Party Hard

by David Petrie

  Wyatt knew she was trying to make him laugh to take his mind off things, but still, it worked. He couldn't help but grin as she beamed with pride. "That's umm, some solid parenting."

  "I thought so," she grinned before whispering, "but I don't think his girlfriend likes me now."

  Finally, he let himself laugh outright. It wasn't really that funny, but her unapologetic tone displayed how similar she was to her character. "What made you pick a Coin for a class?"

  Marisa stopped at the sudden question. "Umm, I don't know. I guess because the starting gear looked kind of nice."

  Wyatt gave her a judgmental look. It wasn't the answer he expected. "Really?"

  "Well, I didn't make the character to play with." She dug a toe onto the floor. "I've never been a gamer or anything before now. I was struggling to make ends meet, and things were feeling a little hopeless for me back then. So when a friend told me about what kind of money I could make at a brothel online, I got myself a system. It wasn't even a hard decision. I gave myself a hot body and a pretty face and picked whichever starting outfit looked best, which was apparently the Coin's default gear.

  I don't know what I expected, but the Everleigh club welcomed me in, and from there, I moved up fast since …" She froze for a second, clamming up. A moment later she continued regardless, "I don't hate what I do. The club is run well, and I always feel safe. So, in a way, it's probably the best job I've had. Plus, I'm kind of good at it." She gave an awkward laugh with a smile that touched her eyes. "It wasn't long before I was making money like crazy. I did the math and realized that I didn't have to work every night, and that left me with a lot of free time. So I dug my unused dagger out of my inventory and made my way out of the city."

  "And you just went with things from there?"

  Marisa nodded. "I never understood how satisfying games could be. Noctem has been liberating, and not just because it gave me a job or because it gave me back the time in my life that I lost working nonstop and going gray from stress. There's just something about swinging through a forest by a grappling line and fighting monsters that makes me feel alive."

  Wyatt nodded. "Plus, you get to steal stuff."

  She gave him a wide grin that suited her. Then she let it fall. "But nothing lasts forever. And right now, making sure Kira is safe comes first. Even if it means losing that freedom." She didn’t bother to correct which name she used anymore."

  Wyatt started to speak but stopped as the door to the Nemo unit opened. From it approached the nurse that had escorted them out. "Is he okay?" Wyatt stepped forward, forgetting everything else and not giving the man a chance to speak first.

  The nurse looked away as if he wasn't used to talking to a patient’s loved ones, like he was only out there because the doctor was too busy. He took a quick breath before answering, "We’re not sure."

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Kira didn't sleep. Instead, it was more like she had ceased to exist. She was dormant. Then, suddenly, she wasn't. Consciousness flooded back. The feel of a comfortable bed around her told her which world she was in without needing to open her eyes. After all, beds had no purpose in a virtual world where no one slept. She wasn't groggy, but she wasn't fully aware either. She rolled onto her side and nuzzled her face into a pillow, her silver hair falling across her cheek. Her mind snapped awake as sensory information rushed in, telling her which body she inhabited. She opened her eyes.

  Farn leaned over the bed from a chair at its side, a hopeful look on her face. Corvin and Kegan stood in a doorway behind her. Farn hesitated as Kira hoisted herself up, running one hand through her hair, brushing it from her face.

  She looked around the medium-sized room, its simple luxury surrounding her. "Where am I?" She raised herself further.

  The dam holding Farn back broke, and she lunged forward to embrace her, being careful not to squeeze Kira too hard against her metal breastplate. "You're okay!"

  Kira returned the hug, more to comfort her worried friend than to seek it herself since she wasn't sure what had happened. She leaned her head into the Shield's neck, letting her cheek touch her skin.

  Kegan stepped out of the room and yelled down the hall. "She's awake!"

  Farn released her and looked down at her hands as she let them fall to her lap. "You're in Alastair's room on the Nostromo."

