His gaze turned solemn. "I'm sorry, Val. We're going to have to heal you here, and you're going to have to stay awake the whole time, so we don't have to worry about any of those injuries turning permanent. Capiche?"
Val tried to nod, knowing it came out more as an exhausted whimper.
Dirk nodded to Chris then turned to Val. "You ready?"
Val coughed a whisper, grimacing at the pain.
Chris frowned. "What did he say?"
"She's going to be okay, Val." Dirk's gaze pinned his own. "Because you had the courage to step up to the plate, see what was wrong, and somehow intervene when by all rights she should have..." He shook his head. "I won't even say it. Just... thank you, Val. From the bottom of my heart."
And after enduring the most agonizing evac of his life, Val found himself at last upon a plush bed in the heart of their grand villa.
"Good man," Dirk soothed, smiling down at him when the hideous final step was at last complete. Removing his armor and binding his broken bones had been yet another exercise in torture, Val at least finding minuscule relief in his set limbs after the horror of straightening them out.
Dizzy and reeling from pain, the grandly decorated room with thick pale blue carpets, fine hardwood furniture, and frescoes of woodland nymphs and dryads by the ocean was a jarring contrast from the crucible of agony Val found himself in, desperately wishing in those moments that he could lose himself within those beautiful paintings. To be free of all pain, frolicking with faeries of forest and field and welcoming sea.
Dirk shook his head in amazement. "I can't believe you haven't passed out. And seriously, thank god for that. Just give it a couple more minutes, son, and we can risk giving you another healing potion."
Chris nodded, hurrying off for healing supplies, a couple of staff members looking on in wide-eyed silence, having brought whatever boiled linens or other equipment Dirk had requested.
"How's Julia?" Val whispered a short while later, already feeling better as the exquisite relief of a second major healing potion flooded into him.
You have recovered 60 hit points! Major fractures have been reduced to hairline fractures! Healing time 1/4th of what it otherwise would have been!
Dirk sighed, gazing thoughtfully out a nearby window, the fiery sunset painting the heavens in crimson and gold. "She's luckier than she has any right to be, suffering only bruises and a mild concussion, and don't worry, I gave her a potion just as strong as yours. Frankly, the compressive force of the shock wave should have instantly pulverized you both. I know she's suffered head trauma before, and I won't let any negative cascades turn my secret weapon into a walking vegetable. It might be overkill, but it's worth it, if it keeps her precious head safe." He sighed and shook his head. "She was shaken to her core, and rightfully so. You guys danced so close to the razor's edge you would have seen death smiling back at you, if you had looked in the right direction."
Val laughed softly at that, grateful beyond words that the gesture only hurt awfully as his limbs twitched, no worse.
Dirk's smirk turned serious. "By all rights, Julia should be dead. I owe you one, kid, and I sure as hell won't forget."
Val swallowed, looking away, always a bit uncomfortable with other people giving him praise.
"You mind telling me how you did it, Val?"
Val shrugged. "It's... odd. At that moment, I just felt like something was off. I felt this sudden foreboding, like a skiing village under a looming mountain, moments before an avalanche hit. Then, well, I somehow knew Julia was in danger, and the rest was just instinct."
Dirk cracked his neck. "Rushing into the kill zone of a 45th level spell with nothing save a low ranked mageward you've only trained up today and somehow surviving it. That was all just instinct?"
Val tried to shrug, then thought better of it. "I... somehow I boosted the ward."
Dirk's eyes widened. "You boosted your Arcane Ward? I've never heard of such a thing."
Val swallowed. "And, well, I have a lot of mana, so... I sort of tied the ward into my mana, doing my best to make sure it burned through that before the shock wave could kill me and Julia."
Dirk dipped his head. "It was a good call. Without a doubt."
Val swallowed. "And, somehow, I was able to push them away."
Dirk frowned. "Push away what?"
