by Natalie Grey
"Sure." Jamie tested the pasta, smiled, and used a measuring cup to scoop out some of the pasta water.
"What on earth are you doing?”
"You'll see." Jamie waved for him to continue and grabbed the potholders so he could drain the pasta. "Go on.”
"I wasn't paying a ton of attention in the battleground," Kevin said, "so he might have been there or something? But this guy was definitely following me in the armory. Like, I turned around, and he was just staring at me. I figured he was AFK or something, but every time I moved, there he was.”
Jamie set down the colander of pasta. He was beginning to get a very bad feeling about this. "Yaro," he said.
"Yes," Kevin said. His frown deepened. "How did you— Okay, well, who is this guy? Because he told me that Callista was a hack and said she'd drag everyone down with her and I should cut and run. Basically. But, like, super creepy?” He shuddered elaborately, which only served to show off the muscles over his whole torso.
Jamie was beginning to think that he might need to go to a gym one of these days. He'd always thought he was in pretty good shape, but Kevin looked like the sort of person who'd taken the time to figure out all of the really weird machines, and who probably talked about them casually like it was no big deal. After their PvP battles the night before, when Jamie had logged out, sweating and panting, Kevin had looked like he'd been out for an evening stroll.
It was just bad for the ego.
Jamie put the wine and red pepper into the frying pan, stirred it with the bacon, and added the pasta. He mixed it with the bacon, added some of the pasta water, added the egg yolks, and began to add the parmesan in increments. Kevin had put away his VR suit and was now watching carefully, taking note of each step. When Jamie nodded to the plates, Kevin held them out for a heaping portion of carbonara.
They brought their plates to the table in relative quiet, Kevin pouring wine, Jamie adding another spoonful of parmesan on top of each plate and putting out bread. He'd forgotten to get ingredients for a salad, he remembered now. Oops.
"So this is carbonara," Kevin said. He took an exploratory bite; his manners, as usual, were impeccable. His eyebrows shot up, however. "Damn. Damn.”
"Really good, right?" Jamie smiled. "The trick with Italian food is a light touch. It gets very heavy if you're not careful. Also, there's a lot more to Italian food than we generally think of. Anyway, what are we drinking?”
"Pinot Grigio," Kevin said. He took a sip and nodded. "It works well. I went Italian since this is Italian food, but the French equivalent would be a Pinot Gris, and the Spanish equivalent would be a Rueda. Pinot Grigio is one of the common ones, though. Easy to find. You want something crisp.”
"Yeah, I don't know what that means," Jamie said bluntly.
"Here's the deal." Kevin was grinning. "You go into the wine store. You ask them for the type of wine that pairs with the dish you're making. They tell you the type, and sometimes they tell you their favorite. Try that one if they do. If they don't, you go to that section and you look for one that has a little review tag written by a wine magazine. You try that one, and if you like it, you have your Pinot Grigio or whatever. If you don't, the next time you try a different one.”
"I like that," Jamie agreed slowly. "I can follow those instructions.
Kevin lifted his glass with a smile. "Wine is not as complicated as people think. The dirty little secret is to drink whatever the hell you want.”
"I'm not sure you know what dirty little secrets are, but okay." Jamie grinned back. "I think this turned out well.”
"Ridiculously well," Kevin agreed. "All right. Not to ruin the food with shop talk, but I'm still unnerved. Who the hell is Yaro?”
"Oh." Jamie blew out a breath. "He was following Gracie the other day. I don't actually know who he is. He was being just an incredible jerk to her. You know, getting on her case about being a nobody, being the sort of person who escapes into an online world because everyone in her real life knows she's a piece of shit…"
"People who live in glass houses," Kevin murmured.
"Right?" Jamie laughed, but he rubbed his forehead. "I thought he was just a troll, but if he's following you, too, it sounds like he has a grudge.”
"Delightful." Kevin tugged his lip, then dipped a piece of bread in olive oil and chewed, considering. "Do you think it might be someone from your old guild? Or another guild?”
