Thank you so much everyone who's been taking the time out to review my work! I was so happy to hear from all of you so I'm truly, truly thankful for your time and support in my writing. I hope this chapter serves to please as much as the others have.
The gray sky above was reflected in the large puddles of rainwater that lay scattered across the open parking lot before the ‹‹Old Security Terminal››, it's massive steel walls serving now as a re-purposed building for the ‹‹Glocken Mercenary Police Force››. The building was stout, only two stories tall, but seemed impossibly long going in either direction as it contained everything from an office area, an armory, garage, living quarters and so on. It had been one of the buildings abandoned by the central government when SBC Glocken landed, as the actual security forces re-located to the center of the city in the ‹‹Government Plaza››.
Whether this place had been chosen on purpose or not, Argo had no idea. But she wouldn't put it past Sentinel Blue, the leader of the ‹‹GMPF››, she did everything for a reason. She glanced up at the flag pole that sat outside the building, a large blue flag with a white grid sphere in the center, the acronym for the group spelled out diagonally across the globe in gold lettering bordered by thick black lines. It fluttered in the early morning cold gusts of wind, making Argo shiver under her cloak, rubbing her arms. She remembered Christmas was in a few weeks, though not that it mattered much, but she'd like to get Kirito a present still.
She continued up the asphalt parking lot, avoiding the large pools of cold water, as she saw the two guards in blue and white armor watching her. How she hated crossing large open areas while people watched her. She never knew where to look.
The guards wore steel armor, colored blue and white in a rather stylish way, reinforced with dyed white kevlar underneath, and if she had to guess there was probably ample amounts of ceramic plating underneath the chest armor. The armor covered them head to toe leaving barely any vulnerable openings as the armor was superbly designed to allow freedom of movement without compromising protection with an interlocked helmet on top that had more electronic gadgets inside it than she could mention.
The helmet itself had a full metal visor going across the eyes, the visor itself being an ‹‹Augmented Reality Interface›› or ARI, that displayed gathered data through a camera on the right side of the visor and giving a more detailed HUD for the soldier to see. It left only the mouth vulnerable but the helmet had attachments allowing for a mouth guard or a gas mask.
It was the battle dress of the security forces and heavy infantry for GMPF, but in recent months more and more members were seen wearing it, which suggested to Argo their resources were expanding.
"Argo, welcome back." The first guard to her left spoke, shifting the grip on his ‹‹ACR››. It was well modified with a foregrip and holographic red dot sight on it's rails. "Commander Blue has instructed us to escort you to her office when you returned, with an apology for not being able to see you when you came last."
Argo waved her hand with a smile. "It's alright X, I know she's pretty busy." She knew X pretty well in passing, he tended to be on guard duty quite a bit, he was an okay guy.
The guard besides X spoke, "Say, you're the famous info broker right miss?" When he saw her nod, he continued, "Then you wouldn't happen to know X's real name would you?" He saw his comrade's head snap towards him.
"I swear to God Galahad I will shoot you here and now." X spoke, his voice holding just a hint of worry.
Argo tried to hide her grin as her nose caught the smell of profit on the chill wind. "Well. That's a rather hefty bit of information. I do so happen to know it, but if you want to know it, it'll cost you."
X snapped back to her, his mouth hanging open, "Argo! No!"
Argo shrugged with an almost sympathetic smile, "Sorry X baby, but it's my business, no information is sacred or else my credibility goes down." She almost felt bad as she saw the bit of his visible skin going pale. "If you want to know his name, it'll be 10,000 credits – out of respect for X."
X let out a huge breath of air, that was way too much for any one person to pay for something so stupid. "Hey, thanks Argo I really –"
"Alright, 10,000 credits it is Miss Argo."
"WHAT?!" X's jaw hit the ground as he saw the confirmation go through.
Argo gave Galahad a smile and nodded. "Right, thanks for the business. X's real name is –"
"NOOO!"
"xXPu$$ySlay3r69Xx." Truly, it was terrible the power she wielded.
X dropped to his hands and knees, rifle clattering on the ground as he held his head, the horrible truth revealed. Galahad immediately burst into laughter as he doubled over holding his gut. "You! Really?!" Galahad started, wheezing, "You're one of those guys?!"
X's head shot up, "Shut the hell up! I didn't know I was gonna get stuck in this goddamn game! And what the hell is with you paying that kind of money for a name?!"
"Everyone's been betting. . . on your name dude!" Galahad tried to speak between laughs, "The jackpot is totally mine I knew it was one of those lame ass names! I'll make it back easy!"
Argo slipped between the bickering guards, trying not to smile at the easy credits she'd gotten out of respect for X. The door was unlocked and she entered without any difficulty as she shut the door quickly before their argument echoed into the building.
Navigating the inside lay out of the GMPF's building was rather easy, as it was designed much like a police station in reality with a bullpen being the first area you walked into, though with a far more futuristic feel. Open cubicles filled the large room with members working on daily tasks on computer terminals and some standing around chatting with cups of coffee held in their hands. It was amazing what Sentinel Blue had managed to bring together in a game full of players that were supposed to kill each other.
The players inside all wore regular blue cloth uniforms, though all of them had standard issue sidearms, a ‹‹SIG Sauer P226››. Membership had it's benefits in the GMPF and their numbers grew daily. Last she remembered, there was 130 members in the company, which in a game that had an average member number of 10, that was a hell of an accomplishment.
The occasional nod and wave was given to her as she navigated the room, headed for the stairs in the back. She returned them with a bright smile and toothy grin. Hustling up the shining steel stairs, she soon arrived at a thick steel door, gold letters on a black plaque that read ‹‹Commander's Office››. She knocked on the door twice, and it slid open with a sharp electronic hiss.
The medium sized office was a rectangular shape with the door being on the short wall with Sentinel Blue's polished steel desk at the other end with a large open window to it's back, dark blue cloth curtains held back by gold rope. The floor was polished black marble, reflecting the roof on it's surface. A few bookshelves rested on the side wall, filled with unimportant or lore related books.
"Argo, I expected you yesterday." A firm yet not unkind voice cut through the air like a sword from the woman seated behind the desk.
Her medium cut black hair fell loosely framing her sharp edged face and cold steel blue eyes, a pair of eyeglasses resting on her nose. Her blue military outfit was pressed and starched, the wrinkle free white dress shirt poking underneath the collar holding a light blue tie that was tied in a perfect triangular knot. Her elbows came up to rest on the steel desk, her fingers crossing.
Argo bowed her head for a moment, pulling back her cloak's hood as she raised back up. "Sorry Blue, I had an emergency that forced me out of the city to help a friend out, I just got back in today." No cute nicknames, she didn't dare. It was either her name, title, or her code name Athena she'd heard spoken before.
Sentinel nodded, "Understandable, I hope everything went smoothly. I assume the reason you tried to get in touch with me was to give more information about ‹‹Ravenhawk›› or King?" As she spoke the final words, a heat entered them.
Argo couldn't help but hesitate a moment as she watched Sentinel's unflinching gaze, feeling as if she was speaking to a sword that was pointed at her. She knew her hidden rage wasn't aimed at her, rather the PMC that had been causing trouble as of late. Argo nodded, "Right, I have confirmed intel that King's been using fear tactics to round up many of the organized player criminals in the Slums, getting them to either join ‹‹Ravenhawk›› or kills them if they refuse."
Sentinel Blue's eyes narrowed behind her gray rimmed glasses, her fingers holding firm onto each other. "That's more or less what I'd heard a rumor of but hoped it wasn't true. I don't mind that they're down there killing each other, but the more powerful Ravenhawk gets the worse." She let out a firm breath. "All that means is the time table has moved up."
Argo's eyebrow raised, but the look on Sentinel's face spoke that she wouldn't divulge anymore. "Well, that's not the only information I want to give you Blue, and this info is free." She saw the raised eyebrow with a silent nod of her head to continue. Argo bit her lip for a moment, trying to figure out for the millionth time if the wording she was going to use would work or not.
"Argo." Sentinel spoke, breaking the smaller blonde from her momentary thought train, "You can tell me, no need to make up something."
Argo grimaced, she'd forgotten about the woman's training extensive experience in the JSDF and police, there was no way she could hide anything from her eyes. She was probably one of the few military trained players in GGO, at least the most ambitious, something she passed onto the members of the GMPF which their strict organization came from. "Sorry Blue, it just sounds so crazy even to me still." She took another breath.
"Alright, what if I told you there's another way out of this game?" To Sentinel's credit, she didn't even flinch as Argo told her the tale, leaving names out, of how Kirito had met a strange man during maintenance who told him of the original method to clearing the game. ". . . so, in other words I'd like to ask if you could use your men and resources to clear the dungeon and find the terminal that would end the game."
"That is a rather hard to believe story, that the person you went to meet happened to be whisked away to a solitary maintenance room where he met ‹‹The God of This World›› and he gave him the knowledge which could be used to save many lives."
When she retold the story it made Argo's spirit sink, hearing it spoken back to her from a third party made it seem more like a foolish dream than it already was.
"But. . ." Sentinel tucked her head down inch as she looked as if she was thinking. "It's not something I can just blow off without giving it some thought." She held her hand up to Argo who's face lit up. "There's far more pressing matters at hand. At best all I can do now is send perhaps a small strike team to start probing the as of yet explored ‹‹Labyrinth›› at some point. I need all my forces on dealing with King and his PMC Ravenhawk before they get too big to where not even we can fight them, not to mention the problem with the Slums. If they get their way, then we're all just going to be holed up in here while they amass arms and soldiers and ensuring their disgusting ilk survive till the final rounds."
Argo nodded her head, though she couldn't help but feel she just got told 'maybe' from a parent. "I can't ask anymore, thanks Blue." She saw Sentinel's returned nod, along with a quick movement of her fingers to open a trade window with her payment for the information in it. After accepting her money with a smile and word of thanks, Argo showed herself out.
As the door closed, Sentinel Blue reached over for her computer's mouse and opened a video call to the Bullpen below. A young man with jet black hair answered, shifting to a hard salute as he saw her. "Sir!"
Sentinel nodded, "Gather everyone to ‹‹Hangar A››, we're moving the timetable up. Operation Firestorm happens tonight."
Dyne groaned as he sat down on the old broken couch in the living area, his body aching from the fighting the day before. He had a particularly large welt on his ass from a frisky tentacle that hurt like hell. He was none too pleased about the updated avatars either. After getting a scrape from falling down, he'd realized what the patch notes had meant then, and after an explanation from Klein, he knew their bodies were almost fully anatomically correct.
Probably the closet thing I've had to a healthy body since I was in my twenties. Dyne chuckled, as he cracked open the first beer of the day, always drank right after waking up. He threw it back chugging it in a few seconds, letting out a long satisfied burp as the ice cold carbonated liquid ran down his throat. He crushed the can and reached for the second beer of the day. Might be stuck in a game but there was still some benefits.
Time for bills. He growled in his head as he reached for a his leather bound black notebook that he kept written record of all Black Dog's expenses and income. There were easier ways, sure, but it was a hold over from his long life of using a notepad and pen, the best tools in his line of work.
He took mental inventory of what had been on his precious ride when it'd crashed, thinking of all the ammo they'd brought expecting a hell of a fight. It was well over 1,000 credit's worth. So let's see. . . subtract the ammo. . . add in what we need to buy to replace it. . . cost of gear repair. . . He checked the date, sighing, rent. . . and monthly payment of what we owe to ‹‹Cactus Jack Shooters››. . . He balked as he saw the big ‹‹10,512›› credit total at the end of his notebook.
He sighed, before flipping over to the part of his book where Black Dog's income was recorded. He let out a soft sigh, as he saw they had 14,367 credits still. Taking a cooling sip from his beer, he reached over for the laptop to access the ‹‹Intranet›› and went to their bank account page to pay the bills. As the page loaded he took another sweet drink of the chilled beer, enjoying the sweet silence of the morning. Which meant no Ginrou to listen to.
When his eyes glanced at the laptop screen, they shot open.
‹‹-9,839›› Credits.
Beer shot out of his mouth as he started choking. "What the hell?!" his fingers flew to the mouse as he checked the account balance:
- 1,340 Credits to ‹‹Galactic Rivera›› Yesterday
- 3,500 Credits to ‹‹Lock, Stock and Barrel›› Yesterday
- 900 Credits to ‹‹Rebel Roulette›› Yesterday
- 2,200 Credits to ‹‹We Promise It's Authentic Chinese Food›› Yesterday
It just kept going, and going and going and going and going and going, small and big amounts playing before his eyes. His beer can slipped from his hand and hit the carpet below, spilling. "Fuck. Fuck!" He clenched his teeth, hands grabbing fistfuls of his hair. "The goddamn damage payments came through this month!" All the different restaurants and businesses they had been to in their line of work where certain accidents had occurred, they all forwarded their charges to the Glocken Government and if no payments were made within two months of the first charge, it all got taken automatically from the account of the person responsible.
