Party Hard

by David Petrie

  Gasps sounded from Kegan and Ginger while Corvin choked on the danish that he had been eating when they left.

  "Welcome to the Nostromo." Alastair gestured to the ship around him with both hands as he stood up. "You're just in time."

  Ginger ignored him altogether. "What the hell did you get us into?" she demanded of Max, bewildered.

  "Yeah, what the hell, man?" added Kegan, hit hand twitching like he might go for an arrow.

  Corvin remained silent, as he was still recovering from choking.

  Kira patted him on the back.

  "Just hear him out." Max held up his hands to stop the questioning.

  "Thank you; I've asked Max and Kira to gather a party …" Alastair trailed off, looking at Farn who was half done with her danish. "Are you eating a pastry on the bridge of my airship?"

  Farn paused for a moment, then committed to the act by shoving the remaining half into her mouth all at once and replying with a muffled, "No?" There was an upwards inflection at the end like she was asking a question. Crumbs fell as she spoke, causing her to raise one hand to cover her mouth.

  Kira snorted and shot her a smile.

  Alastair sighed and rolled his eyes at the speed of which Kira and Max had seemed to rub off on his employee. Then he continued, "As I was saying, I asked you all here to take on a mission of the utmost importance." He explained some of the situation, then triggered a non-disclosure agreement for everyone aboard the airship. Once the legal part of his presentation was covered, he cut to the video of Carver, which played in a circular portal appearing at the center of the ship's massive front window.

  The group watched in silence as the truth of the situation unfolded, looks of horror becoming visible on each of their faces as they realized the severity of what was going on. Even Max, who had seen it earlier, grew fearful, the potential impact of failure setting in again as the video came to a close.

  Silence fell across the bridge for a long moment until it was finally broken by Ginger. "I feel sick.” The Coin looked down at the floor for a second before snapping her eyes back up. “I have two kids," she said, revealing a detail about herself that Max wasn’t aware of. "I'm doing it alone. I can't go back to working seventy hours a week to make ends meet. I'll never see them." Her eyes welled up. "I need this game."

  Corvin looked from Ginger back to Max. "I'll do my best."

  Then all eyes turn to Kegan, who shrugged, “I'd be kind of a dick if I backed out after watching that."

  "Thank you." Alastair released a tension in his shoulders that Max hadn't noticed before. "As an added bonus, the mission pays two hundred thousand dollars to each of you upon completion," he turned to Ginger, "so let's do our best and get those kids of yours into a good college."

  "Seriously?" Kegan’s eyes darted back to Max.

  The rest of the group followed suit, their gaze falling on him all at once.

  Max cracked half a smile and gave them a slight nod.

  "Now, that's what I'm talkin’ about." Kegan clapped his hands while Ginger gripped a nearby railing for support. Her face shifting between fear and excitement.

  Alastair continued, "Now, we still have about twenty-one hours before we have to start the actual mission. So, we'll take the day to get prepared. Someone from Checkpoint will contact each of you as soon as you wake up to arrange travel accommodations to get you to our main office in New York."

  Max stopped him. "I'm sorry, what's this about travel?"

  Alastair looked at him as if it should have been obvious. "We can't afford to take any chances on this. I think the safest thing would be to conduct the operation from our main testing lab."

  "Is that really necessary?" Kira stepped in beside Max.

  Alastair nodded. "Definitely. What if one of you have a power outage or your internet lags out at the wrong time? There's a lot that could go wrong here. Our facility has its own power system and a secure internet connection. Plus, the rigs we use for testing are significantly more advanced than the home versions you use. They'll allow us to monitor your vitals the whole time you're logged in. I'm also bringing in a full medical team to keep an eye on you just in case."

  "That's a little scary." Ginger shrank back.

  Alastair took a decisive step forward and gripped the railing in front of him. "Look, I'm not gonna lie here, Carver has always found ways to push the system's limits. And we don't know what to expect from this quest. It's important that we do this safely." He let some of the businessman inside him take over.

  Max moved into the center of the group. "Alright, but we can quit at any time if we feel it's getting out of hand."