  "Why the hell does he have a bedroom on an airship?" Kira focused on the least important detail of the moment.

  "Alastair felt a ship should have a captain's quarters," Corvin answered from the door.

  "I think it's for entertaining." Kegan formed air quotes around the word entertaining.

  Feeling somewhat disturbed to be wrapped in Alastair's sheets, Kira tensed. "Oh god, I hope not." She forced an exaggerated shudder to make Farn laugh.

  The Shield cracked a smile but let it fall just as fast.

  Kira sighed, allowing a worried expression to creep back. "Anyway, what happened?"

  Farn's face went blank, and she looked toward the door.

  Kira's concern grew. "I mean, we won, right? I did the thing. Overpowered the system and what not. Carver got what he wanted; the quest should be done. So why am I still here?" As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew the answer. It wasn't over.

  The sound of someone running down the hall grew as the metal grating of the floor rattled with each step. Alastair swung into the room, one hand gripping the side of the door to stop his momentum. Farn moved from the chair to the foot of the bed, making room for him to sit down.

  "Oh, thank god!" Alastair said, catching his breath.

  Kira looked up at him, for once completely serious. "Spill it. I stopped the dragons. Why am I still logged in?"

  His breathing returned to normal, and he sat down, putting up a calm front. Although, something about the way he avoided making eye contact with her told her that he might be faking it. She grimaced and folded her arms in front of her. She wasn't buying it.

  "True, you did stop them." He focused on the bedsheets. "I don't understand how you did it, but you transported the War Dragons to opposite ends of the world and set them on flight paths that will never meet. As for the players that attacked Sierra, you sent the ones that survived back to their individual spawn points.

  We've pinned the whole thing on Carver by reporting that the event was a misguided attempt at revenge for his firing, which was kind of true in a way. It's not the best PR, but opinion has turned a little in my favor, seeing as Neal just sent a couple hundred players to their deaths. We also kept all your names out of it by saying that we used an emergency protocol to stop the event and cancel it out. Not many people saw you down there in all the chaos, and we removed all recordings of what you did. So you don't have to worry about anyone finding out it was you."

  "Quit stalling." Kira leaned forward, using her arms to support herself. "What's the problem?"

  Alastair placed his hands on his knees and took a breath. "Well, there are two problems." He shifted his gaze to look her in the eyes as he spoke. "When you took control of the system and stopped the dragons, the quest didn't end. Instead, it gave another waypoint. We're circling it a few miles out as we speak. It's some kind of large storm in the middle of the ocean. You beat all the fights that Neal listed for completion in the quest log, so we assume that whatever's in there is the last step. We just don't know what that is."

  Kira glanced at Farn, who still looked worried, before turning back to Alastair. "So, what happened to me? Why'd I pass out?"

  Alastair took another breath as if giving her time to prepare herself. "You had a seizure."

  Kira’s chest tightened at the word.

  "That's what made you fall initially and why you couldn't move. We don't know what the cause was. It could have been triggered by whatever that pendant did to your rig or just because you've been logged in for too long."

  Reminded of the issue of her login time, Kira glanced at the mission clock on her wrist. She gasped. "Twenty-seven! I've been unconscious for almos
t …" she paused to do the math in her head, "ten hours! What the hell? Why didn't you cut the power and get me out?"

  Alastair cringed. "That's the second problem. I did."

  She wasn't even angry at the statement. How could she be? It made no sense. She just cocked her head to the side with a confused expression.

  He continued. "Your brain activity went wild during the seizure. So as soon as you stabilized, I made the call to force the shutdown. There was too much risk to continue, even if it meant failing the quest. So we cut the power and pulled you out. We think that was what caused you to pass out."

  "And whose brilliant idea was it to put me back in?" she asked in disbelief.

  He shook his head. "We didn't put you back. Your rig is still powered down."

  "Then how the hell am I here?" She let the pitch of her voice rise to a shrill note.

