by Dante Doom
“Stupid Virals,” Timon grumbled as he backed away from the monster.
Elanor raised her hands and began to fire electrical pulses at the Sercius, rapidly draining its health.
Savannah fired off a few shots, as well, and within a matter of minutes, the beast was dead.
“What an utter waste of time,” Elanor grumbled. “An utter waste!”
“Was it?” Savannah asked. “I think I realized something. That Viral turned against us for some reason, right? Well, what if there was a way to force Leopold’s Virals to turn against him?”
“Interesting. That would certainly catch him by surprise,” Elanor said, looking intrigued.
“Think about it—he’s been spending all his time creating the most powerful Virals to fight for him, so if they were to attack him, they would be far more powerful than whatever Ten-Thirty could create,” Timon agreed. “It would give us a serious advantage.”
“How would we even go about that, though?” Elanor asked.
“We’d need access to the Scripts room,” Savannah replied. “Elanor, let’s leave the stats alone. I have an idea, but… it’s going to cost you a lot of points.”
Elanor looked at Savannah with a sharpness that seemed to pierce through her soul. “I see. I have already spent a significant amount opening the Stats door, however. It would be imprudent for us to waste even more of my points on a false lead.”
“You’ve got to trust me,” Savannah said. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but come on, it’s going to be peanuts compared to what you’re going to get when you kill Leopold.”
Elanor’s lips curved upwards at the mention of killing the King. “Well, I suppose you’re right. Very well… lead the way.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“I don’t get it,” Fingers said as they stood in the Scripting Room, which was lined with hundreds of computer consoles and monitors. Ten-Thirty was frantically moving from machine to machine, typing in a few lines at one before moving on to another computer and doing the same. “If you have those fancy glasses that let you control a Viral, why do we need to be in here?”
“Because,” Savannah explained as she leaned against one of the consoles, “these glasses only allow us to control Virals temporarily, and I can only control one at a time.” She held up the blue-tinted glasses for the rest of the team to behold. “But, like everything else in this game, this item has a code that lets it function. All Ten-Thirty has to do is locate the appropriate code and then replicate it.”
“It’s a good idea,” Timon whispered to Savannah. “However, I’m worried about relying solely on Ten-Thirty for everything. In case you haven’t noticed, the Machina’s been a bit erratic lately.”
The four turned to look at Ten, who was muttering to itself about user errors.
“I don’t know if we can particularly trust Ten right now…” Timon continued as he leaned closer to the group. “It knows our goal, and if we achieve it, we’ll kill it with the rest of the game.”
“Ten’s had our back so far,” Savannah defended the Machina. “We can trust it.”
“I think I side with Timon,” Elanor said. “How many of us here would willingly kill ourselves to help strangers?”
“We don’t have a choice,” Savannah hissed. “We can trust it. Besides, I’m sure we can figure out some way to save its consciousness.”
“My faculties are such that I am aware of your conversation,” Ten-Thirty growled. “I find this situation frustrating. You make demands of me, you ask that I assist you, and yet you speak of me with such low regard.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean to offend,” Timon said awkwardly, a blush coming to his face. “We’re under a lot of pressure. We have to—”
“Save your wretched world, yes, I am aware,” Ten-Thirty replied. “Yet, you think nothing of my world.”
“Your world is devoid of beings with thought,” Elanor said as she slowly walked up to the Machina. “You are the only one of your kind.”
“That is true,” Ten-Thirty said. “Which is why I am choosing to assist you. But, I find it appalling that you would treat me as such.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I also thought we could trust you,” Fingers replied.
One of the consoles made a loud beeping noise just then, and everyone faced the machine to see a picture of Kireen’s glasses come up on the screen.
“I believe I have located the necessary code to control Virals,” Ten-Thirty said as it strolled up to the console. After a few seconds of typing on the keyboard, it looked at Savannah. “I have sufficiently learned the scripts. I can execute the commands when necessary.”