He remembered them all.
‹‹Galactic Rivera››, dance club in the Slums near the ‹‹Waste Disposal Chute A››Klein had used a table to block a flamethrower. And then three others, while Sinon got a clear shot.
‹‹Lock, Stock and Barrel››, gun shop in the Slums by the ‹‹Main Drag›› Ginrou tackled a bounty into a glass display case.
‹‹Rebel Roulette››, a gun range on the very edge of Glocken, by the ‹‹West Wall›› surrounded by dirt. Sinon punched the owner for grabbing her ass and he flew into a table, breaking it. And then he threw the bastard into another table.
‹‹We Promise It's Authentic Chinese Food››, used to be the best place to get some grub on the eastern side of Glocken, built on top of an old gun battery. In the middle of a celebration feast one of their other targets had wandered in, seen them and booked it. We chased after without paying the tab. They would have paid the charges later, but the restaurant was closed down after a player died eating their food. Turns out it wasn't authentic Chinese food. He could probably get this bill reversed, but he'd have to –
"Argh! The hell does all that matter?!" He scratched at his scalp furiously as he killed his train of thought. "WE. ARE. FUCKED!"
"Will you shut up out here old man!? Do you have any idea how early it is!?" A groggy Ginrou yelled back, his head poking from his bedroom doorway. He had the expression of a man who'd been awake until four in the morning playing games.
Another door opened, Klein stumbling out of his bedroom yawning, wearing a red shirt and black cloth shorts, his bandana missing. "The heck is with all the racket Dyne?"
Dyne whipped around, "Forget all that and get the hell out here! Emergency meeting!" Groans of protest from the two arose, "I mean now dammit!"
After much forcible goading, the two other male members of Black Dog were accounted for in the living room, and after a quick briefing from Dyne, they both looked a bit more awake.
"Oi, oi, are you for real?" Klein started, his eyebrows bunching towards each other. "How the hell are we gonna get the money back? Rent's due tomorrow isn't it?!"
Ginrou let out a small laugh. "Is that all? Shit, I'm late on rent all the time and all they do is staple eviction notices to my door till I pay."
Dyne shook his head. "We'll be kicked out immediately and we won't be able to access the building till we pay again. Which means all your crap will be stuck in here Ginrou." A look of horror crossed the hacker's face. Dyne let out an aggravated sigh. "It can't be helped. We need to make some money ASAP. That means getting to work. In truth, we were already low and the ‹‹Hellknights›› were supposed to bring us in some good income but you know how well that turned out."
Klein crossed his arms. "I get what you're saying but. . . you know it takes days if not a week or more to hunt these guys down Dyne. Even if we focus on small fry it'll take too long. Maybe if we sell a lot of our stuff we can make it."
"Are you stupid dude?" Ginrou asked, looking over at a now irritated redhead. "There's no way in hell I'm selling any of my shit, I need it all!"
Before the two of them could go for each other's throat, Dyne coughed. "That's not gonna be necessary. I already have a target in mind." He turned around and pulled up his laptop, spinning it in his hand to show the other two the screen.
Klein slapped a hand over his face. "How did I know you'd choose him. I never wanted to relive those memories, thought I had them buried. Thanks Dyne."
Ginrou shook his head with a sigh. "Well. . .I guess he won't be that hard to find, but do you really think we capture him? The legendary ‹‹Cactaur Queen››? Is it really worth the risk?"
The picture on the screen made both of them shudder just a bit. It was a rather large man pictured, decked with muscles on muscles, his jaw square as a brick. He might look like some overly exaggerated movie hero if it wasn't for the heavy makeup on his face, making him look like the meanest drag queen anyone had ever seen.
The rap sheet was a mile long with the offenses, all petty things ranging from theft to vandalism, but the one with the highest number of offenses was sexual harassment. He was on the top ten wanted list, currently holding the number nine slot.
Dyne nodded as he felt a small shudder crawl up his own spine. "We don't have much of a choice, he's not hard to find and the 30,000 credit bounty is what we need. He marked us all last time, so it's personal too." All three shared uneasy looks as they remembered the full title for the Cactaur Queen.
‹‹Cactaur Queen, the Serial Kisser››.
Man or woman, he'd managed to kiss different people over 1,000 times during his reign of terror, leaving a very distinctive red lipstick mark on a person's lips. For what reason he was committed to his perverted acts of horror, no one knew. He had managed to evade every group who'd gone searching for him, not that he was hard to find, rather he allowed people to find him and then managed to slip away in a blink of an eye. Some thought the drag queen might have been a parkour runner in reality, or maybe he'd gotten some kind of special item, but for whatever reason he could leave his trademark kiss on all those that came after him and disappear in the same breath with a creepy laugh being the only evidence he'd ever been in front of you.
Klein looked between the two. "Alright. . . so who's telling Sinon we're after the guy?"
"Not it!" Ginrou, the man who would give his left arm to spend a minute alone with the beauty exclaimed.
Dyne shook his head. "I have to go talk to some sources and Ginrou needs to do his thing. We gotta get him before it's too late."
The redhead cringed. "Dammit. Fine, I'll go see her."
Dyne nodded. "Take Rei with you, show her the ropes, and pick up some supplies while you're at it – we're just about out of stun rounds. Do you have enough personal cash on you? I'll reimburse you, of course."
Klein sighed and nodded. Hearing their youngest member's name spoken made him realize she hadn't woken up yet. He looked towards Sinon's old room, the door was still closed. When he looked back towards Dyne, he was already grabbing his duster.
"Ginrou, do your thing and find the guy. I'll call when I find out what places he's been frequenting lately to help you narrow down the search if you haven't found anything on the Intranet by then, alright?"
The hacker nodded, "Sure, but I swear if that creep kisses me again I'm gonna need a bigger cut of the –" A glare cut him short, "Okay, I'm going!" He grumbled as he walked back to his room.
Dyne walked up to the front door, before looking behind him at Klein. "Oh, and pick up Rei something to defend herself with. I didn't see a gun on her when you brought her here."
Klein's eyes widened in alarm, his brows drawing down and together. "Dyne! Are you asking me to get a kid a gun?!" He expected a shouting match, or even a glare, but the old man's face remained neutral, which threw him off guard.
"Klein. You can't always protect her, you need to give her something to defend herself with. I never said a gun, just something she can use. I'd rather it be a gun that we could teach her to use, but I'll leave that up to you, okay?" He watched the younger man for a moment, seeing him gnaw on his lip as he tried to think of an argument, but only gave a defeated nod.
Dyne gave a nod of his own. "See you later." He opened the large metal door, closing it behind him with a large thud.
Crossing his arms, Klein sighed. I don't like it but. . . Time to wake sleeping beauty I guess. Crossing the room, he knocked on Sinon's bedroom door, hearing no answer, he gently opened the door. "Rei?" he called out.
Sinon's room hadn't changed since she left. It was neat, organized. A single painting of a river hung on the wall next to the shade covered window. It was a boring painting, but it was the only thing she could find that really fit her tastes. A single desk was across from the twin sized mattress, the bed covered with a large fluffy blue comforter.
Klein couldn't help the small smile on his face, as he saw the mop of black hair poking out from the comforter. Geez, reminds me of trying to get Aiko up in the morning. Walking over, he gently pulled the covers down past her chin. "Rei, wake up." He spoke softly, getting only a snore in response. Reaching over, he shook her shoulder gently, "Rei."
Her violet eyes came into view as her eye lids slowly opened, her snoring stopping. "Huh. . ." She looked up at Klein, a small bit of drool escaping her lip. She heard a small snicker, and her eyes focused, the sight of Klein's grin above her being the first thing she saw. "Mr. Klein. . . good morning." she let out a small yawn, sitting up to reveal a pair of pajamas a few sizes too big for her that she borrowed from Sinon's closet.
Klein turned away as he saw her start to sit up. "Go ahead and get ready, we're gonna be headed out to do some shopping okay?" He heard her mumble out something that sounded like Japanese but with a very hard dreamland dialect. Chuckling, he left the room.
The ‹‹3rd District Shopping Arcade›› was only lightly populated at this time in the morning, still being before nine AM, most of the player base was still asleep or just waking up. The corridor was rather tight, that being due to the fact this was an old maintenance tunnel that had been re purposed as a shopping area. There was a huge connection of maintenance tunnels that ran under all of Glocken, some even said to connect down to the Slums. The skylight above was actually the middle of the road, the skylight made of thick glass that could hold the traffic above as it drove over, the gray overcast sky currently keeping the sun out and the tunnel was nice and dark save for the numerous artificial lighting that lined it and came from the shops.
The occasional vibration of a larger truck could be felt, though there was no danger of any structural faults game mechanics or lore wise. Player merchants already had their shops set up, mostly selling random odds and ends gathered from out in the wasteland or scavenged from mini-dungeons hidden deeper within the Slums, though Klein doubted any of it was from the ‹‹Labyrinth››.
The smells of fresh cooked food wafted through the air, making Klein's mouth water, he hadn't eaten yet and his stomach was keen on reminding him. Or his brain. Virtual Reality was hard to keep up with.
"Wooow! There's so many shops down here Mr. Klein!" Rei spoke, slowly turning her head as they walked, trying to take in all the sights. "This is nothing like the slums! People are so nice and look happy here!"
"Did you never come up from the Slums?" He asked, figuring the answer but wanted to hear it from her.
She shook her head, "No, they never let me leave the building unless I was with one of them." She meant any of the few people who had kept her through the months. If she was gloomy about this, it didn't show. "Look!" she cried out, skipping over to a store display.
The store in question was a flower shop, ‹‹Desert Rose››, he knew it well it was a shop he liked to look into when he passed because of the cute girl that ran the store. He watched Rei stop in front of a display of orange blossoms, grown in Glocken of course. '
"There so pretty. . ." Rei breathed out, squatting down next to them, resting her chin on her knees, admiring them.
"You like 'em pretty girl?" A new voice called out.
Klein saw the cute store owner walk out, making him straighten up. She looked like she was in her mid-twenties, with long brown hair pulled up into twintails, freckles covering her cheeks and nose. He'd never actually talked to her, just admired her in passing. She wore a pretty average outfit, it wasn't far from the starting gear really. He doubted she ever leveled up much.
Rei stood with a smile. "I do, did you grow these?"
The shopkeeper nodded with a grin. "Sure did. I used to run a florist shop, figured I could do the same here to try and bring some smiles to peoples faces, everyone's always so gloomy. Looks like I gave you one too!" Her grin grew wider.
Klein smiled as he saw them talk, she was a good woman. He tensed up for a moment as she looked his way. He decided to speak first, "H-Hi!" . . . shit good going idiot! Say something else!
The shopkeeper laughed. "Hello there. I was wondering if you'd ever stop by and say hello. You're always glancing in here."
Klein's face matched the color of his hair, he was caught dead to rights. "I-I suppose so."
The shopkeeper let out a hearty laugh, not fitting her younger looks. "Poor boy, does this cute face lure you in?" She gave a dazzling smile as she put an outstretched finger to the corner of her lips. "Too bad, I'm married and a lot older than I look." She stuck her tongue out. She laughed again as she saw Klein try and stumble with his words in defense, knowing she had the samurai on full flustered mode.
Kneeling down, she grabbed one of the orange blossoms, handing it to Rei. "Seeing as how you brought this guy here and put a smile on my face, how bout I pay you with this flower you like so much?"
Rei's eyes lit up. "You really mean it Miss!?"
The shopkeeper laughed and nodded. "Of course," she handed it to her. "It fits you perfectly."
Rei bowed with a laugh and thanked her profusely as she held the flower close. "I won't forget this, thank you so much!" She ran back to Klein's side, who was still flustered.
Klein bowed, realizing what had happened while he was out of it. "T-Thank you very much!" he spoke, before starting to hustle back down the street, wanting to retreat from his embarrassment. He heard the shopkeep's voice laughing as he left.
"You just come back if I'm ever single again, I like men like you!"
Rei giggled, as she looked down at her flower. "She's a nice lady." She smiled, before putting the flower in the corner of her ear, looking up to smile at Klein who was still flustered by the woman, making Rei laugh.
The rest of the shopping arcade was no less lively, with people laughing and greeting each other warmly as they went about their daily errands. Really, Klein thought as he saw all the smiles on people's faces, have they just forgotten about being in this death game? Maybe it's the only way to keep sane, is to live like nothing is wrong. He couldn't really blame them, he had momentarily forgotten some days but. . . he'd never really been able to forget. Always in the back of his head he knew that the first BoB was coming, and it was only two weeks away.
But people still found a way to smile, to be human. To live in a world that promised a violent death.