  "We don't know." He looked down at his lap. "When we cut the power, your avatar should have lagged out and disappeared. But it didn't. Instead, shutting down your rig seemed to cause some kind of error that disrupted your brain activity and knocked you out for a while, but even with that, your connection status to the system stayed green the whole time."

  Kira glanced to the faces around the room in desperation, but apologetic looks were all she got. "How is that possible?"

  "I wish we knew. The system can't actually do anything to you physically. Doctor Narang rushed in a whole team of colleagues and tons of equipment. They’re still trying to figure things out. All we know right now is that there's a ton of activity going on in parts of your brain that people don't normally use. The techs think that whatever Neal did to your rig accelerated the effects of being logged in for too long, and somehow, your brain is has learned to emulate a connection system on its own as a result of that."

  His words echoed in her head. "So what does that make me? Wi-fi?" She didn’t expect an answer.

  "I'm sorry." Alastair looked back up to her face with pity in his eyes. "I never thought anything like this was even remotely possible, and it looks like everything we knew about the effects of being logged in for too long may have been wrong. Neal must have been withholding information from the beginning. So, at this point, we're in uncharted territory."

  Kira ignored him and pulled a pillow close, hugging it to her chest tight. "I can't. I just can't right now."

  Farn slid up to her and placed a hand on her back. "It'll be okay. We'll figure it out."

  Kira gave up on keeping appearances and sunk into the Shield's side as she wrapped an arm around her.

  Alastair went on about the situation, but his words faded into the background hum of the airship’s engines. It didn't matter what he was saying. In just a couple hours, the system would collapse with her inside it. She let her mind run with the thought, teetering on the edge. Then she buried her face in the pillow and screamed.

  She let the muffled sound go on until she ran out of air, her cry drifting away to silence. She stayed like that for a while, and the others let her be until she lifted her head. She held frighteningly still. Then she hit Alastair in the face with the pillow as hard as she could.

  "What the– Hey!" he blurted out as he struggled to raise his arms in defense before she had time to hit him again. Which she did several more times. "I'm sorry!" he cried.

  "I know! I'm not mad at you!” she shouted back, contradicting her actions. "I'm mad at the situation!"

  "Then why are you hitting me?" He shielded his head against the fluffy assault.

  "Because I can't murder the situation!" She couldn't hit him hard, but still, it made her feel better.

  Suddenly she heard a voice from beside her.

  "Hey, Kira?"

  She stopped for a moment, turning toward Kegan as he swatted her in the head with a second pillow.

  She stumbled to the side glaring at him before hitting him back.

  The Leaf returned the attack, then threw his weapon to Corvin, who seemed to understand his intent. Sometimes, when faced with more than you can handle, you just have to let go and give in to whatever distraction you can find.

  Corvin struck the fairy in the back of the head, sending her into the mattress with a soft ‘wump.’

  Alastair stood, his hair a mess from having been wailed on with his own bedding. "What the hell is wrong with you people?"

  Corvin answered by hopping onto the bed and whipping him in the face twice. Kira took advantage while his back was turned, grabbing his tail and letting out a laugh as she yanked him back. She unleashed a furious pile-driver down upon him. He toppled off the bed at Alastair's feet, throwing his pillow up to the vampiric looking mage in an unlikely alliance that took the fairy by surprise. Alastair got on board quickly after that. It was hit or be hit. He swung, then threw his weapon to Kegan, ducking a projectile as Kira threw it. The pillow sailed over his head, hitting an overly serious elf in the face as he walked in the door.

  Kira snorted as Jeff-with-a-three took the hit, his eye twitching as stared into the room, clearly unamused.

  Finding herself unarmed after throwing her weapon, Kira faced Kegan head on as he pointed past her at some imagined place in the distance like a baseball player stepping up to the plate, predicting where he intended to hit the ball. Kira turned to where he pointed, then back to him, realizing that she was the ball. He swung, and she fell to the center of the bed with an involuntary squeal that made her laugh.