  "That's fair." Alastair nodded.

  Ginger blew out a sigh. "I guess I can try to get my sister to take the kids for a day."

  Alastair pushed off the railing and clapped his hands together. "Great. I'll be taking my leave then. I have a lot to get ready before tonight. I suggest you all do the same."

  The others looked to one another as nervous tension filled the air again.

  "Okay, I guess we'll all meet up in New York," declared Max, a little unsure of what he was saying.

  Everyone nodded in agreement, and one by one, they vanished from the world. The last to log out were Max and Kira. "See you in a minute," Max reassured himself as much as his partner.

  Kira nodded with a smile that felt a little forced. He suspected it was more for his benefit than hers.

  He selected the sign off option from his stat-sleeve, and after a brief countdown, his system powered down, allowing his body to enter the natural waking process. Then, only minutes later, he opened his eyes to greet the morning.

  Chapter Ten

  Wyatt struggled to come up with a good story to explain to his department manager at the electronics store where he worked why he wouldn't be able to come in for the next couple days. Things were so much easier as Max back in Noctem. There he could just shoot anything that got in his way. Seth wasn’t making the phone call any easier as he critiqued his performance like an acting coach. At least in the real world, Wyatt didn’t have to worry about his fairy friend getting hurt by something stupid. Which was why he whipped a half-empty water bottle at Seth as soon as he hung up.

  "I'd like to see you do better."

  Seth took on the challenge with gusto, pulling out his phone and clutching his stomach. Thirty seconds and a theatrical performance of having a stomach virus later, he had the next few days off. According to Seth, if you tell your employer that you're quote ‘firing out both ends uncontrollably’ they don't want you anywhere near them.

  From there, the sudden trip was quite comfortable. A little before noon, a black limousine pulled up outside the apartment that Wyatt and Seth shared in their hometown of Sarasota, Florida. Then it was off to the airport where they caught a non-stop flight to JFK international. Wyatt spent the time watching a movie on his phone, trying to reconcile the realization that he had been thrust into the position of having to save the world, just like the heroes he had always watched on screen. Seth occupied himself by working his way through a pile of comics that he’d purchased that morning after forcing their limo to stop at the shop near their apartment.

  Their seats were first class, which was a new experience for Wyatt, never having seen beyond the curtain before. So, when they pulled up to the main office of Checkpoint Systems in upstate New York later that afternoon, he was feeling pretty good about the day.

  The building, if you could call it that, was huge, making it clear why they picked somewhere so remote for their headquarters. It shared a resemblance to the Citadel in Valain, which must have been an intentional design choice and an expensive one at that. Looking closer, it was more like a fortress, with multiple guards patrolling its grounds at regular intervals. The tight security made sense, considering how much personal information the company had on its users.

  Wyatt entered the building’s massive lobby through a pair of equally massive glass doors, becoming a little more overwhelmed with each
step he took. He had played Noctem almost every night with Seth for the last three years. He had just never expected they would be standing where it was all built. He couldn't help but pause just to take it all in.

  Light poured into the thirty-story room from a ceiling full of skylights, the only shadows being cast by a line of balconies running all the way to the top, one on each floor. A Checkpoint logo made of three-dimensional lettering marked one wall while concept art on hung around it, printed on twenty-foot tall fabric banners.

  Wyatt pointed up at an image of a delicate young fairy being embraced by a brave warrior. "Hey, look; it's you."

  Seth gave him a sarcastic laugh and pointed to a different banner featuring a hideous orc. "They have one of you too."

  Wyatt groaned in response as he walked in the direction of the front desk, where a receptionist was expecting them.

  After a call upstairs, a security guard came down to escort them up. Wyatt stepped into a spacious elevator that had him wondering if it was larger than his room back in their apartment. It rose several floors, and they exited into a hallway leading to a large but somehow inviting waiting room which was where they met a woman in her late thirties sitting between a well-behaved teenage girl and boy.

  Wyatt had one of those faces that used to look okay in an unconventionally attractive sort of way. Although, after he’d lost his hair back when he was twenty-three, he’d lost most of his confidence along with it. He didn't look good bald. Which was why adding his hair back on had been the only major change he had made to his avatar when creating it. Other than that, he looked similar to how he did online.

