by David Petrie
“Mana fence,” Corvin called from the other end of the hall where he inspected their work.
“And how did we get it so accurate, Corvin?”
“We mapped it out during the day based on a few photos.”
“And how did we map it so accurately?”
“Math.”
Ginger ignored him and began to walk forward into the hall. Kegan threw out an arm to block her path. “And why did we build this in an active dungeon?”
“The Fire Tomb has the same pressure plate as the vault corridor,” Corvin answered.
“Oh yeah.” Ginger’s eyes fell to the floor.
“How did you do all of this on a booby-trapped floor?” Farn asked.
Kegan hopped backward to the pressure plate, watching everyone cringe, clearly expecting him to be immolated on contact. He pointed behind them. “There’s a deactivation switch under a statue over there.”
“I kind of wish I’d known that back when I ran this dungeon a couple years ago.” Farn furrowed her brow. “What did you do about the monsters?”
Kegan answered her question by whipping an arrow out of his quiver and firing it past her head. “That.”
“Ah, that makes sense.” She didn’t even turn around as a quiet yowl followed by a dying gurgle came from the flame goblin sneaking up on her. “And what about the other players that wanted to get through?”
“Bribery,” Corvin called from the other end.
Keagan slung his bow over his shoulder. “There’ve only been a few parties since it’s a low-level dungeon. But they’ve been pretty happy to turn back in exchange for some credits.”
Kira hopped on to the pressure plate beside him. “How much weight can it hold without setting off the trap.”
“Fifty pounds.”
Her eyes bulged. “I weigh forty-five pounds.”
“Don’t worry. If you set it off the flame throwers in the walls, the strings are all enchanted to be fireproof. So they won’t go anywhere.”
“Oh great, never mind about me getting burned.”
“Probably step lightly then.” Kegan smirked.
“We can keep the floor deactivated until you feel comfortable getting through the strings,” Corvin added.
Max clapped his hands together. “Great! So take off your clothes and get in there.”
Kira glowered at him before shrugging and pulling her gear up over her head. She dropped to the floor and took a breath. “Here goes nothin'.”
Kegan snorted as soon as she slid under the first string. “Is there a heart on your ass?”
“I’m aware, and I’m owning it.”
“Fair enough.” Kegan laughed.
Kira pushed her head and shoulders up and arched her back to pass between a few more strands.
Max cleared his throat. “I’m going to, umm, go watch the entrance for monsters.” He glanced at the fairy’s form slipping through the hall then immediately turned away.
Ginger laughed. “I’ll join you. I’ve seen enough of that girl’s ass for one day.”
“Yeah, I supposed I should go too,” Kegan added. “It’s fun and all to make Kira uncomfortable, but she probably needs to focus.”
“That’s very mature of you,” Kira commented as she thrust her butt into the air while extending one leg to pass between two strings. It looked like a solo game of Twister.
Kegan cleared his throat at the provocative display, then called to Corvin, “Enjoy the show, buddy.”
The Blade immediately averted his eyes.
Farn broke away, sliding down to sit against one wall. “I’ll stay and keep an eye on her. I mean, who would want to miss that.” She hooked her thumb back at Kira.
“This has gone wrong.” The fairy had run out of places to put her hand that were not already occupied by imitation lasers. Her body was contorted into a position that strained her arms.
Max laughed.
“It’s not funny, jackass.”
“It’s kinda funny,” he corrected.
“Try moving your leg to the side,” Farn coached.
She did, freeing up a little space. “Damn,” she let out a long breath, “this is going to be a lot harder than I thought.”
Chapter Forty
The morning sun shined in through Seth’s window as he pulled off his Somno unit and sat up in bed. He rubbed at his shoulder for a few seconds before he realized that it didn’t hurt. He had spent much longer practicing as Kira in the Fire Tomb than he had intended. It was already ten in the morning. A glance at the nightstand clock told him he had been logged in as the fairy for over thirteen hours.
He winced.
It wasn’t smart for him to stay in that long considering everything Carver had done to his brain. He shrugged and tapped the power button on the side of his headset to shut it down. Seth let out a sigh when the familiar chime of its startup sequence sounded instead. Apparently, the system had lost its connection during the night and just powered itself off when it wasn’t needed.
He winced again.
His screwed-up brain had started doing the work on its own again. He was due for a break.
Seth growled.
The timing was bad with the heist coming up. Taking time off now was out of the question.
I’m sure a few more days won’t kill me.
“Famous last words,” he said out loud as he set his headset on its charger.
Seth threw himself back into the mattress for a full body stretch before hopping up, wandering over his dresser to grab something to else to wear. It was late after all; the day couldn’t wait forever.
Making his way to the kitchen, he grabbed a popsicle from the freezer. It was too late to make breakfast so he figured something quick would be best before he went over to bother Wyatt next door. Sure, a popsicle wasn’t much of a breakfast, but he was an adult, and he could do what he wanted.
That was when he heard a knock at the door.
Seth jumped and glanced around the room as if looking for someplace to hide. He wasn’t expecting anyone, and Wyatt had a key, which only left one option.