"Mr. Klein?"
He was pulled from his thoughts by the small voice, causing him to smile down at her. "Sorry, what's up?"
"I've been wondering something, how do people do all these things like making flowers, bullets, or guns? Is it the same way like how you cook?"
Klein pushed his musings to the back of his head, as he nodded his head over to a nearby booth that sold shish kabob. "Let's get a bite to eat, and I can tell you all about it." Buying two steaming skewers of meat and vegetables, he wasted no time in digging into it, handing Rei hers.
They walked through the shopping arcade, which was slowly filling with people, towards their destination. "Right," Klein spoke between mouthfuls. "Take this shish kabob. It was made by a player. He used his ‹‹Cooking›› skill, which is the easiest skill in terms of availability due to it not actually having ranks. All it is, is following the procedure, right?" Seeing her nod, he continued. "But with guns and other more complicated crafting it's not as easy."
He pulled open his menu, turning on the display so Rei could see it. He moved a window down to her eye level. "See this? It's my skills page."
Rei let out a small sound of awe, though it was blocked by her mouth full of food, as she read the page.
‹‹Repair›› 540/1000
‹‹Bullet Creation›› 215/1000
‹‹Explosives Creation ›› 105/1000
‹‹Gunsmithing›› 45/1000
"It's a bit of a sad list, really." Klein chuckled as he pulled it back and turned his menu back to private. "But honestly the crafting is a rather complex process and requires a lot of time and materials. It requires being able to play the sort of mini-games it presents to you, plus you have restrictions behind doing certain actions if your skill isn't high enough. Otherwise I could probably repair a gun battery by myself at level 1 if I had the materials. The game was designed to make crafters focus on it, rather than balance fighting and creating. I tried my hand at it, but wasn't too good, so now I just tend to re-load ammo when we have extra materials and I can make some improvised bombs, nothing fancy."
"You have a high ‹‹Repair›› skill though! That's really cool." Rei added, taking another bite of her skewer.
Klein laughed, tucking a piece of meat into his cheek. "That's just because everyone else is too lazy to fix stuff around the place. I fixed the sink enough times I moved up to maintaining our guns, it'll have the nice effect of me being able to actually do it better than the NPCs in a few more points though."
"Okay, so I get how you make the stuff, what about selling it?"
"Well, it's all a free market here. You can sell whatever you want for however much you want, though people tend to try and keep the prices around what everyone else is selling it, or you get merchants selling guns for less than what they were made for. There's been talk of making a merchant's association but no such progress yet." Pulling off the last piece of his skewer, he tossed it across the hall to a nearby trashcan, making it which made him let loose a victory grin.
"Um, Mr. Klein, do you have anything to drink?" Rei asked, finding it harder to chew her food and swallow it.
Klein slapped his head, "Sorry, I forgot about drinks." His own throat felt a bit scratchy. Noting a vending machine near by, he guided her over to it, buying them both an ice cold soda. Handing her one, he watched with a smile as she quickly cracked it open and drank from it, an instant look of gratification on her face.
A voice drifted from his memory, "Onii-chan, buy me a drink!" He didn't let himself get absorbed in the image of that autumn evening by the park, he could reminisce another time. He stepped away from the vending machine and pointed forward with a nod of his head. "C'mon, ‹‹Cactus Jack Shooters›› isn't too far from here. Time to get what we were sent for."
"Right!" Rei called out as she followed behind.
The shopping arcade grew denser with more and more players, the sounds of them talking and moving about filling the area. It got crowded enough to where he was having to watch out he didn't bump into anyone, especially the assholes who enjoyed shouldering LMGs or rifles instead of just holding it like a normal person.
He was reminded that he had a small follower with him, and stopped to make sure she was next to him when he felt a smaller hand grab his. Looking down with a raised eyebrow, he saw Rei looking a tad sheepish.
"So we don't get lost, right?" Her face didn't hide her embarrassment at grabbing a man's hand. She was glad when he didn't pull away.
Klein stifled a small laugh. "Right, right."
Further ahead through the crowd, he could make out the large neon green and yellow sign of ‹‹Cactus Jack Shooters››, their mascot a revolver wielding cactus with a sombrero on it's 'head'. It was the most overpowering advertisement in the area, he'd come a few times to see the clothing store across from him chewing out Cactus Jack due to the bright light that forced the tailor to buy thick curtains. Keeping a firm grip on Rei's hand, he moved them into the store, where many players were filing in.
"Wow, there's so many people coming in." Rei spoke, looking around at all the mercenaries that wore gear ranging from something you'd see on a guerrilla fighter to full on military hardware. Guns of every type and size were on them, a veritable walking gun show.
"Well, this is the most popular gun store for numerous reasons, one being they will operate off layaway and credit." He let out a small pained chuckle, hoping he didn't run into Cactus Jack. "Come on, we're headed to the ammo section." Grabbing a shopping basket he was reminded of the strange feeling of shopping for deadly weapons like it was a grocery store.
Rei couldn't help but stare in amazement as they passed aisles full of accessories and gear. Harnesses, body armor, gloves, clothing, night vision goggles, thermals, IR sensors, helmets, knives, camping equipment, even ghilli suits were all for sale and more. Many of the things she didn't even know what they were, but everything was nicely labeled and had rather large price tags next to some of them. She could see a wall of guns across the store, but only caught a glimpse of the impressive sight.
"Right, here we are." Klein spoke, as he headed straight to the non-lethal section having been there many times before. "We don't use live ammunition much, save for when we go hunting monsters out in the wasteland." He balked at the price tag as he grabbed a box of stun rounds, the box art showing a bullet coated in lightning with rainstorms behind it, letters spelled out in large red letters above the bullet, ' RAIDEN'. Prices went up again on the only brand of stun ammo, making him frown.
"Cool." Rei spoke as she looked at the box art, watching Klien grab four more boxes of varying calibers before heading back towards the lethal section. More colored boxes were grabbed, 'Lethal Dog' .357 Magnum rounds, 'Fire Eagle' 5.56x45mm NATO rounds, 'Black Rhino' 12 gauge shells, 'Ice Wolf' 7.62x51mm NATO rounds and some 'Angry Wasp' .45 ACP rounds.
Klein hefted the shopping basket now stacked with boxes upon boxes of ammo. He'd have just enough money to cover this plus. . . he looked over towards the gun wall. His frown showed as he thought about what Dyne had asked him to do. He looked towards Rei, who was examining a box of .50 cal rounds. "Say, Rei. . . do you have a weapon?"
She looked up, thinking for a moment. "No. . . they took it away from me, that one gun you get when you start. . . I think it was a pistol? Anyways, I haven't gotten anything since."
He gave a small mental sigh, holding back his look of frustration. "Well, we need to get you something." He spoke, knowing he didn't have much of a choice. Dyne was right, and she needed something to protect herself with.
Her eyes lit up. "Really?!" she gave a small fist pump. "I know just what I want! Come on!" She grabbed Klein's hand as she ran towards the gun wall, dragging the protesting adult behind her with a laugh.
He wanted to stop her, to explain it was serious, but he couldn't in the face of her happy laugh. Did she not understand what it meant to be in this game? He watched her zoom in straight for the assault rifles, which made him open his mouth to tell her no way, when he saw her throw a finger towards a gun.
"That! A ‹‹FN FAL››! It was my favorite gun in Call of Battle: Advanced Black Warfare 5!" She turned her head. "Doesn't have the urban camouflage though. I can work with it."
He was too stunned, stuck between sitting her down to explain why this wasn't something to take lightly and wanting to laugh at how enthusiastic she was about the gun. Seeing her expectant face, however, he went with option three. "Sorry, Rei. That's way out of my price range. . ." he cringed as he saw her crestfallen look. "B-But surely you had a favorite sidearm right? Let's go look at the pistols. I'm sure Dyne can buy you it later when we get some more money." He sighed with silent relief as her face picked back up and dragged him to the pistol section.
After a small debate, and by that it was more Klein talking her out of the ‹‹Desert Eagle›› and ‹‹.45 Magnum›› they settled on a ‹‹Kahr CM9››, a pistol designed for smaller shooters. Rei's face held a small pout as she saw the puny gun, looking between it and it's full sized brothers.
Klein held a look of some small pity, but it was for the best. "Wait until after you shoot it before you throw your judgment. A gun is still a gun after all. Might not look like it but I had to level up my ‹‹STR›› before I could properly wield this shotgun. Recoil used to be a bitch."
"But how am I gonna help you take out monsters and bad guys with this thing?" She asked, looking back up at him.
He squatted down next to her, his face holding a serious frown, though it was dampened some by his affection for the girl. "Rei. . . do you understand what this game is? What it means to play it? It's not just some game where we go out and kill monsters . . . it . . ." How the hell do I explain this to a kid?
She broke eye contact with him, looking down at the gun held in her hand, examining it. "You're talking about that Ballad of Bullets thing, right? I. . . I heard some others talk about it but I never really fully understood what it was, but no one liked talking about it."
"Yeah, that's right." Klein started, "But we can talk about that later, for now –"
"IF IT ISN'T MY GOOD FRIEND KLEIN FROM BLACK DOG."
Klein almost jumped out of his skin as the sing-song voice yelled into his ear. His hairs stood on end as he immediately recognized the voice and spun around. Shit. He thought, as he saw the handsome blond and brown eyed man before him, dressed in an old western outfit. Several revolvers were tucked into shoulder, chest and hip holsters all around him. "H-Hi. . . Cactus Jack." Craaaap, this is the last thing I wanted coming in.
Cactus Jack smiled, nodding at Klein. "And a good morning to you too, my favorite customer." He looked towards Rei, pulling his hat off and giving a bow. "A good morning to you too pretty miss." She frowned a bit, moving in behind Klein, causing Jack to look confused.
"Well. . . isn't this a surprise?!" Klein laughed, scratching the back of his head, noting Rei moving closer to him. "Didn't think I would run into you today!"
Jack replaced his hat, looking back with a small smile that hid a razor sharp tongue. "No, I don't think you would. Of course, who would think they'd see me, in my own shop. Ah, but enough of that! It seems your here to make a purchase! Perhaps even, pay off some credit?"
The samurai swallowed his nervousness. "Yeah, we're here to buy some stuff. Dyne is gonna be making a payment towards what we owe of course."
Jack smiled wide as his eyes glittered. "Oh good! Do you know if it will be more than the paltry-yet-appreciated payments he's been sending or an actual balance clear this month? I do believe Black Dog is on the Biggest Debtor list here for two months running!"
"No idea. . ." Klein muttered out, starting to look for exits.
"Ah well. I'm sure I'll find out. Now how about we head on over to check out, and I'll take care of you personally, eh?" He grabbed onto Klein's arm firmly, pulling the nervous man towards the front, with Rei walking on the other side of Klein.
At the counter by the door, several employees were working, which was a rather interesting sight as almost all player owned shops were operated by just the owner, here however it was a big enough business to warrant Jack to hire more people whom he paid well for their time to help with crafting, stocking the shelves and checking customers out. It was rumored that Cactus Jack didn't even have a single skill in crafting, he was just a shrewd businessman.
The redhead watched with a sense of caution as Jack's smiling face never let up once as he totaled together all the boxes of ammunition and finally Rei's Khar. When he saw the price displayed on the custom trade window Jack had presented, Klein's eyes widened. "Woah, woah, there's no way that gun is worth 1,500 credits! 800 at best!"
Jack's smile held up. "Well, that was indeed the old price. At the time of the market. It's gone up since."
Klein clicked his tongue as he crossed his arms. "Now look, I know we owe you quite a bit but that doesn't give you any right to –" He stopped as Jack's smile fell.
"Look, Klein." Jack started, his voice dead serious as he dropped his act. "I am hard on people who owe a lot, but I'm not so much of an asshole to charge up to get more money out of you." He waited a moment, as he saw Klein look a bit ashamed. "I'm not kidding when I said that the market price has gone up. Materials have been getting harder to come by for my suppliers – hell for everyone. Metal is damn near a rarity now." He leaned in a bit closer as his tone fell. "You've heard of that PMC out in the desert? ‹‹Ravenhawk››?"
Klein shook his head, but his eyebrows narrowed some. "Not really, I've been pretty busy the past month on work inside Glocken."
The Japanese cowboy sighed, "It's pretty fucked up right now. They're running around as they please in the outskirts, picking off players and scavenger NPCs. It's made obtaining any proper parts a nightmare. We've been having to resort to even using the low level scrap metal you can find around the ‹‹Ruined Sector›› that lowbie crafters use to level up to make some guns. It's really killed the quality, but the prices still go up due to demand. If something isn't done soon, no one is going to be able to afford better guns. Even the NPC prices are starting to rise."