"That could easily be it," Jamie admitted. "It could be…"
Kevin raised an eyebrow as he took a bite of spaghetti. He gestured for Jamie to finish the thought.
Jamie shrugged helplessly. "It could be Thad," he said quietly. "I honestly don't know. I really don't. It might be him, or it might not.”
"I don't know much about him," Kevin said. "I know he had a temper, and he must not have been a very good friend, or you wouldn't be here.”
Jamie felt a pang of guilt. "He was a good friend."
"Was he?" Kevin looked doubtful.
"He taught me the game," Jamie said.
"Yeah, anyone can do that. Gracie and Jay helped me and Alan at the start. We helped them. Alan taught her some of the terminology. That's just called not being an ass."
"Good point." Jamie shrugged. "You know how some people need to be in charge? Thad's one of those. I told Gracie that. He needs to make every decision. He always chose what we ran, who was on the run, and how everyone trained. If you didn't like it, you could leave. But it's not unusual for that to happen on a competitive team," he added out of a sense of fairness. "There are a lot of strong personalities.”
"Weak personalities," Kevin corrected. "That's weak, not strong. Was he the one who suggested sending you to sabotage us?”
Jamie laughed bitterly and ended up taking a much bigger swallow of wine than he had meant to. He got it down and took a bite of bread. "No. No, he wanted to be the one doing the infiltrating. Gracie would have spotted him in a hot minute. He's not very good at...being subtle.”
Kevin snorted, then smiled. "Ahhhh. Someone else chose you.”
"Yep." Jamie shrugged. "The execs at Brightstar have always liked me.”
"You don't say," Kevin murmured.
Jamie frowned at him.
Kevin gave a slightly secretive smile as he took a sip of wine. "Well, for one thing, let's just say that between you and a control-freak with an oversized ego, I know who I'd want to spend time with.”
Jamie flushed slightly. "Er. Thanks." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, yeah, they had me do the infiltrating, Thad didn't like that much, and then, well...I had a lot more fun playing with you guys than I had ever had before. It's a super cool game, don't get me wrong, but playing it was always stressful because we were trying to beat bosses and every move was measured. We'd get called out after for a time we'd gone left instead of right, or…"
Kevin looked deeply unimpressed.
"It worked," Jamie said. "We were the top guild for a while.”
"And then you stopped being the top guild," Kevin said. "Because Thad was so damned unpleasant to be around that your literal enemies were more fun to hang out with.”
Jamie was surprised into a laugh. He hesitated, then admitted the truth. "I didn't want to like you guys.”
Kevin looked amused as he took another bite.
"Alan was a big part of it," Jamie said. He'd been curious about Alan since he got here. He knew that Alan and Kevin lived in the same city, and someone had said they were brothers, but Jamie would never have guessed that. "Could I...meet him?”
"Oh! I meant to tell you. He was going to come over this weekend." Kevin waved a hand. "Sorry, totally blanked. He's been slammed at work, what with the semester ending and everything, but he says he does want to meet you.”
"He's nice.”
"He's very nice." There was no irony in Kevin's voice. "Best big brother I could ask for, although we weren't close when we were little." He saw Jamie's questioning look. "I was the favorite. It was awkward. Our parents did a pretty good job of driv
ing a wedge between us, even though I don't think they were specifically going for that." He swirled the wine in his glass and gave a theatrical shrug. "We got a lot closer once we were both disappointments.”
Jamie laughed. He was clearly meant to.
“But tell me about Thad." Kevin leaned forward. "Because Gracie is clearly worried something is coming, and I don't think she's focusing enough on him. This Yaro guy just unsettles me.”
"It doesn't seem like the sort of thing Thad would do," Jamie said after considering it. "Like I said, he's not subtle. If he confronted her, it would be a screaming match. He wouldn't be able to keep his cool and be creepy or anything. Although..." He took another bite as he thought. He was hoping Kevin would interject, but the other man said nothing, so Jamie sighed. "I honestly don't know what Thad might do right now. I've never seen him in a situation like this.”