A stranger!
Seth did what any reasonable person would do. He waited by the door for them to go away. Cause really, what kind of monster would actually come to your door at ten in the morning.
They knocked again, making it clear that they weren’t going anywhere.
Seth crept his way to the window and pulled back the curtain just enough to peek out at the uniformed police officer on his porch. He immediately jumped like a cat encountering a cucumber.
“Oh, crap!” He almost dropped his popsicle.
Seth fidgeted in place for a second, debating on what to do. Then again, he did what any reasonable person would. He licked his popsicle before it dripped on his hand. Then he opened the door.
“Hello, what may I do for you, officer?”
“Seth Hase?” the officer asked in that tone that most cops seemed to prefer, the one that seemed kind of rude but expected to get what they wanted regardless. It was meant to intimidate.
And intimidate it did.
Not so much because of the tone but because the man had used his full name. There was no doubting it. The officer was definitely there for him.
That was when Seth heard the door next to his open. He leaned forward and looked to the side, unintentionally ignoring the officer’s question. What he saw worried him even more.
A second cop was standing in front of Wyatt, asking him to identify himself as well.
Seth remained reasonable, waving awkwardly to his terrified friend. Wyatt didn’t wave back.
“Mr. Hase!” The officer shifted his posture in a way that felt vaguely threatening. “That is you, isn’t it?”
Seth leaned back, redirecting his attention to the man on his porch. “Umm, yeah, is there somethi–”
“You’re going to have to come with us,” he interrupted, “your friend too.”
“Are we in trouble?” Seth asked almost in unison with Wyatt next
door.
“Not at this time, but we need you to answer some questions down at the station.”
“Umm okay. Just let me get my shoes,” Seth added as he slipped into a pair. Moments later, he was sitting in the back of a squad car next to his best friend. Wyatt looked at him sideways as if questioning the fact that he was still holding a half-eaten popsicle.
Seth shrugged and attempted to bite off the side to finish it faster. The whole thing fell off the stick.
Wyatt’s eyes bulged as the orange piece of ice hit the floor.
They both looked at each other, then at the officers in front.
The cops didn’t seem to notice.
Seth stuffed the stick in his pocket. Then he looked back to his terrified friend, as if to say, 'I didn’t just drop a popsicle in a police car and have no idea what you’re on about'.
Wyatt tried to ask what they were needed for, but the officers just blew him off, like they didn’t want to be there either. From there, they just stayed quiet until they reached the station. Seth tried his best to be cooperative, especially since they hadn’t done anything wrong. Well, except planning a heist of millions worth of virtual currency, but that wasn’t really illegal.
Right?
They were shown into a plain looking interrogation room. The walls were a bland, off-white with a table and chairs in the middle. The table was cheap, the kind that was covered in paper printed with wood grain to make it appear nicer than simple pressboard. A couple fixtures of fluorescent lights buzzed above. The room lacked a bright light hanging from the ceiling like in the movies.
They waited quietly at the table for a few minutes before Seth started humming the theme to Law and Order. Wyatt clearly didn’t appreciate it. He didn’t have to endure it for long because the door opened shortly after.
A man and a woman entered, both wearing suits. Seth’s humming trailed off into a stunned silence as they sat down.
Wyatt swallowed audibly.
The letters F.B.I. read clearly on the face of the laminated identification cards clipped on each of their lapels.
“Hi there,” the man said with a smile that failed to put Seth at ease. His suit didn’t look expensive, but he wore it well, and his short black hair was styled professionally. His face, however, was covered in a day's worth of stubble, as if he had been too busy to shave. He looked old enough to be either of their fathers, which didn’t make things easier.
Seth waved weakly in a way that seemed to add a question mark to the gesture as if he was unsure if it was the right thing to do. A glare from Wyatt told him it was not.
“Can we get you anything?” the woman asked. Her hair was streaked with gray and tied back, giving her a serious appearance. Her voice, however, sounded almost excited. “Coffee or a donut?” She paused. “Oh, sorry, Mr. Hase. We could get you something else if you want.”
Seth started to sweat when he realized how much the agents already knew. They must have pulled his medical records before coming in, knowing that he couldn’t digest solid foods.
“No thanks.” His voice wavered as he answered.
“Okay, let us know if you change your minds.” The man placed his hand down on the table. “Anyway, I’m agent Dawson, and this is my partner agent Delgado. We’re part of a special cybercrime division within the F.B.I.”
Delgado took over, “Yes, and for the last few years, we’ve been handling criminal activity within the popular game Carpe Noctem.”
Not good! thought Seth as soon as he heard the word Noctem.
“Are we in some kind of trouble here?” Wyatt’s voice almost cracked.
“Let me start with telling you what we know.” Dawson leaned forward so that his elbows rested on the table. “We know that you play the characters MaxDamage24 and Kirabell.” He glanced at Seth as if questioning if he really was the fairy in question. “We know that you both received a large payment from Checkpoint Systems a year ago, as well as four other players.
At first, we thought it might have been some kind of legal settlement. But then we noticed that the timing seemed too coincidental with the firing of Neal Carver and that whole dragon incident that he set off afterward.