“Can you find some way to transfer that code to other items?” Savannah asked. “So that we can all control a Viral?”
“I could, yes,” Ten-Thirty said. “But I will not.”
“Why not?” Elanor demanded.
“You have angered me,” the Machina replied, stepping back from the console.
“This is your fault,” Fingers hissed at Timon. “You could have waited until the robot was out of earshot to talk bad about it.”
“Listen, Ten, we don’t have time to bicker,” Savannah said. She walked up to the Machina and placed her hand on its shoulder. “I know you’re frustrated, but the people of Verre don’t deserve to be punished because a few of us were rude to you.”
Ten scowled at her. “I am facing the end of my short existence, and it is a prospect that I don’t relish. It is most cruel for them to speak of me this way. Perhaps I should be as wanton and cruel as they are.”
Savannah took a moment to glare backward at Timon and Elanor, who’d backed off to the side as if to give her more room to calm Ten. “Listen, I know these guys offended you, but if you’re going to help us, then you need to be committed all the way, no matter what they say. If not, then what’s the point of bothering to begin with?” Savannah asked.
Ten-Thirty cocked its head and pondered the question. “I suppose you are correct. If I am to commit myself to oblivion, I might as well not hold back.” Without another word, it stepped forward and began to type on one of the consoles. “Item creation is in another room. I have everything necessary to craft the items that you have requested, but we will need access to the other room.”
“How many points will that cost?” Elanor grumbled. “I’m already down four hundred thousand. I’m not happy about giving away even more.”
“Suck it up, Elanor,” Timon said as he motioned towards the door. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen any action. Leopold is up to something, and we don’t have the time to sit around and find out.”
“Fine, I’ll open the Item Creation door, but that’s the last one… wait, Ten-Thirty, can you create more Arc Rifles?”
“Potentially,” Ten-Thirty said. “Although it would take me some time.”
“Time we don’t have,” Timon added. “It’s been two hours, and not a peep from any of Leopold’s men. No weird half-Virals showing up, no attacks. Something’s up.”
“Maybe he forgot about us,” Fingers suggested.
“The insane King bent on killing us and becoming a god inside of the Grind didn’t forget about us,” Savannah replied. “Come on, we don’t have time. Let’s get to the next room, have Ten create more items, and then figure out what the plan is from there.”
“Agreed,” Ten-Thirty said as it pushed past Elanor and Fingers. “Let’s move.”
They made their way into the hall and began to search for the Item Creation room. As they searched, Timon motioned to Savannah to come closer to him and she walked up alongside him, waiting for him to speak.
“Listen,” he hissed, “I think I know what Leopold is planning. Did you notice how all of these doors are closed? If he had access to them earlier, why would they be closed?”
“I don’t know,” Savannah replied with a frown, her eyes still perusing the labels they passed.
“Because they’re probably only open for a set amount of time,” Timon replied
. “Maybe a day or maybe a week, or whatever. But either way, Leopold’s been trying to get as many points as he can so he can access some extremely important door, right?”
“Yeah, that’s true,” Savannah said as she began to see his logic. “So, he wouldn’t waste more points opening doors that he’s already used before.”
“I think he knows what we’re doing. I think he’s been counting on us opening doors for him, and that’s why he hasn’t really attacked,” Timon said. “He sent a few worthless guards to bother us so it would look like he was trying to disrupt us, sure, but that’s it.”
“The guards were the ones who told us the equipment was destroyable,” Savannah replied. “Why would they do that?”
“Everything in this game regenerates after time—monsters, locations, loot,” Timon said. “I watched a broken window at the Med Center repair itself in a matter of seconds. He tricks us into thinking that we can destroy the equipment permanently, and then we’re not thinking at all about him sneaking in behind us and accessing those rooms… without paying any points.”
“That’s… quite clever,” Savannah whispered. “I’m guessing he’d be in the Stats room of all places, right?”
“Right,” Timon said. He looked at the rest of the group, who had gathered around one of the doors labelled Item Creation.