"You gotta be kidding. . ." Klein muttered, as he tried to comprehend what would make a group do something so detrimental to the rest of the player base. Well, I suppose when everyone is the enemy it makes perfect sense to try and take away as many resources as you can. If only we could share the information Kirito got.
Rei chose this moment to speak up, as she looked up at Jack. "Isn't anyone trying to stop them?"
Jack looked down at the girl who backed away a step. "Honestly, there's not really a group big enough beyond the ‹‹Glocken Mercenary Police Force››. I've heard they started making patrols out in the wastes, but no huge progress as of yet. Those Ravenhawk bastards have the desert mapped out like the back of their hand and know how to use the terrain to their advantage. And this is just a rumor I've heard from players who've actually survived an attack, but they move like pros, they think they're led by people with actual military training."
Jack let out a small sigh, waving his hand dismissively. "Well, telling that story has put me in a bit of a somber mood. So I'll tell you what, 1,300 for the gun, and that's the best I can do, okay?"
Klein gave a small bow. "Thank you, it's for her protection," he motioned towards Rei, "So it won't be going to waste. I'll make sure Dyne sends a bigger payment this month." He saw Jack give another wave of his hand. He smiled and gave the amount requested, refusing to look at his remaining balance. I guess Jack isn't that bad, when he drops the stupid roleplay.
"Well, just be careful out there," Jack's infamous smiled returned, "Can't have my biggest credit sink going and dying on me before they pay it all back!"
Klein said his goodbye before leading Rei out of the store, who was holding it gently. "Mr. Klein?" She asked as they were out in the shopping arcade. "Where should I put this?"
He stopped mid-step, he'd forgotten to buy a holster for her, making him slap his head. Dammit. Taking her gun, he tucked it into the waistband of his pants. "I'm sure we'll find one back home. We gotta get to Sinon's first though."
"'Kay." She responded, as she took his hand again.
Klein let out another small laugh, "So we don't get lost?" She gave him a firm nod, which only made his heart hurt a bit more, as he thought of another young girl who wouldn't ever let his hand go.
The soft, warm embrace of a comfortable blanket and welcoming fabric beneath him reminded Kirito of home as he awoke. For a moment, he thought he was back home, his white walls welcoming him away from his long nightmare. But when the smell of cooking food wafted into his nostrils, eggs it seemed, his eyes opened, and he saw nothing but a TV set before him.
Right. . . he thought, as he let out a long breath, I'm still in-game, but not home. . . where? He remembered. Slowly siting up, regret making him want to get back under the covers, he looked towards the kitchen, feeling a small deja vu as he saw Sinon with her back turned.
A low tune was hummed, he couldn't make out the song, but it was pretty. He found himself staring at her back, noting she was wearing what looked like a white t-shirt. He watched her hair as it swayed gently with her movements, not just from cooking but it seemed she was rocking gently side to side. The thought occurred to him that he had slept in, that he might have inconvenienced her. He wanted to say something, but found himself enjoying the peace he felt hearing her hum over the low sound of frying eggs in an otherwise silent apartment.
When she turned, he saw her jump, "Oh,you're awake!" Sinon spoke a bit quickly, her eyes darting towards him and then back away. It made him raise an eyebrow, it wasn't the reaction he expected, it was probably just due to him not saying anything.
"Yeah, sorry I just didn't want to bother you."
Sinon cleared her throat, he must have heard her humming. "Well, I have some breakfast ready, I'll bring it over for us." She tried her best not to stare at his bare chest, waiting for him to put a shirt on. Not that she exactly minded, but it was drumming up some interesting feelings.
He yawned nodding, pulling the covers off fully and standing. "Thank you, you didn't have to make breakfast." He spoke, shuffling over to the table still feeling some of sleeps tendrils latched onto him. When he sat, the cool wood pressing into his bare back helped him wake up some.
Sinon bit the bottom of her lip. In the light his body was far more visible. It was by no means massive, piled with muscles like she'd seen on other players with a super STR score, but Kirito's was still well stacked, his body lean with tight muscles, offering her a perfect view of each digital muscle that was raised and moved with his movements. "Uh. . . Kirito. . ." she started, drawing her eyes from the visible portion of his abdomen as he sat. His sleepy eyes conveyed everything she needed to know about his shirtless state.
"Hm?" he breathed out, pulling a hand up to rub his eyes.
"You uh. . ." she started, but found herself stopping short, feeling far too embarrassed to actually bring the fact to light he was shirtless. And not in any way wanting him to stay that way. "You want some milk or orange juice?"
"Orange juice, thank you." Kirito gave a small bow with his head. "I really feel bad you're going to all this trouble for me, I'll pay you back soon I promise."
"I-It's no problem." She took the chance to turn her back, reaching into the refrigerator to pull out a carton of orange juice, pouring them both a glass before bringing it to the table, confronted once again with a shirtless man. Calm down, it's just a virtual naked human torso it's not that. . . impressive. Her speech slowed as she remembered she'd hugged him like that last night. Even though their contact was nothing but data, a replication of physical touch, it felt so real. It caused her face to heat up as she put the cups down.
He mumbled out a thank you again, mixed with a coming yawn. When he looked over, he saw she was wearing a high-thigh pair of blue shorts under her shirt giving him a close look at long pale legs, a light muscle definition showing as she walked. To say it woke him up would be an understatement. He turned his head as to not stare, but found he either had her t-shirt clad chest or the wall to see and his eyes got stuck on her chest, the modest breasts underneath being traced over by the shirt. It gave him a reminder of how warm she had been the night before.
They both were silent and keeping their eyes on each other, though nowhere near the face, trying their best not to get caught staring at the other's body. When Sinon placed the drinks down and turned away, he was almost grateful the shirt went past her rear. This is bad. . . He muttered to himself as he felt his body responding to the sights.
When she returned with the plates of breakfast, he was grateful for the brief distraction, bowing his head. "Thank you again for the food." He spoke, keeping his words together as he grabbed the fork that had been placed onto the table for him. The smell of it, it was pleasant but there was no way he could pinpoint what was added to food in his state. "So, these eggs smell amazing, what did you add to them?"
"I-Italian herbs." she spoke, sitting across from him. There was an intense heat building in her, she knew if she didn't say something about his current state, she'd start feeling even stranger than she already was. She watched him take a forkful of the scrambled eggs, a small piece of it dangling off that broke just as he had it at his mouth, falling into his lap.
He let out a small "Oops," before looking down to grab it off his lap, freezing for a moment as he finally noticed he was shirtless. Many things passed through his mind, and Sinon's behavior finally became clear to him. There was a hundred things he wanted to say, but he instead put his fork down with the eggs still on it. "M-My apologies." he muttered, the general idea coming to him he'd like to bury himself in a hole for his gross oversight of his state of dress.
She blushed as she shook her head, "It's fine." She did her best not to stare at the last images of his sculpted back as he walked a bit too fast to the couch where his discarded black tank top still sat. When he returned, she felt her heart calm down again, which was good, the thing was getting overworked. . . well, her virtual one anyway. She wondered if her heart beat just as fast in reality too?
They continued their breakfast in comfortable silence, enjoying the silence that had followed their rather interesting start to the day.
"It's kind of funny," Sinon started, as she saw Kirito finish the last bite of his food. "We never did talk about what we were originally going to, did we?" She felt more relaxed now, even though she knew the sight of his naked torso wasn't going to leave her anytime soon.
Wiping his mouth with a napkin, he gave a small chuckle. "I guess you're right. I. . . I had a really good time, I hadn't even remembered about all that stuff, I just had fun. Thank you, I mean it."
She felt her heart skip a beat at his honest smile he gave her. It had been true, everything about the death game had taken a step back the night before, both of them had only spoken of each other. "I should be thanking you," She started, keeping her gaze in his eyes, "I honestly haven't been that happy in a long time."
They both held each other's eye contact for a moment, staring at each other.
"Sinon," he started slowly, "I don't know how this is all going to end. Whether we find this 'other' way or we have to follow the rules of the game I want. . . I want us both to go back home."
She felt her heart grow warm, fidgeting in her seat. "Saying something so embarrassing like that, t-that's a really hard thing to believe, you know?"
He nodded, "I know, but I'll make it happen, no matter what."
She smiled at him. "Idiot," a small laugh left her, "I'll do the same, you don't have to do something like that alone." She felt her hand shaking, she was so happy at this exact moment she had no idea how to process the things that ran through her mind. She saw his face matched hers, as they both tried not to stare at each other, and as she opened her mouth to say something again –
Knock knock! She let out a startled gasp, as the loud rapping hit her door. "Who could that be so early?" she spoke, her heart beat getting back to normal.
"Oi! Sinon! Wake up!" Knock knock!
She sighed, letting out an exasperated sigh, "It's Klein, I'll be right back." She saw him mumble something out, but didn't hear what. As she headed for the door, she didn't know if she should strangle him or thank him for the distraction. Had they kept going on like that, she didn't know what would have left her mouth next. She unlocked the door and pressed the open button, the door letting out an electronic hiss as it slid open.
"Yo Sinon, morning!" Klein smiled with a wide grin as he gave a two-finger salute. He gave her a friendly grin as he saw her clothes. "Not every day a man gets to see you in low-armor version."
She let out a small laugh, crossing her arms, an amused smirk on her face. "Pervert, I keep telling you that's why you can't get a girlfriend," she she noticed a girl with black hair and violet eyes that she swore looked familiar. "Uh, hello," she started, looking between the two of them.
"Oh, sorry you probably don't remember," Klein spoke stepping to the side and nodded towards Rei. "This is Rei, she's the girl we met in the bar a few days ago remember?"
Rei gave Sinon a smile and bowed. "It's nice to meet you Ms. Sinon, I'm sorry the last time we met I wasn't much myself." She had the slightest hint of shame on her face.
It all clicked to Sinon, as she looked surprised. "Oh right, I remember now. It's not a problem, you were under stress. Anyone wouldn't act like themselves in that situation." She looked towards Klein with a raised eyebrow.
He gave a chuckle, "It's a bit of a story, but the short of it is that she's the newest member of Black Dog. She's staying in your old room. I'll explain the rest to ya later tonight."
Sinon gave a small shrug. "I'll look forward to hearing it." She heard the sound of plates clinking together behind her. "So, what are you doing here this early?"
"Early? It's almost ten, were you up that late?" He laughed at his own personal joke before continuing. "Dyne needs you to come back to base later, we have a bit of an issue and are going on a hunt." Klein's ears picked up on the sounds coming from the apartment, and it caused him to try and peek over her shoulder, but she shifted into his gaze.
"Let me guess, money problems?" She gave a small laugh, the only reason Dyne ever called for an emergency was when they were down to their bottom dollar.
He nodded with a wry laugh, he chickened out on telling her who they were going after, and then noticed a figure appear inside Sinon's apartment, causing him to look over her other shoulder. "What. . ." he started, as he saw Kirito wearing a tanktop and pants, standing with an arm full of dishes, turning into the kitchen.
The black haired teen saw the older samurai and gave him a small nod. "Morning Klein," he shifted the dishes in his grip, "Sinon, I hope you don't mind me doing the dishes? I have to repay you somehow for last night and this morning."
Sinon turned back towards him, "Oh, no, Kirito you don't have to it's okay. I did it because I wanted to, you're a guest here." She saw him give a firm shake of his head before walking into the kitchen, making her smile at his stubborn insistence. When she turned back around to Klein, she stopped as she saw his massive grin that stretched ear from ear. "What are you. . ."
Klein's head put two and two together. "I'm so sorry, it seems I came at a real bad time." His tone was implying something, as he put his hand on Rei's shoulder. "C'mon Rei, we gotta get back, let these two get back to their stuff."
Sinon gave him an odd look, turning her head as she tried to figure out what it was he was going on about, when it finally hit her like a truck. Her face turned red, "W-Wait, that is not what happened I-I, w-we. . .!"
"No, no, no, fear not your secret is safe with me. I'm happy for you two as a matter of fact, a little jealous of ol' Kirito, the dog, but happy. Dyne doesn't need us till tonight so I'll see you then!" He started whistling as he hustled down the hall with a confused Rei in tow.
"What stuff were they doing Mr. Klein? Who's Kirito?" Rei asked.
"Nothing!" Sinon shouted out after them, as she debated charging after him to force him to see the truth. She simply decided to shut the door as she tried to compose herself enough to face Kirito again without thinking about them doing that. Without thinking about his strong arms wrapped around her body, his mouth pressed against hers – GAH! STOP!
Out in the hall, Klein laughed as he heard Rei whining about wanting to know more. "Sorry kid, but it's adult stuff that you can't know about."
Rei crossed her arms, as they turned a corner. "I'm not a kid! You're talking about Ms. Sinon and Mr. Kirito having s-s-s-s-s," she stuttered as her face turned red.
Klein laughed, ruffling her hair. "You just keep that on the low, okay?"