  The woman glanced up at him as he entered the room, a look of instant recognition appearing on her face as a grin took over. She stood and hugged him without hesitation. She was short and had a dusting of gray in her hair that made her look a little older than she probably was. But even though she didn't look anything like the Coin that had tortured him with her powers of seduction ten hours before, he could tell it was her just the same. Plus, she still smelled a little like cinnamon.

  "Hey, Ginger. Good to, ah, meet you." He held his arms limp in her embrace, not sure what to do with them.

  "Great to meet you too. It's Marisa Price, by the way," she gave him her real name before spinning to face Seth. "And you must be Kira," she added without him needing to say anything. "You're even more handsome than I thought you'd be."

  Wyatt's face dropped in surprise. Not because she had called Seth handsome. He figured that she was just being nice, but what was surprising was the fact that she had recognized him at all.

  Seth started to turn red but covered with a graceful smile and nod that he must have picked up from his time spent as a fairy in Noctem. "You're looking nice as well."

  Marisa grinned. "Cute and charming, don't you have it all."

  "Good lord, Mom. You gotta not flirt in front of us," commented the teenage girl, looking up from a schoolbook.

  "Yeah, that's wicked inapropes," added the boy.

  Marisa jabbed a finger in their direction. "Hey, if I never flirted with anyone, the two of you wouldn't exist."

  They both shuddered at the thought.

  "Sorry, these are my kids. The big one's Toby. He's sixteen. And this lovely young lady here is Wren. She just turned fifteen." They both gave a polite but sarcastic wave.

  Seth waved back with an awkward smile.

  Wyatt didn't, trying to look cool and aloof. He didn't want to come off as lame in front of the teenagers.

  Toby looked like the kind of kid that you wanted to hire to mow your lawn. The kind that had an honest, easy to read face. Wren, on the other hand, was more of a mystery. She seemed nice enough but also more guarded than her brother like she'd had a more difficult life than most teenagers. It probably had something to do with the large hearing aids that she wore in both ears.

  "Your sister couldn't take the kids for the day, huh?" Wyatt recalled what she’d said back on the Nostromo's bridge.

  Marisa's jaw tightened at the mere mention of her sister. "My bitchy sister felt it was more important to spend the day with some guy she just met at a farmer’s market than to watch my children while I save the world, so I had to bring them along."

  "Ha! You called Aunt Linda a bitch," laughed Wren.

  "No, I said she WAS bitchy. There's a difference." Marisa smiled down at her daughter.

  That was when a Checkpoint employee snuck into the room. An ID badge with ‘Sarah Williams’ printed below her picture hung from a lanyard around her neck.

  Wyatt took one look at her and let out the first words that popped into his head, "Holy crap."

  She froze like a deer in headlights.

  "You look exactly the same," he added.

  Seth agreed, staring at Farnsworth's real-world doppelgänger like she had just achieved something incredible. "Amazing." He released the word on a slow breath. The only visible difference was the absence of the two braids that she wore in the game.

  "Ahh, thanks? I think." She took a step back and fidgeted with her ID badge. "And you are?" Her face dropped in shock the instant the words left her mouth.

  Seth glanced away at the floor as he scratched the back of his head with one hand. "Sorry, umm, hi."

  Wyatt choked out a laugh.

  "Oh, wow, that is not what I expected." Sarah stared at Seth in amazement.

  "Really? I always assumed Kira was a guy," Marisa said in a casual tone like it should have been obvious.

  Sarah looked at her with confusion for a second, then she glanced at the two teenagers and clearly put two and two together.

  "Really?" Wyatt arched an eyebrow still surprised that not one but two people recognized his fairy companion in the flesh.

  "How could you tell?" Seth asked, almost wincing like he was about to tear off a band-aid.

  Marisa tapped one finger on her other arm before answering. "As Kira, you seem conflicted? Not in a bad way, though," she explained, not really making much sense. "It's actually kind of endearing for some reason. Makes people want to hold you and tell you it's okay."

