they could talk without being seen. “I guess pushing your assistant from an aircraft is par for the course.”
“Just as long as he didn’t let on that we know where J3ff’s loyalties lie. We might need to use him to deliver some misinformation.” Ginger ran her finger down the blade of her dagger to check for herself the status of the ban. The split second of pain told her that it was gone. The system immediately dulled the sensation down to the familiar numbness that had become synonymous with damage. She noted the loss of a couple hit points on her status readout.
“Okay then.” Kegan slipped his hands around the bow he wore slung across his shoulder.
“Now how do we catch Nix?” Corvin tightened his grip around the handle of his broken sword. “What’s to stop her from running away now?”
“She won’t.” Max closed his eyes. “She thinks she’s safe. Or at least she will until J3ff gets back online. I assume he won’t message her directly, since that would be traceable. But I’m sure he has a way to let her know the ban is down. By my guess, we have fifteen minutes.”
“We’ll have to make our move when she goes to pick up that shadow coat she bought from the twins.” Piper motioned toward the hall. “Kegan, Corvin, and I can wait at the theater’s exits and slow her down so that you can get those duelist cuffs and catch up.”
“Good thinking.” Ginger gave her daughter a smile, a little impressed by what her children had brought to the table. Even Drake had helped out by following the Night Queen in the Cloudbreaker, just out of visual range. She still didn’t want them getting too involved, but she couldn’t deny how capable they were, and against Nix, they needed all the help they could get. “Why don’t you three head out now and get in position? We’ll get down there as soon as the twins are ready for us.”
Piper nodded and slipped out of the room. Kegan and Corvin followed close behind.
“Is there anything I can do?” Seven stepped closer.
“Yes, actually.” Max pointed in her direction. “You spoke to Nix earlier, right?”
“I did.”
“Do it again. Stall her long enough for us to get our contract before she can get hers.”
“I can handle that. Getting in the way is pretty much my specialty right now.”
“Good.” Max closed his eyes again and leaned against the wall. “Then the rest is up to me.”
Ginger couldn’t help but notice he was acting strange. He had been ever since they fought the Deep, since he got that contract. It was like he was avoiding eye contact with everyone, especially her. She couldn’t shake the feeling that he was hiding something.
“Max?” she asked quietly.
“Yeah?” He kept his eyes closed.
“Once we have Nix trapped, what comes next?”
“I use the contract I got from the Deep to get her talking.”
Ginger placed a hand on his chest. “But how does it work? You’ve been… vague about it.”
Finally, Max let out a sigh as his mouth curled down into a frown.
“It’s called Vendetta.”
He drew the small knife from the sheath on his belt. Its silver edge gleamed in the dim light of the theater box. Ginger caught herself holding her breath at the sight of it, like she could somehow sense how dangerous it was. Max flipped the knife over and pressed the tip into his thumb.
Seven clasped both hands over her mouth in shock as a bead of blood rose up to rest on his skin.
“That’s what I was afraid of.” Ginger lowered her head. “It causes real pain doesn’t it?”
Max nodded, finally looking her in the eyes as his welled up. “It ignores the system’s sensory input that dulls the sensation of pain when we get hurt.”
“Oh my god.” Seven stepped back until she ran into the wall. “You’re going to torture her.”
“Only if she doesn’t tell me what I want to know.”
“Why would Checkpoint put something like that in a game?” Seven shook her head.
“They didn’t.” Ginger’s heart sank as she realized where the item came from. “The contract system is broken. The game doesn’t generate contracts, it asks the user’s subconscious what they want instead. That’s why they’re so powerful and unpredictable.”
Echo stepped closer to Farn, as if trying to hide behind her. The look on the avatar’s face said it all.
That knife shouldn’t exist.
Ginger turned away from the man she’d wanted for the last few months. No, it had been longer than that. Maybe since they’d met.
“How could you?” Her tone wavered.
“How could I what?” His words came out sharp.
“Create something like that.” Ginger struggled not to raise her voice. “How could you ask the system for something so cruel?”
“I can’t control what my subconscious does.” Max pushed off the wall. “It’s not like I want to do this.”
“Then don’t.” She fought back a tear. “We’ll find another way. One that won’t cost us our souls.”
“There is no other way.” Max swept away the possibility with one hand. “How else can we catch someone who has been ten moves ahead of us every step of the way?”
“That doesn’t mean we should sink to her level.” Ginger looked to Farn to back her up. “You can’t be alright with this.”
