by Alex Knight
Nando
Class: Brawler
Faction: Maximus
Level: 60
Considering he was still there, he must have been important to the guild. The number two in charge, maybe?
As Kaiden considered what in the hell to do next, and everyone stood in a stunned silence, one of the massive, billowy clouds that eternally circled Kyraxis’ atmosphere swept over them. For a moment the whole of the world was foggy and dark, then it passed and the sun beamed down once again, fierce and bright.
“Care to elaborate on that statement?” Nando finally asked, breaking the silence with a voice full of doubt. “Or were you just going for shock value? Trying to make an impressive entrance?”
“Kai?” Titus said, nodding back to him. “You’re better at this than me. Take it from here?”
Oh, gee. Thanks, dude. Drop a bomb and let me come in and clean up the mess.
Kaiden took a deep breath and stepped forward.
“What’s up, Playa?” he said and extended a hand in a rough imitation of the bro hug Titus had been greeted with.
PlayaSlaya frowned at him and didn’t move. Nando coughed, directing attention to him.
“Uh, yeah.” Kaiden dropped his hand back to his side and stood up straight. “So, here’s the thing…”
At this point, what was there to hold back? He started with the backstory on the database, then moved on to examples of the information it contained. He finished off that bit by trading the sample file Zelda had uploaded – just a taste of some of the more damning files – then transitioned into what they’d been doing, the attack on the grinder, and what they were planning to do next.
“And that’s why…” Kaiden hesitated before going further. If I tell this guy our plan and he sells us out to the Party, we’ll be dead in the water. But we need his support.
“And that’s why we’re going after Warden HQ. If we can get to the All-Frequencies Broadcast System, we can share this database with everyone in the game. We can expose the Party’s crimes to the masses.”
“Nando,” PlayaSlaya said after Kaiden finished. “You hearing this shit?”
“I am. Not sure I’m believing it, though,” the apparent second-in-command of the guild said, still eyeing them with suspicion. “You have the database on you, right now?” he asked.
PlayaSlaya nodded at the question, as if asking it as well. His expression had been the same throughout Kaiden’s entire explanation: a mix of amusement and disbelief. As if the thought of the idea was good fun but too good to be true.
“Of course not. This is a PVP zone,” Zelda said. “We’re not that dumb.”
Nando nodded at that.
“The sample file we traded to you was just a sliver of the database,” Kaiden said, looking first at Nando then Playa. “A few small files we were able to upload into the game without the censors catching on. Getting the whole database in would take forever – something Bernstein luckily already did. We have multiple copies offline and the all-important one in-game. That’s why the Party is after us – in the real world and here.”
“Not to mention the bit where we offed like a hundred wardens at once,” Titus said with a smirk.
“Hell yeah you did!” PlayaSlaya reached out for a fist bump and Titus obliged him.
Neither PlayaSlaya nor Nando had believed the bit about what had happened at the Grinder until Kaiden had screencapped the assisted kill notifications from his combat log and shown them.
“You’re what this crackdown is all about, then?” Nando asked. “In real life, I mean? That whole thing is because you have the database?”
“Afraid so,” Thorne said with a shrug.
Nando looked at PlayaSlaya, his expression suddenly stern.
“You know I have no love for the Party, but the repercussions of getting involved with this would be immense.” He crossed his arms and turned back to Kaiden. “It would be a wise course of action to pretend we never spoke of this.”
“You don’t get it,” Kaiden said. “There’s too much at stake here to hide. Too much has already been sacrificed.”
“I can’t control the choices you’ve made to get to this point. All I can control is the choices we make going forward.” Nando let the words hang in the air with no small amount of finality.
“I hear you. I hear you.” PlayaSlaya nodded toward his second in command. “But let me just clear one thing up.” He looked to Kaiden now. “If the Party catches you, it’s over. You’re done.” He laughed. “No one will ever hear from you again.”
Not exactly a thought I like to laugh about...