"The cords of power. The direction the spellweb was collapsing in. Damn, even thinking about it now gives me chills, like I faced down a ball from hell, but if that hell-ball had struck beside us with the front half facing us instead of pointing away, well, there would be nothing left of us. We might have suffered concussions and broken bones from being tossed around like rag dolls, but if the shrapnel side had hit, superheated fragments of carbonized tungsten would have torn into us like a cluster of anti-tank mines. It would have ripped through any force field. Hell, it would rip through the thick marble pillars adorning this mansion." Val frowned. "That wasn't steel, Dirk. That metallic shrapnel was designed to tear right through steel. Whoever designed that spell made a tank killer spell." Val swallowed, thinking it through. "A mech killer spell. I'm guessing it was designed centuries ago by some mad genius, when Jordia first went into revolt."
Dirk's gazed hardened. He nodded. "You're right. And when you put it like that, the very fact you're alive now to tell me this..."
Val nodded. "I know. It's a directional spell, tungsten shrapnel hitting everything in a 120-degree arc. And it had been oriented right at Julia. I was somehow able to use the same knack I use to keep my magic radiation from spilling over to manipulate the arcane cords of that out-of-control spell and keep Julia and I from becoming instant shredded meat or superheated ash."
Dirk shook his head. "Your quick thinking protected you from the shrapnel, but not the shock wave, and I know you got hit by at least some of that superheated plasma, so damned close you two were to oblivion. Yet somehow your shield held up longer than it had any right to. Just how much mana do you have, Val?"
Val sighed. "Enough to cast a few dozen Ice Spears, or keep us from dying from one miscast high level spell."
Dirk chuckled softly, patting Val's hand. "Let me go check on Julia. I'll have Yin keep you company. Remember, try to stay awake, no matter what, so we can get another healing potion or two into you over the next hour or so. With any luck, you'll be able to pull out of this game with no more than extremely sore muscles, a headache, and a need for a couple days of bed rest. And Val?"
"Yes?"
Dirk's chiseled features broke into an almost fatherly grin. "You did good, kid, real good. I'm glad to have you on my team."
Val couldn't help smiling back. "Thanks, Captain. I'll try not to let you down too often."
Dirk stopped cold, locking gazes with Val once more. "That's more than just guesswork, Val."
Val quirked a smile. "Is this where you kill me to protect our government's secret project?"
"What? Hell no. Why would you even think..." His hard feature's softened into a wry smile. "How did you know?"
Val tilted his head. "Your manner, your sense of leadership. The fact that you're more than comfortable working with rank and file but can immediately flex to competent command. The look in your eye. You're obviously an officer, but one who's seen combat, fought beside his men, probably risen through the ranks. You're too competent to have come at this from a desk post. Though you might be a colonel, you're in your thirties, not forties. Major is also a possibility, but whatever your support staff, Chris is the only soldier adventuring with you, and they sure as hell wouldn't be giving this assignment to anyone not at least a captain in rank and pay grade. So my guess is captain."
Dirk's smile gave nothing away. "Where were you stationed, Val?"
Val chuckled. "Nowhere glorious. I was a water treatment specialist."
Dirk tilted his head. "No kidding."
"If I'm lying I'm dying."
"You just might be, kid, but let's hope not," he said, walking to the door. "Oh, and Val?"
&n
bsp; "Yes, Dirk?"
"Colonel Yancey might have been happy to let his little hellions run mad, as long as their targets were taken out. But I run a tight ship. We follow orders, we avoid collateral damage. Am I understood, Corporal Hunter?"
Dead silence. Val took a slow breath, locking gazes with the captain. Shit. This was no bluff. He knew. "What gave it away?" he finally asked.
Dirk shook his head. "Come on, Val. I know you're smarter than that. I've worked with Julia for over three months. The nonstandard chrome ports are an obvious giveaway. Do you really think I wouldn't find out who Julia Petrovsky was? Or Yancey's favorite little pet who blazes through advanced training like he wasn't just a product of nepotism and later is riding high with the highest kill count of his unit before you guys were all firebombed to hell? Same kid who goes missing around the time Julia Petrovsky does, and a year and a half later a massive fire in the heart of Chicago, and the both of you are recovered along with over two hundred missing, most suffering symptoms of massive withdrawal to unknown agents with chrome ports drilled into their skulls just like Julia's."