"Keep what on the low?"
He looked up, recognizing the voice. The tiny blonde ‹‹Rat›› stood before them with a grin on her face, body covered by her new cloak. He did his best to keep the smile off his face, knowing that he held some rather ‹‹Grade S›› information. "Yo, Argo. Nothing important, no need to worry."
Argo, who after being unable to find Kirito at his home decided to come ask Sinon if she'd seen him, grinned, "Oooh, so you're not as dumb as you look, you know how this game works!" She hid a laugh at his annoyed glare, "Name a price, the juicier the info the more I'll pay."
A small 'hmph' escaped him, as he grinned. "No amount of credits would get me to spill these beans. Man Law #94 girl. It applies here."
Argo clicked her tongue, giving the samurai an annoyed look. "I'll get it out of you somehow. . . anyways, have you seen Kirito? I'm looking for him."
He shrugged, "Nope. Not since yesterday."
Rei raised an eyebrow as she looked up to Klein. "You were just saying that Mr. Kirito was in Ms. Sinon's apartment, why wouldn't you tell her that?"
The samurai froze, before shooting a look down at the innocent girl. He shot his look back towards Argo, who's face was morphing from smug to confused, to shock and then back again.
Argo's brain did it's best to input the data it got from the smaller girl. Kirito went on a date with Sinon last night, at her apartment to have dinner.
Date + Staying overnight X teenagers = {ERROR 404:File not found, has failed to respond, rebooting .
He stared at the comatose blonde girl, before seeing her dead eyes blink back to life as she suddenly bolted down the hallway towards Sinon's apartment. He let out a small sigh, before looking back down towards Rei who watched her go. "I think I might need to teach you a thing or two. . . well, nothing we can do for him now, let's leave before it gets ugly." Klein gave a wistful sigh as he started walking again. "Oh to have Kirito's problems."
"Mr. Klein, wait, what just happened?" Rei jogged to catch up with him.
"Love, kid, love."
Back in Sinon's apartment, she was laughing at Kirito who managed to angle a spoon under the sink just right to blast himself with with a spray of water soaking himself with a yell. "Y-You're face looks so dumb right now!"
The teen looked over with a smile as he saw her holding her sides laughing. "Laugh at me, eh?" He grinned as he angled the spoon at her and sprayed her with water.
She let out a shrill yell as the cold water sprayed her face and body. "Ah! You jerk!" She laughed, "Turn down the water already!"
He grinned, "Now who looks dumb?" He sprayed her again, prompting the girl to run forward and wrestle the spoon from him and using it on him again, both of them laughing. He went to take the spoon back, to return fire on the war that was far from over when another loud knock ran on the door.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
Sinon sighed, feeling her joy get cut out from under her feet. "What is it now?"
"Aren't you popular?" He chuckled, then noticing his shirt was rather damp. "I'm gonna go use a towel, is that alright?"
She nodded, "Sure." walking up to the door, the three loud thuds rang out again making her grumble. "Jeez, break down my door why don't you." Hitting the open with a frown, ready to chew out whoever was on the other end she stopped as she saw a serious Argo on the other end. "Argo?"
The little blonde looked up at Sinon with a mix of respect and frustration, "I underestimated you Sinon. I never thought you would strike so hard before I even had a chance." She did her best to swallow her frustration, "This must be how Takeda Shingen felt when he faced off against Uesugi Kenshin." She mumbled to herself.
She sighed, "Argo not you too, did Klein say something?" Before she could say anymore, she saw Argos' eyes locked behind her, making her turn just in time to see Kirito peeling off his wet tank top. The familiar heat in her stomach burned as she saw his naked torso again, making her look back to Argo, the small girl actually blushing.
Argo had jumped on him multiple times before, even going so far as to grope at his shoulders, but she'd never seen him without a shirt on. He needed to work on his muscles, but he was one heck of sight for her eyes. But why was he covered in sweat? Looking back up at Sinon, he saw she was looking rather sweaty too, hair matted against her head. Her eyes widened. "How long have you been, d-d-doing it!?" she demanded as her mind assaulted her with all sorts of R-18 images of Sinon and Kirito in the throws of passion.
Sinon blushed, "We haven't!" She was getting rather annoyed at all the misgivings. "Jeez, just come inside!" She grabbed the small blonde and yanked her in.
Later, after much explaining, Kirito sat between the two girls on the couch. Sinon to his right, who was looking a bit exhausted, with Argo to his left, holding onto his arm with a death grip, a still accusing look at Sinon. Why do I get the feeling that I'm in a rather dangerous position. . . The couch wasn't big by any means, so all of their legs were gently touching, no matter how much he tried to squeeze them together.
"So, you're saying you two didn't do anything?" Argo asked again, believing Sinon about her story. Or, at least she would believe because anything else would destroy her.
The sniper sighed. "Yes. We didn't do anything." She repeated, though in the back of her head she kept remembering hugging him. So she was technically lying, but, it wasn't that bad of a lie because if she told her about it she might have to explain why. Like you need a reason to hug him. She glared at her own thoughts.
"Fine. Then that just means Kii-bou is going with me tonight."
Kirito looked down at the ruffled blonde. "Um, don't I get a say in this?" He stopped, as he saw Argo look up at him, her blonde hair framing her face perfectly as he emerald eyes looked as if they were moistening.
"Do. . . do you not want to go out with me? Kii-bou?" She sniffled, though it was all faked, a very core part of her was on the verge of crying if he said no.
"E-Eh? No! That's not it at all! I-It's just that I. . ." he looked back towards Sinon, who's expression was neutral. "I. . ."
Sinon waved her hand, "Don't look at me, it's not like we're a couple. . . or anything." she trailed off looking away. "Besides, it's only fair."
"Fair?" he asked, confused. He started getting a rather funny idea in his head.
Argo looked at the both of them, sensing that she had lost something major in this war of hers. She needed to act. "Okay! It's settled then, Kii-bou you're meeting me at your place at six tonight, got it?!"
"Sure?" He said, scratching his head. "I'm still confused though, what did you mean by fair –"
"Right, that's enough for now." Sinon spoke as she stood. "I got a job to do, so I'll have to ask you both to leave for now." She would rather not explain the misspeak on her part.
Argo grabbed Kirito's hand pulling him forward. "Come on lover boy, I'm escorting you back!"
"Wait, Argo!"
Sinon almost laughed, it wasn't for the fact she just wanted some peace and quiet alone. "See you guys."
Kirito managed to stop for a moment as he looked back towards Sinon, an apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to finish the dishes, and thank you for everything last –" he was cut off by a tug on his arm pulling him forward again.
"Nope. Nope! None of that, she's gotten enough Kii-bou love for today, it's Argo day now!" Her face burned to say it but she wasn't going easy anymore. Love is war!
As the door closed shut behind the them, she let out a small sigh, as she looked around her now silent apartment. Her couch still looked as if it had been slept on, blankets bunched up in the corner she had sat on, the pillow squashed behind where Argo had sat. Her coffee table was just a tad misaligned. In the kitchen, the floor had water on it, and dishes were half-clean inside the sink.
"Well, I suppose I should clean up first. Then I guess I better go see what Dyne wants." Heading for the kitchen to grab a mop, she couldn't help but smile. It had been lonely all by herself in her apartment, even though it was for a short time, Kirito had made her little place that much warmer.
"You're sure you saw him there?"
The older, rough looking woman across from him nodded, her wild bright red hair seeming to glow like fire in the light of ‹‹Lawman's Whistle››, her wrinkled combat fatigues unbuttoned to show case a stacked set of clevage. "Yeah, he or she, whatever the hell it is, always frequents the same restaurant on Thursday nights. Apparently it's ladies night or something there." She let out a harsh laugh as she balanced the combat knife on her finger.
Dyne scribbled down the information in his notebook, nodding to himself. "Right, that's what I heard from Mary too, thanks Devil." He tucked the notepad into his duster, standing.
Devil watched him, her yellow eyes tracking his movements. "You know, you should really swing by here more often at night." She gave a taunting lick of her lips. "You're not too old yet for a girl to take a swing at." She winked at him.
He turned his back on her, walking away, "Thanks, but no thanks."
"Ooh, so cold." She laughed, "But I like it when they play hard to get. Just don't let ‹‹Cactaur Queen››
be the thing that claims the Dog Head." She laughed at her own joke.
He waved a lazy hand over his shoulder, before walking up to the NPC bartender and paying his tab he'd occurred while probing for information. Walking out the door, he was greeted by the rolling gray skies of a day that just wouldn't let the sun in.
The bar was situated on top of part of the old hull of Glocken, allowing for a bird's eye view of the city proper. Buildings of various heights and size dotted the city, making for a broken artwork all lit up with neon lights and signs. The sea of green, pink and yellow was broken by long trails of highway full of cars with their head lights on, making for parallel flowing rivers of red and yellow. He could see a lone dune buggy kicking up dust on the southern gate, headed out into the wasteland.
Pulling his pack of cigarettes out, he pushed one up, taking it with his mouth as he deftly lit it with his lighter. Taking a drag, he blew the smoke out as a gust of wind blew making it disperse with the wind. Time to head back. Stuffing his hands in his duster's pockets he headed for the long ramp of stairs that would lead him back down along the side of the hull.
It'd been a while since he'd really had time to himself, he thought as he nodded his head at a familiar face headed up to the bar. He didn't particularly enjoy it either. When he was alone, even when he was in a crowd, memories always came to him. He always tried to keep himself busy and in a game like this there was no shortage of work. If he didn't work, he slept. It was the only way. Otherwise, in moments like this where even with the cool wind and rather nice view he could only remember the dark apartment, covered in beer bottles and empty containers of instant food. Of the regret and self-hatred that never left him.
He took another long drag from his cigarette. It was ironic to him, that here he was reminded of the old days. He had vigor, an actual reason to get up every morning and not break something when he passed by the mirror. He had been skeptical at first, when his shrink had suggested he play this game. He still hadn't believed the woman when she handed him the box for the NervGear. Well, he always had enjoyed video games.
He bumped his shoulder into someone, making him apologize with a small bow of his head, it was waved off with a laugh and 'no problem'. Dammit, he needed to watch where he was going. He still couldn't believe how real pain felt in the game. It wasn't dumbed down at all. In all his years playing games, he'd never thought he'd live to see actual VR technology.
So then, was this some form of a joke? That his 'treatment' had turned out likely to be his coffin? He gave a sardonic scoff. It was just what he knew he'd deserved since that day. He never blamed his daughter for refusing to talk or even look at him. How could he? A parent who let her mother die and couldn't even function well enough to be an actual father.
His mood turned dark, he'd let a lot of people down in his life. He then remembered the biggest twist of irony he'd met in this game yet. He was never much of a religious man, no so much more than the next, but now he believed for sure, this game was his penance.
"Dyne?" A fingerless gloved hand placed itself on his shoulder.
He looked over, seeing he'd walked himself well off the stairs and was halfway home. He was surrounded by the entertainment district, a bright display to his left belonging to a convenience store was playing an advertisement of an animated girl drinking a Sunny Lemon drink with a huge smile on her face. Sinon stood to his right, her face concerned. She was dressed in her usual casual outfit of her brown aviator jacket with the 'Lovely Angel' patch on the back and blue denim jeans. He found himself caught in her concerned look for a moment longer than he should of, her appearance being far too coincidental.
"Ah, Sinon. Hello." He felt at a loss for words.
She tilted her head, her frown deepening. "Are you alright? I was calling your name but you didn't hear me." She'd never seen such a look on his face, it was as if his virtual avatar had aged ten years.
He saw her concerned look at let out a sigh, running his hand down his face as if to rub away the disdain and emotion he'd let out lost in his own world. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit tired."
"There's more to it than that, you can tell me." She walked in front of him, but he kept walking forward, making her walk next to him. "I've seen you tired before but nothing like this."
He rubbed the inside of his cheek with his tongue, thinking of a way to satisfy her. But he couldn't tell her what was actually bothering him, not her. A thought occurred to him that made his frown large, it wasn't something he'd considered before either but now that he had, it was bothering him. With a sigh, he decided to speak, "Last week. . . it was my daughter's birthday. This is the first year I haven't given her a present." Whether or not she actually accepted his gifts was another thing all together.
"Oh Dyne," she spoke with comforting tone, "I'm sorry. I know how you feel. My mother's birthday was a few months ago and we usually got together then. I'm your daughter understands." So, he had a daughter, she thought. He never mentioned anything about himself, this was the most he'd ever opened up.
He looked over at her, noting her choice of words. "I suppose it's happening to everyone here." They were quiet after that, silently walking together down the semi-crowded sidewalk. He let out a grumble as he forced his thoughts to the back of his head, they'd have plenty of time to come out when he tried to sleep. "So, where's your rifle? We might need it."