“They’re not going to catch us,” Zelda said, her tone deadly serious. “We have more work to do and we’re determined to see it through.”
PlayaSlaya whistled low, then let out another laugh. “Finally!” he clapped his hands together, then fist-pumped and half shouted, half laughed into the sky. “Where have you four been all this time?”
Kaiden frowned at that.
Did I miss something?
“I thought Titus here was something special. Ballsy enough to take on incredible odds and strong enough to come out on top. But I was wrong.” PlayaSlaya smiled. “It’s not just Titus, it’s all of you! Three escaped prisoners and a turncoat warden captain, taking on the whole of the Party! Now that’s insane.” He clapped his hands together. “It’s fresh. It’s exciting.” He smiled wide. “I love it.”
Oh. Oh? Kaiden’s thought struggled to catch up with PlayaSlaya’s logic.
“You love it?” he asked.
“How could I not?” He pounded a fist against his chest and nodded emphatically, then turned to Nando.
“I told you, man! I told you there was more to do in this game! More than quests and PVP. This is our next great challenge. This is gonna break the stagnation that’s taken over this place. Our next big win, and this one’s gonna be so big it’ll put Maximus’ name in the history books.”
“Speak carefully here,” Nando said, doubt all too clear in his voice. “If this goes south, it could be the end of Maximus. Sane minds would say there’s no way anyone could do this. Believe me, I more than anyone would like to see the Party brought to justice, but it’s just not possible. Worse, it’s foolish.”
PlayaSlaya only smiled wider.
“And there was no way lowly level fifty Titus would kick Nassus’ ass, was there? But he did it anyway.” He shook his head. “No, we’re doing this. This is too fun to pass up. I’m sick of sitting here beating on the same chumps day after day. But this? This is what I play for.”
“You’re in charge and you know I support you, but—” Nando began but Playa cut him off.
“It’s done,” he said, then faced Kaiden again. “All right, man, we’re in.” He opened his arms wide.
Nando sighed, then regained his composure.
“So be it.”
“You’re in? Just like that?” Kaiden fought not to frown.
Why does this feel too easy?
“Hell yes we are!” PlayaSlaya looked like he could barely contain his excitement. Was bursting at the seams with it. “You’re going to take a shot at Warden HQ. There’s no way we’re missing out on that. Look, guys. I’ve done everything this game has to offer. I’ve slain bosses twice my level, I hold the record for the deepest run into the endless waves of voidspawn, and I’ve beaten every opponent who’s challenged me in a one-on-one.” PlayaSlaya shook his head at that, almost as if the thought made him sad. “Do you know what that feels like? Do you know what it’s like to be so good nothing’s a challenge anymore?” His features fell into a deep frown and there was no denying the sadness in his eyes. Pain, almost. “It sucks, man. It sucks bad. Then you four show up offering something new. And an in-game first, no less?” He chuckled at that. “No, no, no. There’s no way I’m passing that up.”
“You understand the repercussions of this, right?” Thorne asked, doubt in her voice. “Attacking a warden in-game isn’t a big deal in the real world, but when i
t’s alongside us – when you involve yourselves with this whole database debacle – you’ll be bringing heat down on your heads. Real heat. The Party could come looking for you in the real world. Could show up at your front door.”
He’s on board with the plan. Don’t chase him away now! Kaiden wanted to say. But he found he agreed with Thorne. As much as they needed the allies, anyone joining them needed to understand the stakes. Lives had already been ruined and no doubt more would be before the whole thing was over.
PlayaSlaya waved Thorne’s words away as if they were no concern at all.
“You don’t understand us at all if you think we’ll miss a chance to raid Warden HQ. That asteroid’s been taunting us forever. A PVP zone but one no one has raided it before? It’s long past time we changed that.”
“And also the part where you help bring down a tyrannical regime and build a better world,” Zelda added.
“Yeah, yeah. That part too. Whatever.”