Hard eyes bored into Val's. "Chrome ports in everyone except you, Val. And no one says a word about what happened. Not one damned word. And just three days ago, there's a fire drill and power outage at the very hospital you were being held in, supposedly suffering from massive brain damage and locked in a coma. Then you're gone, and the only trace besides signs of a struggle are a few drops of blood from a known mafia hitman. Imagine that. And then just a day later I see you in game, riding into town after rescuing two fellow players and somehow restoring a rejuvenation facility the Dominion had already written off, and who would that mysterious new player Julia was so anxious to bring into our team be, but the famous Valor Hunter himself."
Val closed his eyes. "Shit."
Dirk chuckled. "At first, I didn't think you could possibly be the kid the evidence implied you were. No way in hell you look older than 17. So tell me, Val, how on Earth did you manage to heal yourself of crippling injuries and end up looking younger than the girl you worked so hard to save?"
Val answered his question with one of his own. "Does Colonel Petrovsky know?"
Dirk sighed. "There is that. Yes, Val, he does, actually. I reached out to him several weeks after meeting Julia in the game, when things began to click. He invited me over. We had a talk. He did not look happy. But when he understood that I had nothing to do with her interest in the game, that rather I was one of the few who took survival in it very seriously and promised to look after her, only then did his anger fade. Truth to tell, he still looked ready to pull her out, but once he studied the data, once he saw how successful players responded to the bio-resonance in a way that made them faster, stronger, smarter, his demeanor changed. And when he saw the miraculous changes occurring in his own daughter, transforming from haggard broken addict back into a brilliant young woman with focus and dedication, thanks as much to the helm as her mother's diligent efforts, he suddenly became an advocate of our project."
Dirk flashed a mirthless smile. "He told me to take care of her, as long as Julia chose to play the game. As long as she needed it to help abate her cravings, so many of those 200 rescued falling down very dark rabbit holes indeed. If Julia continues to prosper? The colonel won't forget his friends."
Val blinked and smiled as it all clicked into place. "And he made it clear that if something happened to Julia, you were as good as dead. And that's why you kept giving me those odd looks, waffling between friendship and hostility. You didn't know if I was a sudden boon to the party, or the man sent to take you out, if Julia died. Yeah. I think that's how it must have played out. Your look right now is a dead giveaway. And I'm guessing her father offered you a damn sweet contract when your service was done. He's a good man. I can't see him threatening to kill you without offering you a pretty sweet token of appreciation to make up for it."
Now it was Dirk's turn to look nonplussed. He gave a slow nod. "You're good, kid, and you call it like you see it. I can see why old Yancey took a shine to you."
"Level with me, Dirk. This is about a hell of a lot more than the chance to freakishly enhance a couple soldiers' natural attributes, isn't it? I mean, if that were the case, you'd have an entire unit of special forces soldiers probably training as mech-warriors right now and joining whatever push the Dominion's attempting against the rebels, trying to train your whole crew up as fast as possible, leveling up their quickness, their finesse, their scholarship, and doing it with equipment that is at least similar to future tech we hope our own soldiers will be using in just a few decades."
Val gazed intently at Dirk. "But you're not doing any of that. The only other soldier I see is Chris. The rest of us are a trio of college-age kids who just happen to be able to port into the game. And you play this not like it's a distraction. You play this like it's your job. So do you mind telling me what's really going on?"
Dirk closed his eyes and sighed, pulling up a chair, sitting beside Val's plush, upholstered bed, Val once again noting just how luxurious his sickroom was, looking more like a bedroom for eighteenth-century nobility than anything else. "You're right, Val. Right now? Just me and Chris. We had a third, but, unfortunately, he passed on."
Val blinked. "Shit. I'm sorry."