"Like what?" Kevin raised an eyebrow.
"He...constitutionally doesn't seem to think he can lose," Jamie said. "Like, he just... Some people can't even process that possibility, right? He's one of them. He's always worried what people think of him, and he has to be the smartest one in the room, the one in control, but he also just assumes it's all going to work out.”
Kevin said nothing, just leaned back in his chair, still swirling the wine in his glass.
"So what happens when he realizes he's lost?" Jamie asked. "What would he do if he thought someone had won the game so completely that he could never climb back up the rankings?”
"Lose his cool," Kevin said as if it were self-explanatory. "Have a screaming match, lose a few more guildmates—“
"I don't think that's what we should worry about," Jamie said bluntly. "I really don’t."
Kevin frowned at him. He had long since finished his pasta, and now he pushed his plate aside and leaned on his forearms. "Talk to me. If you were a Sim, you'd have a little thundercloud over your head or something.”
That made Jamie laugh. "Okay, here's the thing. Thad's really conscious of his reputation. If he hasn't got that, he hasn't got anything, right?”
"Right." Kevin nodded.
"So if he's lost his reputation, he has nothing else to lose," Jamie stated bluntly.
Kevin's face grew solemn. He was beginning to understand, Jamie thought.
"So you're worried that...what exactly are you worried about? What do you think he'd do?" He sounded urgent now.
"I don't know." Jamie clenched his fingers instinctively, then hastily put down his wineglass before he cracked the stem. "That's the thing. I don't think he has it in him to do something like Yaro is doing—play a long game and creep people out, chip away at them, all of that. Thad's style is more...explosive. More kamikaze.”
"So you think he's going to dive-bomb Red Squadron somehow," Kevin said.
"Yeah." Jamie swallowed. "I think if he finds a way to get back at Gracie, he's going to do it—no matter what the cost to him."
Chapter Sixteen
Jay stared at the database and wanted to beat his head against the desk.
When they had started this a few weeks back, he'd been filled with inspiration. He had been doing something he wasn't supposed to do: fighting against a common enemy and trying to help Gracie finish the quest he earnestly believed she was meant to finish. He'd been searching through the database, following the clues in each encounter…
And now he couldn't even think of where to start.
If he were Harry, how would he hamstring the game? Where would he put the bomb? Jay had no earthly idea.
The urge to beat his head on the desk got stronger.
He rolled his chair over to the whiteboard at the side of the room, took a marker down, and stared at the shiny surface.
Nope, that wasn't working either.
He looked around his office. This place was soulless—that was part of it. He had been in a cubicle before, but now he had an office with white walls and a plain desk and absolutely nothing to make it look like it was his. No desk toys. No pictures. Not even a pen.
That gave him an idea, though. Jay considered, then brought up the global rankings screen. It took a few clicks for him to get to where he needed to go, and he was smiling as he made some adjustments on his screen. He wasn't a graphics genius by any stretch of the imagination, but he could do basic things.
He hit Print and headed to the printer on the other side of the floor. A few people called hellos, and he waved. It was good to be back. He hadn't let himself think about how much he’d missed this place, but he really had. He'd missed his teammates, and he had genuinely enjoyed the work he did here.
The printer was almost finished by the time he got there. Jay waited, then went back to his desk and looked around for some tape and scissors. It was fairly quick work to put the picture up.
He didn't have any pictures of Gracie, after all...so a picture of Callista would have to do. He grinned at the blue-skinned face. The tank was staring imperiously out into space in her screen grab from the global rankings. You could fully believe that she was some long-lost queen, ascendant in this new world.
At some point, he'd have to get a proper picture, though.
He went back to work with a renewed sense of purpose. He took the marker, went back to the whiteboard, and began writing down what he knew about Harry.
1) Metamorphosis Online was Harry's idea.