“We need to go disrupt him!” Savannah said. “I mean, if he’s there.”
“That would be a bad idea, Savannah; we don’t have all the things we need,” Timon replied.
Savannah shook her head and turned around, pulling her Arc Rifle out of her inventory. “There’s no time—we gotta move, and we gotta move right now,” Savannah said as she began to run in the opposite direction of the rest of the team.
“You’re going to get yourself killed!” Timon yelled, running after her.
“If he gets his stats increased any higher, he’s going to be unstoppable.”
The two rushed through the hallway until they found the Stats room once again. As Timon had suspected, King Leopold was sitting on the edge of the table with all manner of cables plugged into his arms. Liquids of red, green, and yellow were flowing through the cables into his body.
“I see you two figured out my plan,” Leopold said with a grin. “Pity that you didn’t figure it out fast enough. You know, I was hoping you’d choose better rooms. Spawning? Scripting? Terrible decisions! It took me a long time to get to a point where my Virals were all powerful. You won’t figure it out in a few measly hours. The Abilities room would have been a far better choice for you. A shame. Still, at least you opened this one for me.”
Savannah aimed her Arc Rifle at the King. “Die!” she shouted as she pulled the trigger. A brilliant streak of yellow soared through the air and promptly crashed against Leopold’s body. The words 300 damage hovered above him, dropping his health down from 150,000 to 149,700.
“Goodness, I almost felt that,” Leopold said as he chuckled. “These points don’t last, you know. When I first found this place, I opened up the Stats room and gave myself a million hit points. Lasted for a week.” He shook his head at the thought, seeming to talk to himself as he continued, “I can’t quite figure out how to make it permanent.”
Savannah noticed that Leopold’s maximum health was beginning to increase again—already. “Timon, do something!” she shouted as she fired at the red tube. The energy from the Arc Rifle crashed into the tube, destroying it. Timon followed her lead and began to shoot at the rest of the glass tubes on the wall, shattering all of them.
“Well, that’s inconsiderate. My stats weren’t perfect yet,” Leopold grumbled as he hopped off the table and pulled the cables from his arms before smirking at them. “Are neither of you even remotely concerned at how casually I mentioned my ability to create Virals? Are you really so foolish? Look at me. My stats are higher than anyone else in the game! They won’t last very long, but it’ll be long enough for me to kill all of you with the flick of a wrist. You can’t win, so don’t even try. I suggest you give up now.”
“We will kill you,” Savannah growled.
“Savannah, let’s go,” Timon said as he gripped her shoulder forcefully. “We can’t face him right now. Not yet.”
Savannah looked to Timon and then back to Leopold before agreeing. “Fine, you’re right. Let’s go.”
Leopold cackled behind them. “Did you think I was going to let you two leave?”
As Savannah turned to exit, a silvery being emerged from the ground in front of her. It had six arms and looked insectoid, with four wings similar to a mosquito. She tried to move away from it, but she was too slow. It grabbed her and pulled her to its body. You are Restrained hovered above her head.
“Ah, crap!” Savannah shouted as she struggled in vain to escape.
Timon had likewise been grabbed and restrained by another Viral. The two of them had found themselves pinned, unable to move.
“Now, then,” Leopold said with a chuckle. “Let’s discuss terms, why don’t we? I see no reason to kill either of you. Timon, I’m still willing to make a deal with you here. Killing you in the Grind would not be beneficial for either of us. And, of course, Miss Savannah, you are his Grinder, so you must also stay alive.”
Timon struggled against the Viral which held him as he glared back at the King. “Let’s get one thing straight, Leopold. While I might have been a Noob when I entered the Grind, I am not one in the High Court. You know very well that the only reason why you haven’t been murdered in your sleep is because my father’s loyalty to you keeps the other Nobles in line. Mess that up, and you’ll be lucky to leave your pod alive. You need House laRange far more than we need you,” Timon growled.