After comparing your party to the descriptions provided by players concerning the event, it wasn’t hard to figure out that your team was at the center of it. We don’t know the specifics, but we assume that the payment was for services rendered in stopping the situation.” He leaned back. “Now, none of that’s illegal, but it did put your team on our radar.
So you can imagine our surprise when your people were spotted within the pyramid in Reliqua, mere breaths away from the Lord of Serpents.” Dawson folded his arms. “Naturally, we thought that you had been hired by Checkpoint to stop Berwyn’s conquest since it has been hurting the gameplay lately. But after looking into the legality of that, we’ve found it to be unlikely that whatever you’re doing there would be on the books. Apparently, getting directly involved would be against the game’s rules, so if you’re not being paid to be there, then that begs the question—what are you doing there?”
Wyatt started to answer but was cut off by agent Delgado. “You see, we have a theory. One about a vault and what would happen if someone were to break into said vault.”
“Wait a second,” Wyatt interrupted, his face suddenly widening into a grin as his shoulders relaxed. “You said that we were spotted in the palace, which implies that you have people in there as well. So that begs the question, what were they doing there?”
Seth answered before they had the chance, “Holy crap, Luka was one of yours.”
Delgado sighed and lowered her head
Dawson chuckled and nudged his partner. “See, told you they’d figure it out.”
“Yeah, yeah, you told me so.” She raised her hand. “That was me, actually. I use the character, Luka, to run ops online. It took me months to build my cover and get into the Serpents.”
“And now you’ve been kicked out,” Wyatt added.
“Yes.” She sighed again.
“That’s why we need your help,” Dawson continued.
Seth leaned back as he realized what was going on.
“We’re listening.” Wyatt did the same, looking a bit more smug than he should.
Dawson chuckled and pulled out a file folder from a bag below his chair. “Okay, for starters, you’ve stepped into bigger a mess than you realize. Not to mention the fact that we’re pretty sure that you’re planning a theft. So wipe that look off your face.”
“Sorry.” Wyatt stopped smiling.
Dawson flipped open the folder. “Let’s start by letting you in on some details. Do you recognize this man here?” He held up a photo of a man that looked around sixty. He wore a fancy suit with his hair slicked back despite the fact that most of it was gone. At one point, he might have been attractive, but his looks had long since faded.
Seth shook his head in the negative along with Wyatt.
Dawson set the photo down on the table. “His name is Roger Cline, but you know him as Lord Berwyn.”
Wyatt picked up the image. “Damn, you danced with this dude.”
Seth crossed his arms and looked away. “Yeah, I know. It was embarrassing the first time. I don’t think the Feds care.”
Delgado smiled. “Actually, I was there. You have some moves.”
Seth rolled his eyes.
Dawson ignored the exchange. “Anyway, Cline is suspected on over a dozen counts of murder. So, you know, he’s probably not the best choice for a dance partner.”
A familiar chill slithered through Seth’s body, the same as when Berwyn had touched him as Kira the night before. He suppressed a shiver. “What were the motives?”
“Mostly business disagreements. However, we can’t prove anything or even find him. He served a few years in prison decades ago and disappeared when he got out. We only found him again online when Noctem came out, and like the majority of legitimate businesses, he’s been using it to run his ever since. We tried tr
acing his account, but unfortunately, it’s too easy to hide where connections come from.”
“What kind of business does he run?” Wyatt asked.
“Smuggling and selling illegal goods.” Dawson pulled out a few more pages of text that didn’t mean much to Seth but clearly did to him. “We believe he has a global network set up to traffic everything from military grade ordinance to biological threats. We’ve caught some of his people here and there, but he compartmentalizes his operation in a way that no one really knows much more than their own role. The result is that we can’t get anywhere near him, and now that he has a damn empire online, we can’t get to him in Noctem either.”
“And that’s where you come in,” added Delgado, closing the file.
“Okay, but I don’t think he’s going to start talking about that stuff around us,” Wyatt argued.
She pulled out another folder. “You’re right. He won’t even send messages through anything that he doesn’t consider secure. But there may be something that can change that.”
“And that is?” Seth slid on to the edge of his seat.
Delgado leaned forward as well as if she was about to tell a secret. “We found a book in the possession of one of his people in Noctem after he had been caught storing shipments in the real world. They had hidden the book in a shop online that they had a deal with.”
“Why didn’t he just store it in his inventory?” Wyatt asked.
“It seemed to be just part of a larger contract item, so it can’t be stored in a virtual inventory unless it’s brought together with the rest of it.”
“Ah, so it’s like the rings that I share with Farn.” Seth rubbed at his finger where the item would be if he was logged in as Kira. “I can’t store it by itself, so I wear it on a chain whenever I take it off.”
Wyatt nodded. “I’ve had the same problem with Farn’s Shift Beads before. The only dematerialize as a set.”
“Exactly.” Delgado pulled out a number of photos from in game. “And what we found inside this contract item changed our approach to the case.” She spread out the photos across the table. “What does this look like to you?”