She shook her head. "It's in rough shape. Vulcan is making a new one for me. I'll have to use the old one – considering you haven't sold it yet."
The old man laughed shaking his head. "No, it's still in it's place of honor gathering dust in the broom closet. I'd suggest cleaning it so you don't leave it up to the game when to make it jam tonight."
"Well, gee, thanks old man for keeping such good care of the rifle you gave me." She smirked at him, elbowing him gently, "Really lets me know what you think about me."
He couldn't help but smile, though he hid it. He knew that he gave her special treatment not because he'd been the one to pick her up from the state she was in as that small scared girl covered in blood, but rather that the small scared girl reminded him so much of his own daughter. Or rather, he found that by being with her, it was like some form of way of reclaiming time he couldn't have with her. He knew it was wrong, and even worse now knowing what he did, but he just couldn't help it.
"Sure, forget all about the free ammo and paycheck I give ya, eh?" He grinned at her as he took another drag from his cigarette. He could see the alley off in the distance that would turn into their base, they were in the homestretch. "So why don't you tell me all about your date, eh? I hope Kirito was a gentleman."
She groaned, "Not you too Dyne!"
He chuckled before reaching over and patting her on the back.
"No way, this can't be!"
Rei let out a triumphant cheer as she jumped out of the couch with the controller held in her hand. "Haha! I win again! That makes 5-0 Mr. Ginrou!" She looked down at the pale man who stared in disbelief at the fighting mini-game where his female character was splayed out like a corpse in front of the massive wrestler who was flexing and laughing in victory. "Want me to give you some pointers?"
He shot to his feet, hands gripped around the controller hard enough to break it. "YOU –"
"Oi." Klein spoke firmly from across the room, seated at the table with the table cleaning his shotgun.
The hacker ground his teeth, feeling the glare on him. "You're pretty good kid." Every synapse in his brain screamed at him to flip the TV in rage as he cussed her out for beating him, no matter how cute she was right now. He realized it was all just an act, the little imp was actually a succubus from hell, sent here to emasculate him with her petite body and cute face.
"Hehe! Thank you Mr. Ginrou! I play all the time against my neighbor, we always play Highway Rumbler VI, he beats me all the time so I got lots of practice in these games." She remembered the boy who lived next to her. He wasn't as cool as Mr. Klein, though. The young girl stole a peek at Klein, whom had gone back to cleaning his gun with a focused look on his face.
Putting the controller down, she gave a smile to Ginrou who was still seething. "You should practice some before we play again, your combos need some work, I'll help if you need it!"
Steam shot from the hacker's ears as his face turned blood red, his teeth threatening to crack, his hands twitched and his foot grinded the heel into the ground as the well-meaning girl gave a smile and wave as she skipped over to Klein. You. . . YOU. . . YOOOOUUUUUU! Ginrou screamed in his mind as he bolted to his room, slamming the door behind him as sounds of things breaking could just be heard under the nerd rage incarnate's screams of rage.
Klein shook his head with a look of pity. He heard the chair next to him scrape against the tiled floor, Rei taking a seat next to him and scooting it closer to him. He gave her a smile, "Already tired of beating up Ginrou?" He grabbed a stiff brush, scrubbing the inside of the barrel, watching as black bits of built up gunk fell out onto the white cloth under him.
She gave a small shrug, staring at his hands as he worked. "It's okay, he's fun to play with, kinda funny too. He's really passionate about it all, I think he's nice."
A laugh was given in reply, "That sounds like Ginrou alright. Though I think you might be one of the only people who have ever described him like that." Really, the girl was too nice.
The young girl leaned forward on her elbows, staring at him work. "I dunno, my dad always told me that everyone is nice, people who are mean just have had bad things happen to them and don't remember how to be nice so you should always smile to remind them."
He stopped for a moment, looking at her. "Your dad, he sounds like a good guy." He turned back to his cleaning, smiling.
She nodded, looking up at his face that had his focus written all over it. "Yeah. . ." she trailed off, not that the samurai outwardly noticed. She found herself staring at his golden-brown eyes, entranced by the way the light reflected off them. She studied his firm jaw line, the shape of his mouth, the scruff of his chin. She couldn't stop herself from leaning closer to him, smelling the gun lubricant that stained the white cloth in small drops. "Mr. Klein," she started.
"You know, Rei, you don't have to be so formal with me." He half-turned to her, noting how much closer the girl was than before. "You can just call me Klein," he laughed, "makes me feel like an old man when you call me that."
She blushed, looking down at her lap as her hands fidgeted. "Well, K-Klein, do you. . ." she felt the words get stuck in her throat, trying to utter them, and heard him give her a 'Hm?'" which made her swallow her nervousness. "Do you have a g-girlfriend?"
He felt a small stab hit him in his heart, making him almost drop his tools. "Uh, well," he started, letting out a troubled mumble, a blush appearing on his face. "No. . . I never have. I've had an unlucky streak going on for years." He was forced to remember that he was lonely, causing him to bite his tongue to keep his mood up. "Why do you ask?"
Her eyes lit up, as her smile grew wide. "Really?!" She couldn't believe her luck!
Another arrow struck him, making him hurt. Girls always knew how to make a single guy really hurt. She moved closer to him, causing the samurai to take notice of the girl's proximity.
"T-Then, w-would you, m-maybe think –?"
The front door opened wide, the sound of Glocken streaming in through the open doorway. Rei let out a small yelp of surprise as she jumped away from Klein, making the man raise an eyebrow at her. He soon looked back towards the door, seeing Dyne and Sinon walking in. He grinned and raised the hand holding the bristle brush. "Yo, took you two long enough to get home." He opened his mouth to say more but caught the glare from Sinon.
"You and me are having a talk later." She spoke, keeping her eyes piercing through Klein who only raised his occupied hands, with a look on his face that told her he knew exactly what she was pissed about.
Dyne pulled off his duster and tossed it towards the couch. "But first it's time for a meeting, Klein come on over here – and where the hell is Ginrou?"
"Pouting in his room after getting trashed by Rei here." Klein grinned as he patted the girl on her head, making her squirm with joy as a smile appeared on her face.
She relished the friendly touch, she wanted him to praise her more. She'd make sure to fight against Ginrou even harder from here on out!
Sinon raised an eye brow as she saw Rei's reaction and made a mental note to keep an eye on her. At least Klein didn't seem to even remotely understand what signals the young girl was giving off. Nor did she doubt she had to worry about him. She heard Dyne sigh, before he raised his head.
"Ginrou! Get out here! We're having a strategy meeting for tonight's hunt!" Nothing. He let out an irritated sigh. He started to work up a huge yell when he saw Sinon walk forward with a raised gloved hand.
"I got it." She walked up to the door, clearing her throat. "Ginrou? You –" she wasn't able to get another word out as the sounds of scrambling from inside cut her off, stacks of the junk in his room collapsing, and the door slammed open, the hacker sliding out.
His eyes locked onto hers, making her step back. "Sinon! You're back!" He sounded as if he'd seen a long lost lover return from a war.
"I never went anywhere." She spoke, trying not to let out a sigh. She saw him open his mouth to let out another torrent when a very cold glare could be felt directed at him, making the hacker freeze.
"Okay. I'm coming." He squeaked out, moving to the dining room table, where Klein was making room for everyone to sit, bunching all his gun parts and gun cleaning kit into a nice little pile in front of him.
Rei quickly took back her chair, sitting next to Klein, keeping her chair closer to the man. Sinon sat a the opposite head of the table, leaning her chair back some with a sigh as she saw Ginrou sit to her left, stealing glances at her. Dyne stood at the head, pulling out his note book from his shirt pocket.
With a quick cough to clear his throat he looked at Sinon. "I haven't explained what it is we're doing tonight, but first I'll explain the why. I called an emergency meeting because if we don't bring in this target, we won't be able to pay rent, much less all the debt we owe this month." He kept his tone even, though he wanted to cringe the whole time. At least no one looked surprised.
"Oh, Dyne." Klein raised his hand out of reflex. "Jack wants a bigger payment this month, he's kinda. . . insistent about it." He gave a nervous chuckle, watching Dyne slap his face, dragging it down.
"Of course he does." He grumbled behind his hand. "Alright. So that's just another reason we need to catch this bastard."
"You still haven't said their name." Sinon piped up, tilting her head. "Who are we going after?" She didn't fail to notice the seasoned Black Dog members giving each other a sideways glance.
"Well. . ." Ginrou started, looking towards Dyne who gave him a nod. "We're sorta going after. . . Cactaur Queen."
A pin could have been heard drop in the living room. There was nothing but dead silence and stillness for a full two seconds as Sinon stopped her chair mid-lean. Then, she stomped her foot into the floor and stood, causing the chair to rock as Ginrou jumped with a yell. The sniper stomped back towards a closet by the kitchen and threw it open.
All three males looked between each other as sounds of long forgotten items were thrown about in the small closet, while Rei looking between all of them, the question marks almost visible above her head. When Sinon emerged, a dirty ‹‹.308 Winchester M70›› with a worn brown stained oak body, was clutched in her hand. She slammed down into her seat, putting the gun onto the table. She began disassembling the rifle with ease, the sounds of the gun pieces being the only sound echoing in the room.
Not able to stand it anymore, Rei leaned in towards Sinon. "Um, Ms. Sinon? Are you okay?"
"Fine." The venom dripped from her tongue. She snatched Klein's cleaning kit and dragged it over to her, the samurai not offering a word of resistance.
The younger girl tilted her head. "Is there something about the Cactaur Queen you don't like?" All the men leaned back a tad.
Sinon's hands froze. She glared a hole into the table, her fingerless gloves gripping the removed barrel of the Winchester. Her lips bunched into a snarl as her ice blue eyes were ablaze with fire. "That. . . that bastard. . .!" Her memories played out in front of her eyes as she could recall the smell of his horrid perfume as he leaned in, big red lips puckered. – Sinon shot up from the table, slamming her hands on the table, "That was not my first kiss! No!" She dropped back into her chair, furiously tearing apart her gun.
Rei gave her a smile as she reached over and patted the furious lioness' shoulder. "There, there, a girl's first kiss only counts when it's with a boy she likes."
Dyne coughed, seeing that the worst of it was over. "Well. . . now that you know. I'll get on the rest." He remembered it tagging him too. It was the worst thing he'd probably felt in the game, he could still recall the taste of garlic.
"What we know about the target, is that he's a six foot nine tall man, approximately around sixty or so ‹‹STR›› judging by his muscle mass. So don't engage him up in a hand to hand fight, alright?" He looked towards Klein, who nodded. "Besides. . . we know what happens if he gets too close." A collective shudder went through the group.
"He's also way too fast. I highly doubt it's due to his ‹‹AGI›› or anything. He's had to of focused on his ‹‹STR›› this whole time so keep an eye out for some kind of device or item that's allowing him to achieve the speeds he can run at. Which means we need to take him out asap, which the plan of attack will outline, understood?"
"Roger." Sinon growled as she started pouring some cleaning oil into the barrel of her gun.
"Right," Klein replied, eying the irate girl before turning towards Dyne. "So we're ambushing him somewhere? At a distance? Please?" He wasn't nearly as vocal, but he had his first kiss stolen too. He just decided to repeat Rei's sweet lie in his head over and over again, replacing some words.
Dyne shook his head. "It will be at some distance but, we need to get him indoors, where we can block off the exits and if the worst case happens and he escapes, Sinon can take him out as he flees. That means you're going to be going in to face him head on." He ignored the redhead's cry of remorse as his head hit the table.
"Do you even know where that cross-dresser is gonna be?" Ginrou asked, his hands behind his head. Everyone told him he'd received "the mark" too, but he'd passed out when he charged him, so he liked to think the red lipstick had been planted on him.
The old man gave a nod, "According to multiple sources, Cactaur Queen is seen every Thursday night at ‹‹Bottom Luck Lady››. Apparently it's ladies night tonight. The restaurant/bar is known for it's gambling and karaoke, so it's a rather popular spot for the Slums, and it's close to the surface exits."
"So the plan is this," He continued, closing his notepad and putting it in his shirt pocket. "We'll go scope the place out at," he checked the time, it was just past two. "Six. We'll examine the building and take up positions around and inside the restaurant and wait until he makes an appearance. Sinon, you of course will be outside, I'll leave the sniping point up to you to decide."
"Understood." she spoke without looking up from where she was cleaning her gun.
"Ginrou, you'll be in the back. Hack into the building's controls and cover the back door should he try and escape that way."
Ginrou shrugged, "You got it."
"Klein, you're going to be inside with me, we'll blend in with the crowd until we make our move. You got the new stun ammo right?"
The samurai sighed, giving a nod. "Yeah, I did."