Dirk nodded. "This game really does play for keeps. More than most people realize, I think. More even than Colonel Petrovsky. If you hadn't by some damned miracle rescued Julia from that god awful spell..."
Val winced. "Please. Don't even say it."
A knowing chuckle. "Somehow, I think her safety is as important to you as it is to me."
Val flushed and said nothing.
"Anyway, Val, you're right. Chris and I aren't here as the forerunners of an advanced military training center." Dirk grinned. "At least, that's not our only reason. You wouldn't know, but since you enlisted, mandatory VR Helm compatibility is now a thing for all new recruits. Which just boils down to putting black cat helms on everyone with the slightest tech interest, and encouraging them to try to port into the game." He gave a frustrated shake of his head. "When the servers were up? It was different. Now? Maybe 1 in a 100 can do it, though I think it's actually far fewer. Those lucky few who can, they become part of an entirely different unit from my own, and no need for you to worry about that end of things."
Val nodded. "Understood."
"Good. My unit is smaller, and everyone I work with is a pro in their own way. Unorthodox as your build is, you've already proven yourself. This disaster aside, Julia is perhaps the deadliest spell caster the armed forces have in this game right now, and with Yin's aptitude, I have high hopes for her. But all that does us nothing if we don't have a solid base of operations."
Val felt a sudden shiver of insight. "This is a beachhead," he whispered. "You know. This entire game. This isn't just a game, is it? These helms are allowing us to interface with what, an alternate reality? You've been assigned to secure this territory, the obelisks in our zone, in case we need to what... invade?"
Dead silence as cold brown eyes bored into Val's own. A killer's gaze. Val felt his heart start to pound, readying himself for he knew not what.
Then the moment passed.
"Get some rest, Val," Dirk said. "And congratulations. You've just been retroactively reinstated into the United States Army. Good to have you back, son."
13
Val blinked at the captain's words as the man grinned back, and only then did Val feel the alarmed surge through the Spirit Link no one in their mini group had thought to relax since forming their training party that day.
Val winced, knowing instantly what it meant.
"Dirk?"
Dirk's smile grew puzzled. "You got a strange look on your face there, corporal. Hell, if anything I thought you'd be happy to have a chance to finish your four."
Val swallowed. "Promise me you won't overreact."
Dirk frowned. "What are you talking about?... Damn!"
Just as fast as Val,
he had already spun around, tearing open the closed door, sword point suddenly at the throat of the person standing there.
Who had heard everything.
"Dirk, no!" Val roared, but Dirk had already relaxed his stance, resheathing his sword with an exasperated curse.
Yin gazed at them both with the strangest smile. "So, this is all real? I mean, really real? And Val, you're some secret government assassin? And we're invading a foreign planet?"
"Yin..." Dirk's voice radiated three kinds of warning. Only a fool wouldn't have gotten the message.
"Awesome!" Yin crowed. "Sign me up. I want to get paid!"
Dirk looked nonplussed for a moment. "Well shit," he said.
Val winked. "For Yin, it's all about the money," he said half-jokingly.
Yin grinned back. "It is. It really is. It's all about the bling and the boys. Now sign me up, because I'm not working another day at that goddamned coffee shop when I could be here, adventuring with the hottest guys I've ever seen jacked into a game."
Dirk cleared his throat. "Alright, Yin, I'll see what I can do. No promises, but I think we can at least assure that you won't have to work in retail anymore."
"Awesome!" She crowed. "I can't stand fucking retail. I'd rather be throwing fireballs with you guys!" She paled. "When they don't miscast and near kill us all, I mean. Sorry..."
Dirk chuckled. "Relax, Yin. Just give me an e-mail you're comfortable with receiving formal correspondence from, and we'll set you up." His gentle, almost fatherly gaze hardened. "But let's be clear. You don't say a word about what you're really doing to anyone. And you sure as hell never let anyone think it's anything other than a game. If you fuck with me on this, you'll be tried for treason."
Endless Online: Oblivion's Price: A LitRPG Adventure - Book 3 Page 23