“I don’t like any of this.” The Shield dropped her eyes to the floor, standing silent for a heavy pause. “But I want Kira back.”
Echo immediately pulled away from Farn, her face pained like she’d been slapped. The avatar shook her empty head, as if she didn’t want to believe what she was hearing. Ginger understood full well what the fairy’s actions meant, that none of them believed that Kira would be okay with the plan.
“But you said that Kira was your future. That she was everything you wanted.” Ginger pleaded with the Shield. “What good is getting her back if you can’t look her in the eye?”
“What good is b
eing able to look Kira in the eye if we can’t save her?”
With that, Echo stomped a bare foot on the carpet and stormed out of the room. Seven motioned to go after her.
“Let her go.” Farn ignored the outburst. “She’s not real.”
Seven hesitated before chasing after the avatar anyway. She probably just wanted a reason to get out of the room. Ginger couldn’t blame her.
She flicked her eyes back to Max. “We aren’t monsters. I know we act like we’re this infamous house of ruthless fighters, but that’s all it is, an act. We’re just a bunch of players. Just people that are in over their heads.”
“That’s why I have to do this.”
“But at what cost?”
“It doesn’t matter what the cost is.”
“It does if we lose you in the process.” Ginger’s throat ached with every word. “Why don’t you see that?”
“Because it was my fault!” Max turned away, his eyes welling up.
“What was?”
A long moment passed by before he spoke again.
“I froze.” His whole body deflated as he sunk back against the wall. “Back when Nix’s goons stole Kira’s body. I saw them, and I froze.”
“You can’t blame yourself for tha–”
“It was one minute.” He rubbed at his forehead. “I called 911, then I waited for one minute before finally going next door. When I got there, they were already gone. Kira’s body along with them.” Max raised his head, giving Ginger a look at the pain in his eyes. “I told myself that I had to wait for help to arrive, but I know that was just me justifying the fact that I was scared.”
“Of course you were scared.” Ginger knelt down and placed a hand on his knee. “Anyone would be.”
“But I’m not just anyone.” He swallowed. “I’ve gone up against everything from Nightmares to arms dealers. I’m Max freaking Damage, and I did nothing while my best friend was stolen or worse.”
“What would you have even done?” Ginger squeezed his leg.
“I don’t know, they had guns, I could have gotten one away from them and–”
“And what, killed them both?”
“I don’t know.” Max lowered his head. “But that’s why I have to do this. I can’t let Nix win. And I can’t afford to hold back.” He looked up and met Ginger’s eyes. “I can’t just keep playing games. I have to grow up.”
“Did you ever consider that some of us like who you are now? That I might not want to be with whatever you intend to become?”
“I…” His face went blank for a second. “Sometimes there is a price to pay. Kira paid it when she gave herself to the system. I have to be prepared to do the same.”
“I understand how you feel. And I won’t get in your way.” Ginger lowered her head so he couldn’t see the tears filling her eyes. “But I’m not going be with someone who hurts people to get what they want.”
She stood up and walked toward the hall, looking back for only a second.
“I’ll be downstairs waiting. There’s still time to change your mind.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
This game is insane! Seven stormed away from Lockheart’s box.
Kidnapped players, artificial intelligences, federal agents, and super villains. She could handle finding out about all that.
But torture? That was just too much.
How was she supposed to go and interact with Nix knowing what Max intended to do to her? How could she become an accomplice to that? Nix may be a bad person who wouldn’t think twice about hurting any of them, but still, torture was extreme. At least, too extreme for an accountant to have anything to do with.
To make matters worse, all the rulers of this insane game were at each other’s throats. Not to mention her own house was morally gray at best, what with planting bombs aboard the ship and trying to blow the whole auction to hell.
“How’s it going?”
Seven suppressed the urge to jump as the disembodied voice of Leftwitch reached across her house line. She was almost getting used to the interruptions.
“Everything’s fine.” Seven stopped in her tracks.
“Really? Because I couldn’t help but notice that the Night Queen isn’t laying in a pile of burning scrap right now.”
“About that.” Seven glanced back and forth. “Lockheart found the bomb and threw it off–”
“I see.” There was a long pause that left Seven sweating. “You wouldn’t happen to know about another low-level Venom mage that helped them fight my team, now would you?”
“That was me.” Seven decided to go with honesty. There was less to keep track of that way. Besides, Leftwitch had almost certainly assumed it already.