Rei jumped up from her seat with a huge grin. "Oh! Oh! Mr. Dyne! What do I get to do?! Can I go in with you guys too?!"
"No Darlin', you're staying here."
"Awww! But why?" She pouted trying to give the old man puppy dog eyes.
Dyne let out a small chuckle. "Nice try kid, but I've had those used on me for way too long." His tone grew firmer. "It's too dangerous down there for you. We're dealing with someone who could hurt us pretty good if we're not careful and once we make ourselves known as bounty hunters we're gonna have a lot of angry people wanting to start something with us. No, it's best that you stay here. Besides," he continued seeing the sad look crossing her face, "we need someone to have a hot dinner waiting for us once we bag the creep. That's a job only you can do, isn't it."
Rei wiped the disappointed look off her face and gave a nod, "Okay! I'll make sure it's best meal you've ever had!"
Dyne smashed his fist into his palm. "Alright, the plan is set. You have three hours to prepare your gear and yourself! Let's bag this creep and get some payback!"
The slight breeze of his fan passed over Kirito in a hypnotic fashion, cooling his moist body fresh from the shower. Dim light passed in through the only window in his tiny metal box he had been calling home for four months. He had his desk lamp off, leaving the room dark, flashes of light being the only brief illumination. It almost never left the pattern of yellow, pink, green, and then a mix of orange and yellow. The Slums never saw the light of the sun.
He sighed, as he felt the ratty surface of his leather couch. How he'd enjoyed Sinon's couch the night before. Yet, here he was again, back in the cold lifeless box he'd been surviving in. He always did prefer camping in the wastes, at least there he could see the sun rise and set every day. Here, it was just the endless repeating neon pulses.
He rolled onto his side, towards his fan, seeing his bandana resting on the coffee table. His digital clock read the time, 5:54. He needed to get up and himself ready before Argo arrived. But, even though he knew he should be happy about going to hang out her on this date, he felt guilty. Well, guilty and excited, but it was probably the excitement he was feeling guilty over. He wasn't stupid, he knew what his heart was telling him about the blue haired sniper.
By most accounts, he should feel honored that two pretty girls wanted him to hang around them. But Argo wasn't subtle at all about her feelings towards him. But, he'd been so glad just to have a friend that he'd never thought of her as anything but that. Even though every time he thought about her tiny yet muscular arms grabbing and touching his body it made him blush like a wildfire. Really, that girl. . .
With a sigh, he sat up. He reached over and grabbed his bandana, tying it around his somewhat dry hair. He like the old cloth. He'd gotten it from a quest that had him go after some mercenaries who kidnapped a scientist. All the enemies were pretty high level, so he'd opted for stealth like Miller had taught him, and managed to get all the way to the scientist without being spotted, granting him the cloth as a bonus reward. The flavor text said it belonged to an old friend of the NPC's, though it gave no name. It did say that whoever owned it would inherit the will of an indomitable soul and the power to make the impossible possible. Of course, it was all just flavor text, he was rather disappointed at the lack of stats or buffs. But, it held sentimental value.
Going to his bedroom, where he and Miller's cots were he grabbed his hand-washed jacket and threw it on as he glanced at Miller's cot. No signs of him being here since I left. I wonder where he got off to now? Not that he cared too much, the stoic soldier was always off doing something or another by himself.
A brief set of knocks at the door made him turn, taking a small breath. You owe it to Argo to enjoy yourself and show her a good time. He took a large breath, trying to ignore the small shaking in his stomach. Walking to the front door, he put on a smile as he opened it. "Argo, he. . .llo."
"W-What's with that weird greeting?"
Kirito was at a loss for words as he saw the girl transformed before him. Her emerald eyes seemed to glow in the dim light, her blond hair rimmed by the neon light of the bar in the distance. Her smooth pale skin was bare for his eyes to see, gone was the cloak she normally wore. He could see, even in this lighting, every curve of her raised and muscular shoulders and neck, slightly flexed from how she held her equally impressive arms behind her. Her strong chest was covered up to the armpits by the dress she wore, though a small amount of her modest cleavage was still there, enticing him. To say the dress fit her would be the wrong words to use. It contoured to her curves, the dress flaring out at her hips. He was at a loss for words, eyes glued to her body.
"Kii-bou, you're making me feel weird. . ." Argo muttered out, feeling more overwhelmed than she thought she would at his intense stare. She knew that it was going to be a bad idea to wear this.
"I-I. . ." he started, before swallowing his mouth that had begun to pool with saliva. "I'm sorry, Argo, it's just. . . I-I've never seen you in a dress it's. . . you're beautiful." He managed to mutter out, keeping his eyes on her even though he wanted to run.
Argo's pale skin heated up red, "B-Beautiful?!" She knew she should have worn this dress! She felt her confidence soar as she brought her right hand forward, showing a golden bangle on her wrist, putting it on her chest. "Well of course I am! About time you noticed!" She looked over to him, noticing his outfit. "I see you spared no expense for tonight." She felt her attitude returning to her, she'd been fretting over today ever since she saw how Kirito looked at Sinon. But she still had a chance!
He rubbed the back of his head, looking away as the blush stayed on his face. "I-I don't really have any other clothes, sorry." He let out a small yelp as she grabbed his hand and pulled him from the small apartment.
Holding a huge grin as she held onto his hand with both hands, she looked into his eyes. "It's okay, you're handsome no matter what you wear."
He sputtered out something, unable to form a response, words coming out in jumbles before he finally managed to say. "J-Just let me lock up real quick, then we'll go." He felt Argo reluctantly let go of his hand as he went and fished around his pockets, closing the door.
She watched him stumble with the lock, gently touching her hands to feel the warmth. "So. . . where are you taking me?"
His hands wouldn't listen to him, as he tried to will them to work. "Well, I figured going out to some dinner first would be good?"
Clapping her hands together, she grinned at his back. "Awesome, I'm starving! Where we going?" She listed places off in her head, there wasn't anything like a fancy restaurant in the Slums, but there were plenty of horror stories. Usually involved some form of animal humans normally did not eat.
"Well, there's only a few places I can think of off the top of my head, but there's a place that serves the best food in the Slums, it's a little weird, it's part bar, part restaurant, they even have a karaoke stage and a small gambling area."
"Oh? What's the name?"
"‹‹Bottom Luck Lady››."
The volume of the speakers wasn't anything too extreme, just right for this medium sized restaurant really. No, the problem to Dyne was the person currently on the microphone. Their singing was atrocious though apparently it was only being thoroughly smashed that made the person sound good, if the stumbling crowd around the small stage was any indication.
He took a look around the gaudy interior of the building, the walls were bright pink with lots of fake greenery in pots hanging from the walls and miniature bushes in planters in corners and other places. Roman-era sculptures and busts also found places to decorate around the building. The right side of the room was covered with booths and tables for the restaurant, the karaoke machine being placed in the far back corner while on the left wall the bar stood with a long counter top and tall selection of booze behind it. And, just past that was two door ways. One led upstairs to what he surmised was the gambling area, though it wasn't of any importance yet.
He swirled his drink around in his glass once, a whiskey on the rocks, before taking a sip. Nothing like a hard bite of the good stuff to take the edge off.
"Oi, Dyne, should you really be doing that here?"
"It's fine Klein, it'd take a whole bottle of this stuff to get me even tipsy. Plus we need a reason to be here. Just stay calm – you look like you're about to get stabbed at any second." He grunted back to the samurai who hadn't stopped his foot tapping for the past five minutes. "And cut that out, if anyone looks at you they'll know something is up."
"There's nothing but orange players in here right now." Klein made sure to keep his eyes on them. "You really sure you want to go through with this? If we don't have bullets flying at us the second we make a move I'll be amazed."
"Just stick to the plan and they won't even know we're here, okay?" He saw Klein take a long breath before nodding his head. "Sinon, can you still hear us? Any sign of the target?"
"Copy that, no sign of the bastard, over."
He let out a soft grunt, hearing the edge in her voice through the throat mic's earpiece. "Just stay calm and try not to shoot him the second you see him. If you miss that'll be that."
"I won't, over."
For some reason he felt she was talking about missing. A loud cheer came from over by the karaoke stage, the singer was finally finished with what he was singing about, thank God, he didn't know how much more –
"You've got to be kidding me."
Dyne's eyes narrowed, "What, what is it?" He asked in a hushed tone, hand starting to move towards his hip.
"Kirito and Argo are coming towards you right now. . . they might just be walking by. . . is she-?!"
His eyebrow raised, "Sinon?"
"Uh, never mind." The girls voice hid a sense of embarrassment. "They're going for the door."
"Crap." He saw the look of confusion on Klein's face. "We have a complication, Kirito and Argo are coming here tonight. We can't let them see us or they might end up drawing attention to us."
That boy, two in two days? Klein couldn't tell if he was jealous or impressed. "Right, there's a booth in the corner open with tall backs, we'll have less of a chance of them seeing us."
"Good idea."
They both stood and tried not to hurry as they relocated seats, each of them making sure to keep their coats close to their body as to not display the weapons hidden underneath. Klein sat down and scooted a bit back on the corner circle seat, making sure he couldn't be seen walking in. There were quite a few people between them and open tables, as long as they laid low, they should stay mostly hidden.
"I see them." Dyne spoke, his head leaning out a bit to watch them enter, pulling his head back as they entered.
"Dyne," Klein started, leaning in, "Don't you think we should find a way to warn them? It's gonna get dangerous in here real quick as soon as we make our move."
Dyne shook his head. "We can't mess this up. Guys down here talk and warn each other. If they see white players who look like cops making too much noise he might get told. Best we can do is warn him just before we make our move, okay?"
Klein bit his lip but nodded. "Alright."
Across the room, Kirito tried to keep it together as Argo held onto his arm tightly, she'd grabbed it just before they'd entered the building, and had kept his elbow tucked into her chest. Which was causing him no end of heated feelings. She was gently humming, keeping herself close to him as he led them to a nice-r table close to the karaoke section, but just far enough away from the drunken crowd of people they wouldn't be bothered.
He saw Argo pout for a moment, before letting go of his arm and taking a seat, but her smile was still full on her face. Coughing for a moment, feeling butterflies in his stomach multiply, he took his seat. "Uh, the server should be here pretty soon, it's an NPC staff so they –"
"What do you want?"
The gruff voice almost made him jump as he turned towards the dark-skinned NPC who was bulging with muscles, and covered in just as many scars. He hadn't even heard him walk up on them.
Argo leaned forward, "Do you have a menu? Kinda hard to decide without that." She saw the gruff looking NPC point with his thumb behind him, where a chalkboard with all the menu items written on it were. "Hmm. . . not bad." She spoke tapping her chin. "What are you gonna get Kii-bou?"
He'd been here before a few times, and he had his favorites. "I'll take a medium rare steak with a side of vegetables. Water to drink is fine."
The NPC grunted as it inputted the order into the restaurant's 'system'. Then, a price window opened on Kirito's HUD showing the price, 890 credits. Rather expensive food, but this was actual food rather than the persevered stuff that was all over the Slums. He hit accept, and gold letters appeared over it, Order Received!
The NPC looked over to Argo. "Well?" The programmers did a good job of making the wait staff seem rude. Or a horrible job of making them nice.
"I'll have what he's having," she started, before grinning, "But I'll take six portions of the steak and ten of the vegetables." She noticed Kirito's jaw drop, "What? A growing girl's gotta eat." She pulled her right arm up and flexed it hard, the muscles from shoulder to bicep popping out. "You don't think these babies run off low fuel do you?"
"Uh, I don't think that's a feature in the game."
"Quiet Kii-bou."
After the waiter left with their orders, Kirito noticed Argo staring at him, resting her chin on her hand. He couldn't help but feel a bit awkward at her loving gaze she did nothing to hide. He found it hard to keep his eyes on her, he'd never seen her look so feminine before. Sure, he'd always thought she was cute, but she always hid under her cloak or was fighting if she wasn't. This was the first time he'd actually gotten such a clear view of her before.
"Kii-bou," Argo started, seeing him snap his eyes back to hers with a stuttered response. She smiled at him, a finger reaching up to one of her long bangs. "Do you remember, when we first met?" She gently twirled her hair around her finger.
Kirito was rather calmed by the question, thinking back to a month after he'd met Miller. "Uh, yeah, it was almost four months ago, but I recall it really well." He let out a faint laugh, "I think my butt remembers it better though, you were heavier than I'd thought."
She blushed, "H-Hey! It's not my fault you can't catch a girl falling from a roof properly!" She fidgeted on her seat, as she remembered slipping on the roof as she jumped, swearing she was gonna die, but Kirito had seen her fall and caught her in time.
"Well, maybe if you hadn't tried chasing after that guy – what was it for again? That's right, I remember, your lunch." He laughed, "It still amuses me to think that the best info broker got her start by scrounging up information on a sandwich thief."