“If we’re... doing this, they’ll want to know,” Nando said to Playa, who nodded.
“Sure, sure.”
Nando’s eyes went distant a moment. Navigating some menu, no doubt.
“What’s he doing?” Zelda asked, stepping forward, then turned to face Nando directly. “What are you doing?”
“It’s all cool,” PlayaSlaya said. “Hey, so, uh, this has been fun, but I gotta run.” He nodded over his shoulder, down to the arena where three or four players were gathering, swinging their weapons and checking armor as if readying for a fight. “Gotta keep my skills sharp, you know?” PlayaSlaya said, then walked to the end of skybox.
“Nando, handle the specifics,” he said, the leaned backwards and fell out of sight.
“What the—?” Kaiden rushed to the edge of the skybox in time to see PlayaSlaya using some sort of ability to negate the fall damage. He crashed down into the arena like a meteor, then rose and strode into the center of the players waiting for him.
“That was, uh, quite an exit,” Kaiden said.
“That’s Playa for ya,” Nando said, drawing Kaiden’s attention back to the skybox. The second in command inhaled a deep breath, then shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “How many different VPNs could I possibly run my connection through before logging into Nova?” he asked, mainly to himself, it seemed.
“I understand this is a lot,” Kaiden said, trying to be sympathetic. Sometimes he forgot that not everyone had spent the last few months as a sworn enemy of the Party. For many, the Party appeared to be doing a fine job, though the increasing severity of the crackdown had to be straining that goodwill.
“It’s no easy thing to turn against a group as powerful as the Party. But it’s the right thing,” Kaiden said. “Sometimes, that means it’s even harder to do.”
Nando turned his eyes to Kaiden.
“I don’t know your situation, Kaiden, but not everyone has so little to lose as you apparently do. I have a family to consider. Children to raise. If I get involved in this and it goes south, the Party could turn up at my front door.” He scowled at the thought. “I’ve seen that story before. Already lived what it’s like to lose a father for his political involvement.” There was a sadness in his voice as he spoke. A sadness that struck Kaiden as utterly, painfully honest.
“Playa’s only here because he has too much money and not enough responsibility in the real world. And I’m only here because he pays well for me to handle the details of running this place. But this plan you’ve proposed? It’s more than a game. There are real risks. Real consequences.”
“I understand that,” Kaiden said, not fighting the somberness in his tone. And why should he? It was true. “A friend of ours, Bernstein, was killed for opposing the Party. Zelda’s parents were arrested. And a good man, Merrick, gave his life to save ours. He detonated charges to cover our escape. Buried himself under hundreds of tons of concrete and rubble so we could live to fight another day. Could live to have a shot at making a difference.” Kaiden looked Nando straight in the eyes. “There are real consequences here. Real stakes. But they’re worth it. If we succeed, no one else is going to be killed for believing something different than their government. No one else is going to lose a father because of his political beliefs.”
Where did all that come from? Kaiden wondered as he finished speaking. He hadn’t planned to say it, but it’d just… happened. Had just spilled out. And yet, looking back at it, he knew it was true. Knew it was honest. It was what they were fighting for.
Nando seemed to recognize that as well. His stare lingered on Kaiden a long moment, too much going on in those eyes of his for Kaiden to figure out. Whatever the man was thinking, though, a moment later he nodded sharply.
“Maybe you do understand the stakes.”
Chapter Forty-Two
They hadn’t been on the Veritas II for long – couldn’t have been more than an hour – when the call rang in.
“Nando? What’s up?” Kaiden answered it and an image of the man materialized in the air in front him. Zelda looked up from where she’d been reading, then waved over Thorne and Titus.
“PlayaSlaya already committed us. You know we’re in,” Nando said. This time, there was less dread in his voice. Maybe even a bit of hope? “He’s confident we can do this alone, but if we’re going to do this, I say we’re going to need all the help we can get.”
Well, finally someone’s speaking sense.