Harry had come up with the world back at the start. Jay didn't know quite how that would inform things, but that was the deal about making lists like this. You didn't know what was important until later.
2) Harry believed that people should not be allowed to do whatever they wanted in-game because it would make them bad people outside the game.
Which led quickly to more points. Jay's handwriting was turning into a scrawl.
3) Dhruv believed the opposite. They fought about it, BUT—
4) Harry didn't make the quest until Dan and Dhruv booted him out?
5) Which means maybe there were failsafes built into the rest of the game already.
6) Or he had some other method of controlling things
7) Would he plan far enough ahead to account for the idea that maybe the whole game world would go "out of control" and he had to go for a nuclear option?
Jay capped the marker and sat back in his chair, crossing his arms and staring at the board, then got up to write another point down.
8) Harry wrote the Yesuan quest
That was probably important. The problem, of course, was that it meant Harry was batshit loonball insane, although it wasn't as if that was a completely new revelation. Jay scratched his head. He wished Gracie were here.
Then again, he was glad that she wasn't. She was working on the PvP, and he would be glad to come back to her with at least some idea of a solution rather than just a problem. She would have good ideas; he was sure of that. She’d always had a fairly good sense of Harry's general style—but it would be better to bring her in once Jay had gone over some preliminary thoughts.
She'd let him know if he was missing anything, he was sure of that.
He smiled slightly and shook his head, and was still staring at the board, resigned, when Dhruv came into the room. Jay jumped and stood up hastily.
"No, no, no need to stand." Dhruv waved him back into his chair and sat in the other one, looking at the board. He crossed his arms as he read. "What's the end goal of this list?”
"Trying to figure out what sort of failsafe Harry would build in, or if he thought to build one in at the start," Jay said. "I still don't even get how he made Gracie's quest, honestly.”
Dhruv gave a ready grin. "He'd be so fucking mad to hear you call it her quest.”
Jay laughed. He was still a bit unnerved to be sitting in a room with Dhruv of all people, but the Dragon Soul founder seemed to not be in a confrontational mood. Jay pointed at the board. "I think the thing is this… Harry wrote the Yesuan quest, right? So he knew that people didn't necessarily like the sort of dictator he wanted to be. He got
that.”
Dhruv gave a noise that somehow managed to convey both Harry's melodrama and Dhruv's dislike of it. He gestured for Jay to continue.
"But did he think it would go wrong enough that he'd need to nuke it from orbit?" Jay asked. "If so, was it meant to reboot the game, or totally kill it? Or was it something more subtle, forcing players into some sort of…re-education?"
Dhruv gave him a sort of queasy look. "That does sound like something he'd do, doesn't it? Dammit. That’s disturbing."
"Or," Jay said, "did he have time to build the quest but not anything else—because he had just assumed that he would be able to be in the game with all of the moderation tools? In which case, we're in an Apollo 13 situation, and he's sitting over there trying to figure out how to destroy the game with only the tools he has at his disposal.”
Dhruv gave a laugh that turned into a cough. "Honestly, I'd assume he built the game with the sort of controls he thought he would need. When he realized he wasn't going to have those, he built the quest. Which means, if we want to know how he thinks, we'll want to know what powers Callista has now.”
Jay paused. For a moment, he had forgotten who he was talking to, and then he had remembered that Dhruv was not exactly his ally. When he looked over, Dhruv was looking at him shrewdly.
"Dan made you the offer," he said. "And I intend to stand by it.”
Jay narrowed his eyes. “But?"
"What do you mean?" Dhruv asked easily.
"You don't mean to stand by it," Jay said slowly. "You have doubts.”
Dhruv thought about this for a moment. "You worked here for, what, three years? You made a good salary, you had a considerable number of friends, and by all accounts, you enjoyed the work you did. Yes? And then you threw all of it away for someone you'd known for a few weeks.”
Jay, not sure where this was going, kept his mouth shut.
"Why?" Dhruv asked. "What was it about her?”