  "Gee, that's not weird at all." Wyatt sat in one of the chairs as Seth took a seat next to him.

  "Yeah that is kinda weird," added Wren, closing her book as if she’d given up trying to study with everyone talking around her.

  "You're kinda weird." Seth matched the maturity level of the fifteen-year-old.

  Wren looked to her mother. "Are you gonna let your weird friend call your children weird?"

  Marisa shrugged. "If the shoe fits, dear."

  Seth gave Wren a look that said ‘Ha, I win.’

  The group talked for a while more before being joined by two more guests. Wyatt held up his hand, stopping the two before they had a chance to speak. Then he pointed to each of them, guessing their identities. He got them right, mostly going by the fact one of them was Korean.

  Kegan, or Kevin Park, as he was known in the real world, eyed Wyatt. "You only got that right cause I'm Asian, didn't you?"

  "Ah, maybe?" Wyatt responded, unsure if that made him sound racist.

  Marisa stepped forward. "Wow, you look like an older version of your avatar."

  Kevin shrugged. "Well, yeah, I based it off a photo of myself when I was twenty. I'm over forty now."

  Next to him stood Corvin, who turned out to be a six-foot, three-inch college student with long black hair named Bastian Castillo, who had started at the University of Massachusetts. He was rather dashing according to Marisa, who made a point of telling him.

  He responded with a nervous, "Thanks."

  Kevin started to speak but paused as he surveyed the group, gears clearly turning in his head. Something wasn't adding up. His eyes stopped at Seth, "Hold on, are you …?" he trailed off unable to finish the thought.

  Seth shoved his hands into his pockets. "Yup."

  "Holy, crap!" Kevin said. "I've been picturing you naked for like, the last two years," he cringed, "and now I've said that out loud. Soooo, that's em
barrassing."

  Bastian also looked a little red, possibly thinking something similar but being less vocal about it. At that, the group shared a laugh worthy of the end of a Scooby Doo episode, all gathered round with the monster tied up and the day saved. That was when Milo entered the room, his face lighting up like a Christmas tree upon seeing them together in the flesh.

  In sharp contrast to the dark and powerful presence that he had online as Alastair, Milo looked more disheveled than anything else. His short hair was a mess, his shirt was wrinkled, and his narrow tie hung loosely around his neck. Even his glasses seemed a little askew. It must have been a long day so far, but as stressed as he seemed, there was still a glimmer of wild excitement in his eyes. Wyatt understood why. After all, it probably wasn't every day that he got to assemble a team to save the world.

  "I'm glad to see everybody has gotten to know each other." He looked around the room. "I thought about providing you all with name tags, but then I thought it would be more fun to let you guess." He glanced at the clock on the wall. "Damn, how did it get so late?” He glanced back at the door. “How about I give you a quick tour of the testing facility where you'll be spending the night? Sound good?" He didn't wait for them to answer before turning toward the door.

  Wyatt noticed the rest of the group looking to him as if waiting for him to go first. Apparently, they had all joined his party and made him leader in the real world as well. The thought gave him a slight boost of confidence as he spun and headed out. Seth joined him, followed by the others. In the end, even the two teenagers fell in line.

  He followed Milo through a long hallway as the frazzled man pointed out a few noteworthy offices to the group. Wyatt didn't pay much attention as he trailed behind the man who had built an entire company from the ground up. He couldn't help but feel a little star struck even if Milo's appearance wasn't all that impressive. Perhaps it was the fact he was so ordinary that drove the point home. Wyatt could easily forget who Milo was when talking to him online, where he wore the form of a ridiculous fantasy villain. Seeing him as he really was now, Wyatt finally realized that he was just a regular guy like him. He wasn't even that much older. The fact he had achieved so much made Wyatt feel more than just a little small. Hell, earlier that morning his main concern was about a stupid job at an electronics store. It put things into perspective as the thought chased away some of the confidence that he'd found moments before. He tried his best not to show it, following in silence until they came to a stop at a heavy set of double doors. A silver-embossed plate mounted on the wall to the right bore the words, Nemo Unit.