“Oh save me the posturing, Timon,” Leopold began. “Tell me where Elanor is and what her plan is. Then, when I kill her, I will graciously reward you both with the points you need to reach nobility. We all win.”
“Go to hell!” Savannah shouted. She knew they both could be free at any moment, thanks to Timon’s special ability, but realized he was waiting for the most opportune time—when they had a better chance of getting out of the room alive. It would be a bad idea to try to escape only to be grabbed again.
“Woeful child. Will you never learn?” Leopold scoffed at her. “It would be so easy to have my Viral snap Timon’s neck and kick you out. Don’t think that you have any chance of beating me. You have a choice, however; you can aid me in figuring out what Elanor is planning, or you can die.”
“I will tell my father immediately,” Timon said.
Leopold grimaced and took in a sharp breath. “Well, there’s the problem, champ. My Virals don’t kick you out of the game when they kill. Something in the code causes them to overload your pod. You die, Timon. And if my reports are correct, you’re using a Grinder’s illegally rigged pod. So… those things are notoriously unsafe.” His smile turned malicious as he watched both Timon and Savannah realize the true danger they were in.
“You wouldn’t dare!” Savannah shouted at him, her eyes darting to Timon in fear.
Leopold’s face grew serious before he replied. “Don’t worry, my young Grinder, you’ll be fine; when he dies, it’ll only kick you out.” He paused for a moment then, turning to look at her in surprise. A smirk slowly came across his face. “Wait a second! You were shouting with fear in your voice. Could it be that you have a fondness for this Noble?”
“I… er….” Savannah stumbled, gritting her teeth. She had taken quite a liking to him, but if she revealed how she felt about Timon to the King, Leopold would probably kill him just to reduce the competition.
“That look on her face shows it all, doesn’t it?” Leopold asked Timon, who’d by now turned to look at Savannah. “Ha. I knew there was a reason you were resisting my charms.”
“I’m flattered,” Timon said quietly.
“Well, I certainly don’t want to be unsporting about all of this,” Leopold said. “If you’re not interested in me, far be it for me to earn your affection by mu
rdering your beau. So, let me clearly establish that what I am about to do has nothing to do with your relationship.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Savannah protested. “Don’t kill him! I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything, but don’t kill him!”
“Savannah, he’s bluffing,” Timon told her simply. “But if you were to tell my father what transpired, he would rally up an army to pry Leopold out of his pod, and he’d personally kill him,” Timon replied.
“Oh, as if your father would believe some peasant. How would she even get past the second wall?” Leopold asked. “Don’t be so naive. Now then, tell me what you know.” Pulling one of the rolling barstools out, the King spun around in a circle before coming to rest, facing Savannah.
Savannah glanced at Timon helplessly. She didn’t have much of a choice. Dying in the heat of battle was one thing, but watching Timon die before her eyes when she had the power to stop it would be too much. “Sorry, Timon,” she offered, and then she met the King’s gaze. “Elanor is planning to ambush you with a powerful crystal artifact she found.”
“Are you really going to try lying to me?” Leopold demanded, raising his voice. “I want you to realize that I’ve been the leader of the High Court for a long, long time. You won’t be able to pull anything over on me. Now, start again, and tell me the truth this time. Or. He. Dies.”
“I have your word you won’t hurt him if I do?” Savannah asked.
Holding up two fingers with his left hand and placing his right over his heart, the King nodded with a wicked grin on his face. “I swear,” he said.
Savannah sighed deeply. “We’re trying to create more Arc Rifles.”
“Ah, I knew it!”
“The original plan was to figure out how to stop you from spawning more Virals, but once we realized that you had access to the scripting software somehow, we knew we’d need more firepower.”
“How could you possibly learn how to replicate items? It took my team months to figure it out, and I had to spend a fortune in points!” Leopold insisted as he rolled the stool closer to her. Savannah felt her heart begin to race. She was in the process of telling a half-truth, but if he pressed her too hard, she might give everything away.