“Was it now?”
“I realize how that looks, but I was following your orders.”
“How so?”
“You instructed me to befriend Lockheart’s members and gain their trust. I did that in the most efficient way possible. Besides that, my only other responsibility was to bid on some contracts at the auction, which I did. The bomb, as you said, had nothing to do with my presence here.” Seven winced as Leftwitch said nothing for another few seconds.
Finally, the lady of her house let out a chuckle. “Well, efficiency is why I hired you. Were you able to find out anything about Lockheart’s feud with this Nix character? That’s what the world is wanting to know.”
“She stole something from them. They want it back.” Seven left her answer as vague as possible, not entirely sure where her loyalties were after discovering what Max intended to do.
“What did Nix take?”
“Something important enough to make their fight personal. I’ll write up a report with everything I can find out after tonight.”
“That would be very helpful. What about the auction? Were you able to obtain any of the more dangerous items?”
“There was only one up for bids that could be considered a threat. It was won by Alastair Coldblood. He seemed to be here for the same reason as us. To keep things out of the wrong hands. I bid on the contract as well but he didn’t seem like he was going to let anyone else have it.”
“I suppose that is to be expected.” Leftwitch sounded disappointed. “What were you able to get beyond that, then?”
“I won two.” Seven couldn’t help but feel a little proud of her performance. “Both seemed like they would be helpful to our house. The first was a pendant that gives immunity to fire damage and adds a flame element to an equipped weapon.”
“Oh, that does sound helpful. I could really use something like that in case I ever end up in a tight spot, adding a flame element to my whip is pretty strong, and would look pretty impressive.”
“Yes.” Seven nodded to herself. “The second contract is a little different, as it’s a single use item that allows for a player to completely respec their character. They can change their race, appearance, and class, as well as redistribute their upgrade points.”
“That’s a great buy. With that I could respec our Archmage into one of the more powerful races like a fairy. As far as I know, Lockheart is the only house that has one at high level. They’re too much of a pain to level, being so fragile. But I wouldn’t mind having a glass cannon in my arsenal if they can skip over the grind to get there.”
“I’m glad you approve.”
“I more than approve.” Leftwitch let out a victorious laugh. “You did a great job. I couldn’t be happier.”
“Thank you, my Lady.” Seven bowed halfway before remembering her employer couldn’t see her.
“Now you just have to pay and claim our prizes. Did you end up needing to use any of the hard that I sent you with?”
Seven slapped her hand to her item bag, feeling for the silver box that she’d almost forgotten about. Thank god. It was still there.
“No, I only spent two hundred ninety five thousand of the three hundred that you deposited in the account, so I shouldn’t need to open the box you gave me.”
“Excellent. Ju
st return it to me when you get back to Lucem then.”
“I will–”
Suddenly, the auction tile in Seven’s pocket vibrated, signaling that the twins were ready to process her purchases and hand over the Silver Tongues’ contracts. She nearly fumbled the piece of wood as she took it out from her robe.
Oh no!
I never stalled Nix.
Seven broke off into a run down the hall toward the stairs, realizing she had completely dropped the ball. She still wasn’t sure if she even wanted to help Max, but she wasn’t about to completely abandon her mission. At the very least she could maintain a good relationship with Ginger if she at least tried to help.
“I’ll have to report back later, I just received a page to pick up our contracts.”
“You should get going then.”
“Already on my way.”
“That’s my assistant, always on top of things. I think you’ll have a bright future here in Noctem.”
“Thank you, and I’m glad to be of service.” Seven lowered her house ring and sprinted down the stairs.
She held her head up high. The night hadn’t gone according to plan and Lockheart hadn’t turned out to be the allies she thought they were, but she was still a royal assistant. There would be a place for her in the Silver Tongues as long as she performed her duties. Leftwitch seemed to value her professionalism too. She might have tried to blow up the Night Queen, but at least her motive was altruistic. All she wanted was to keep dangerous contracts away from people that might use them for personal gain. There was something admirable in that.
Seven raced into the theater, nearly tripping over a broken chair on her way in, forgetting the destruction that had been wrought upon the room earlier. She stumbled forward, hopping on one foot into the arms of another player.
“Ompf,” she heard herself utter as she looked up to find Nix holding her up.
“That was a close one there.”
“What…” Seven’s body locked up.
“Nice to see you too.” Nix pushed her back to a stable position.