“What did you have in mind?” Kaiden asked, liking what he was hearing.
“Some… friends of mine have a message for you. I’m passing it along now.”
Message from [anonymous sender] received. Open?
Kaiden felt his brow furrow.
“What is this, Nando?”
“Just open it. I’ll meet you there,” he said, then ended the call.
“Okay, that was weird, right?” Kaiden said, looking around to the others. “Anyone else think that was weird?”
“Open the message,” Zelda said, leaning forward in her seat.
Kaiden selected ‘open’ and several lines of text appeared in his vision. He projected them in front of him so everyone could read them.
Message from [anonymous sender]
Kaiden, Zelda, Titus, and Thorne,
I’ve heard you four are an ambitious bunch. The organization I represent is very interested in ambitious players. Especially those clever enough to achieve a world first and daring enough to attempt the impossible. We’d like to meet. Tomorrow.
Attached to the bottom of the message was a link with some coordinates.
“Okay, now things are officially very weird,” Kaiden said as he re-read the message.
“Where do these coordinates go?” Titus asked, but Zelda already had a galactic map up and was searching them.
“Here,” she said, pointing to a nondescript planet. “Aqukinho.”
“But there’s nothing there. Just an area of the game waiting for future DLC,” Thorne said with a shrug.
Kaiden looked closer at the spot designated by the coordinates. She was right. It was just a patch of ocean. No land around for miles.
“I mean, we have to go anyway, right?” Kaiden said.
“Could be a trap,” Thorne said. “That area is a PVP zone.”
“I don’t know,” Kaiden said. “It doesn’t feel like a trap.”
“What good trap would?” Titus asked.
Fair point.
“I don’t think Nando would set us up, though. I mean, I know we just met the guy, but… I don’t know. I felt like we had a connection. I think he might be more like us than he knows.”
“I’m not risking the database on an imagined connection,” Thorne said. “If we go, we leave the database on the Veritas II. We’ll take the Borrelly down to the planet and hightail it at the first sign of trouble.”
“’The organization I represent,’” Zelda said, reading aloud from the message. “What do you think that means?”
“I think it means whoever these gu
ys are, they don’t want to give us their name,” Thorne said. “Not a good way to start a relationship.”
“Wait,” Kaiden said as he understood what Zelda was asking. “You don’t think…?”
“I don’t know anyone else melodramatic enough to talk about themselves like that,” Zelda said.
Realization dawned in Thorne’s eyes. “The Syndicate?”
Titus perked up at that. “No shit?”
Zelda shook her head. “There’s only one way to be sure, right?”
“All right, all right,” Titus said as he pulled his VR headset off. “Let me get this straight. First, I kicked that tournament’s ass. Then I impressed PlayaSlaya so much he wanted me to be a guild officer. Then Nando liked our plan so much he passed it along to The Syndicate, and now we have a meeting with them tomorrow?” The big man leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and smiled wide. “All in a day’s work, I guess.”
“This is insane.” Kaiden placed his own headset on the table and then held his head in his shaking hands. He still couldn’t believe it. Everything was happening so quickly now. Three days ago it’d felt like they didn’t have a chance in the world, and now? They were meeting The Syndicate tomorrow. Probably.
His breath shook in his chest and he felt dizzy.
We can really do this. We can really take down the Party.
It was almost as if some part of him hadn’t actually believed it was possible. Despite all of their efforts, all of his efforts, it was like some deep part of him had still been in denial. Had been, but was no longer. Now... well. Now they were going to take on the world, and for the first time, it looked like they might have an actual chance at winning.
“All right, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Thorne said, bringing everyone back down to Earth. “If this even is a meeting with The Syndicate, that doesn’t mean they’re immediately on board. We still have to convince them of the plan. But we can figure that out in a bit. First of all, everyone needs fluids and food.” She headed over to the kitchen and began switching on appliances. As they warmed up, she tossed a water bottle to each of them.