  Farn shook her head, looking down at her laying in the mess of blankets, and for a moment, Kira thought the Shield might say something responsible to put a stop to the ridiculousness.

  Instead, Farn reached down and grabbed the edge of the bed's comforter, which was now untucked. She then pulled it up and over Kira's head, using her weight to hold her down as she flailed. Then she gathered the other side of the blanket to form a crude sack.

  Kira squirmed, like a cat playing under the sheets in an attempt to find a way out.

  Farn held her up so only her back was still on the mattress until she tired out. "You calm now?" the Shield asked.

  Kira let silence answer back as she hung almost upside down with her dress tangled around her. She folded her arms across her chest in defiance even though no one could see her. Farn shook the sack a bit, dislodging an uncooperative, "Maybe." She shook it again, and Kira gave in, letting out a laugh, followed by a cheerful, "Yeah."

  "Good," Farn said without releasing her.

  "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Kira asked from her place in the sack.

  Farn let out a laugh that sounded a bit too excited. "I kind of like having a little prisoner."

  "Well, that's vaguely inappropriate," Kira said before adding, "Thank you for making me feel better. Although, I am going to bite the first person I see when you let me out of here."

  The Shield tightened her grip. "Okay, I'll just make sure to point you at someone else."

  "That's fair." Kira accepted her captivity, settling in as if resting in a hammock. She then asked abruptly, "Where's Max?"

  Alastair stepped in. "He's on his way back in. We thought you'd wake up out there in the real world, so he logged out with Ginger to be there when you did. They've both been by your side this whole time."

  Kira smiled at the sentiment and wiped away a tear that no one could see. Then she took a breath and found her resolve. "Okay then. In less than two hours, Noctem will crash, thousands will lose their jobs, and I will probably die. We should probably get going. Agreed?"

  Farn shook her again. "Hey, don't go making it sound so bleak.”

  "Sorry." Kira pointed from within the sack toward where she thought the door was. "Anyway … onward!"

  Farn snickered, then hoisted her onto her back and carried her toward the deck. Apparently, she wasn't ready to let Kira go.

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Max rushed onto the bridge only to find it empty save for Checkpoint’s employees. He glanced to Ginger, who shrugged. Then he looked to Jeff-with-a-three, who was standing in a corner, his expressio
n as serious as ever.

  The tall elf barely acknowledged him but held up one hand pointing in the direction of the deck.

  Max gave a nod in thanks and made his way outside.

  The others were grouped by the railing, Kira standing at their center, staring off into the distance with a blanket wrapped around her. The sight of her sent a pang of guilt through his chest. He couldn’t believe he’d been waiting in the wrong world when she woke up. She must have been scared, especially after hearing everything that was happening to her. He ran toward her at full speed, not caring how it looked.

  His heavy footsteps announced his presence, and she turned to face him without hesitation. Behind her small form, a storm filled the horizon. Hell, calling it a storm was an understatement. It was closer to a hurricane. Dark clouds blanketed the night sky while lightning flashed and rumbled in the distance.

  Max started to speak, but Kira held up a hand, cutting him off. "I know. There's a lot to talk about, but we gotta save it for later. The clock's tickin’." She didn't need to say more.

  Hours of tension drained from his body. "Sorry I'm late."

  "You should be," she chirped with a warm smile. With that, all was right again.

  Max stepped to her side and looked out toward the storm. "Damn! They said it was big. But man!" He turned to head back to the bridge. "Well, we can't hang out here all day." He waved his hand for the others to follow, taking charge of the team once again.

  Kira fell in beside him with the end of her blanket dragging behind her.

  "Okay, listen up, people!" Max called out in a commanding voice as he stepped through the doorway, gaining the attention of everyone on the bridge. He started to say more but was cut off by Alastair.

  "Excuse me. It's still my ship."

  "Oh sorry." Max stepped aside and motioned with one hand to the captain.