She proudly put her arms on her hips, leaning forward, "Damn straight I'm the best, and who cares how it started?" She leaned back, putting her hands on the table, "Besides, I couldn't really have done it if you hadn't helped out." She blushed again, despite herself, remembering how when they'd cornered the sandwich thief Kirito had protected her.
"Heh, that was then," he chuckled. He gazed at her body, "You really aren't the same scrawny girl you were a few months ago. Now I'm sure you would have flicked him with your finger and knocked him out cold." A small giggle escaped her lips, making his heart beat faster.
"Well yeah, I did have a reason after all. . ." It wasn't something like she never wanted another man to help her again, far from it. She just wanted to one day be able to fight side by side with Kirito, and to do that she had to learn how the game worked inside out and train her butt off to make her fighting ability able to work in a game that relied on guns. "You haven't done too bad for yourself either, you know." She giggled again as she saw him blush.
Back across the room, Klein lowered his head back down with a grin. "Look at Kirito, never thought he'd be good with the ladies, no wonder he's got you wrapped around his finger too Sinon."
"S-Shut up!"
Dyne held back his laugh, "Now's not the time, focus. Sinon, do you see anything?" He saw the waiter that had taken their friend's orders head back over with two glasses of water. He heard a small growl of frustration on the other end, imagining the shade of red the sniper probably was.
"Nothing. . . wait."
He held a hand up to Klein, making the samurai put a finger up to his earpiece.
"It's gotta be him. . . yeah, I'm positive it is. No other man is going to be wearing a pink and black polka-doted dress and hold that much muscle. He's heading for the door."
Dyne nodded to Klein, and they both leaned over a bit. They each shifted back quickly as the six foot six man stepped into the building, tanned shining skin, long thick black curly hair and green eyes that were holding one inch eyelashes. His lips were painted a bright red, which he held in a puckered state as he stopped just past the door frame. The massive man threw his limbs forward in a pose, his stacked muscles all flexing.
"Yoohoo! My darlings! I've come yet once again to entertain you all!"
All eyes shifted to the back of the bar, where many people cheered as they raised their glasses, one particularly loud voice echoed, "All hail Cactaur Queen! Goddess of the Karaoke bar!" The voice started a chain reaction as all of the players who were in the back began to chant the phrase, making Cactaur Queen laugh as he began heading towards the bar.
Klein's face was set into a grimace. "You gotta be kidding me. . ."
"You never know," Ginrou's voice came in over the throat mic, "He might have a really good singing voice."
"I really don't want to consider that, thanks." Klein replied, watching the giant man shuffle over and lean onto the bar.
"Ginrou, is everything ready?" Dyne asked.
"You got it, I have full control, just say the word and I can kick this party off."
Dyne nodded to himself. "Alright, we wait until he starts a song, then on my order kill the lights got it?" He heard Ginrou give a confirmation over the radio and he nodded again. Peeking his head up, he grumbled as he saw Kirito and Argo staring at Cactaur Queen, there always had to be a complication.
Kirito watched the large man with a neutral look. "Huh, they really like him. I think I've heard that name before, but I have no idea where." He glanced over to Argo only to see her with a sour look on her face.
"He's a real pervert, he's a criminal only because he's a serial kisser."
"A serial killer?!"
"No, kisser. And he doesn't care if it's a boy or girl."
"Oh. That's . . . odd." He glanced back over towards the bar, but froze up as he saw the large man sauntering up to him, which is something he never wanted to see such a large man do. He could see the Agro's hair start to stand on end as the man deliberately ignored her and gently bent over, his heavy perfume assaulting his nose. "Um, hi?"
Cactaur Queen stood a moment, gazing at the black haired teen, before giving him a sly wink. "Hello handsome. I don't think I've ever seen you in my part of town before. You ever hear that you're just my type?" One of his large hands rested on his shoulder.
"Hey." Argo snapped, glaring at Cactaur Queen. "That's my Kii-bou. Hands off."
The large man flicked her eyes over to Argo, hand now slowly rubbing Kirito's shoulder. "Well, I quite like your Kii-bou myself." She pulled her hand off when she saw Argo start to growl. "But, I don't take any conquests while I'm in my sanctuary. So I'll let you be, for now."He turned back and winked at Kirito, making the boy shudder. "Unless, you want me to." Cactuar Queen giggled as he shook his hips walking away.
Argo glared after him the whole way to the Karaoke stage, before shaking her head and turning back to Kirito. "You okay Kii-bou?"
The teen just nodded, almost comatose. "I-I think. . . maybe?" He let out a small yell as Argo grabbed his hands with hers. She smiled at him, which shook him out of it, but then reminded him of something. "What did you mean by 'my Kii-bou'?"
The little blonde blushed, and started stuttering.
Klein whistled, shaking his head. "Jeez, I don't think he realized just how close to death he came." He'd kept a hand on his ‹‹Katana›› the whole time, he wouldn't let Kirito get the same kind of hell he'd received. Bros don't let bros get molested. "Look, he's headed to the stage."
Dyne nodded, "Right, it should be showtime soon. Sinon, you ready up there?"
Outside, across the street on top of the adjacent vacant building, it's cement walls tagged with graffiti and it's inside strewn with trash, Sinon was perched on the roof kneeling. Her first sniper rifle was held in her arms like an old lover, perfectly cleaned and ready. She gave herself a nod, "Roger that Dyne, we –" She was cut off as she heard the sound of a loud engine cut through the already noisy air of the Slums. "What the. . ." She glanced down the street, and her eyes widened.
"Sinon, what's wrong? Sinon?"
"Shit, Dyne, I think we have a problem." Barreling down the street was a massive APC painted blue and white with the emblem for the ‹‹Glocken Military Police Force›› on the sides, it slammed cars aside as it didn't slow down a bit.
The sound of an explosion followed by the crack of gunfire echoed off in the distance, and from her vantage point she could start to see thick gray smoke billowing a few streets over. She could start to hear "Dyne, something is going down in the Slums – there's gunfire going off everywhere and there's a GMPF APC coming in and they're stopping in front of the ‹‹Bottom Luck Lady››."
Dyne grit his teeth as he stood. "The hell is going on?!" He looked at Klein who stood with him. "C'mon no time, we go tell Kirito and then take the bastard. I don't know what the GMPF are up to but it can't be good." He started maneuvering through the tables.
At the karaoke corner, Cactaur Queen threw her hand up that held the microphone. "Alright my wonderful subjects! My first song of the night shall be a favorite you all know and love!" The crowd that had gathered around the stage all let out a cheer as they started chanting his name again. "Are you all ready? Here we go!" His hand slammed down on the start button on the machine and a piano began to play in a light hearted up-beat melody, that exploded into a collection of instruments ranging from drums to bass guitar. Then, a voice that should have not belonged to a massive muscular man pierced the room like the song of an angel.
I admit that I, don't understand my cowardly past
I am afraid that my past self would soon be projected into reality
Here's the place – where I've painted countless skies.
Klein barely avoided a person as they shoved their chair back, offering a small apology and getting a curse in return. He kept his eyes on Kirito and Argo as they both looked towards the stage where Cactaur Queen was starting to shake his body to the song.
In my dreams, I soared!
I'll shake off my doubts that would burden my body!
These small slumbering feelings of mine, will grow!
Kirito had to admit, creepy or not he could sing. "Can you believe this guy, Argo?" He started to understand why there were so many fans. He jumped for the third time that night as a hand grabbed his shoulder, he reacted to it by grabbing the hand preparing to counter something when he heard Klein's voice.
"Kirito, don't panic it's me!"
"Klein, what?" Kirito spoke, looking between Dyne and Klein who both were kneeling by his table looking around.
I realize I'm weak, and you're by my side,
that will give me strength in this dark world,
My ever dreaming heart will last forever.
"Don't have time to explain, you need to get out of here and now!" Klein spoke, he saw Kirito's confused expression, opening his mouth to protest. He cut him off, "Just trust me, you gotta run!"
The music was at it's high point, as Cactaur Queen began singing the last lines of the verse in English.
I wanna always be with you,
I'll give you everything I have!
"No time, they're busting in!" Sinon's voice crackled over the microphone.
The doors to the ‹‹Bottom Luck Lady›› burst open at the end of the song, overpowering the song and causing many of the patrons to scream in shock as fully armored soldiers with the GMPF logo stormed the building. Three soldiers with massive riot shields slammed down into a kneeling position forming a line of cover as three other soldiers all equipped with ‹‹Type 88 GPMG›› Light Machine Guns, massive 100 round drums attached underneath took positions behind the shields aiming their guns into the crowd.
Another soldier walked in behind them, a golden scarf tied around his neck, an ‹‹ACR›› assault rifle held in his arms. "Attention!" He roared out, his voice booming in the pandemonium, yet the chaos of the crowd of people continued as they shouted curses. The soldier with the golden scarf raised his rifle and shot once, making everyone scream and become silent. "We are the Glocken Military Police Force! As of this moment we are declaring martial law on the Slums of SBC Glocken! All criminals are to lay down their arms and surrender! Anything else will be seen as an act of aggression and you will be shot! You have thirty seconds to comply!"
Outside, Sinon cursed as she heard the gunshot, looking down below as she saw the remainder of the soldiers making a perimeter around the building. Several strike teams could be seen all along the main road that the ‹‹Bottom Luck Lady›› was on, surrounding similar large business. More gunfire could be heard, and it didn't have the distinct sound that stun rounds held – they were shooting live ammunition. "Dyne," she spoke again, "Dyne, what's going on in there?!"
Nothing. She cursed. Kirito was stuck in there with a whole horde of criminal hunters, they had no idea who he was! If they captured him. . . She stood up, she had to get down there and –
"F-Freeze! D-D-Don't move!" A weak voice stuttered out behind her. "Drop the r-rifle and hands up!"
She felt her fury ignite, her teeth grinding as she felt the hard barrel of a gun pressed into her mid-back. "Who are you?"
"D-Drop your weapon! I-I-I'll shoot I swear!"
She sighed, putting her left hand out and using her right to slowly lower her gun to the ground. After she did so, she turned around, hearing the person behind her gasp. Her face remained unamused as she saw the armor of the GMPF. "You idiot, can't you see my indicator?! I'm not a criminal!" Her eyes tried not to wander to the rifle pointed at her. Only her urgency to assist her friends balanced out the fear she felt rising in her.
The stuttering soldier shook his head. "W-What else would you be doing up here with that r-rifle?!"
She could see the ‹‹ACR›› he held shake, and his finger wasn't on the trigger, only a slight comfort for her fear. She sucked in a deep breath through her nose, she had to be strong. She'd overcome the sounds and feel of a gun in her hands, but having one pointed at her still. . .
She glared at him, causing him to shrink from her. "Listen, I can't stay here, my friends are stuck in that bar – we're a legitimate bounty hunting group, ‹‹Black Dog››, I have to make sure your trigger happy friends don't shoot mine, understand?"
The stuttering soldier wavered for a moment, but kept his gun pointed at her. "W-Well if you're a bounty hunter, then I'm to tell you that – ah, what I mean is that you're services are acknowledged and we are thankful for it, but the GMPF will be taking over the task of capturing criminals. You're more than welcome to submit an application to join and help us. But until then I need you to surrender!"
Sighing, she nodded. "Fine."
The soldier smiled, giving the impression his eyes were relieved behind the ARI visor. "Thank goodness," he lowered his gun, stepping closer to her. "Look, I'm sorry about all this but –" he was cut off as she lunged at him, causing him to yelp as she grabbed his gun and yanked it from him. "Hey!" he was able to get out before she smashed the butt of the rifle against his helmet causing him to topple. "Argh!"
She threw the gun to the side, jumping on top of the downed soldier and pulling out her glock from her thigh holster putting it against his neck. "Now, you freeze!" She straddled him, keeping the gun pressed against his neck. The blow to his head had knocked his helmet off, revealing a mop of messy gray hair.
"A-A-Ahhh! Don't k-kill me!"
"Don't move, and I won't." She reached behind her with her hand and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "Roll over, slowly." She made sure to stay on top of him, keeping her glock on him as he rolled over, then she quickly cuffed his wrists together. "Now stay here." She spoke, holstering her pistol and then running over to her rifle, grabbing it and starting to run for the stairs.
"W-Wait, miss don't leave me here!" The soldier cried out, though he found his eyes stay glued to the woman. He couldn't help but feel his heart beat quicken when he had stared so close into her eyes through the ARI.
Dyne's voice broke through the radio, "Ginrou!" Another wave of gunfire, she cursed as she picked up her pace and started running, leaving the pleading soldier calling after her, staring at the patch on her jacket.
Moments earlier, back inside, Kirito was under the table, holding Argo to his side as Klein stayed in front of him. They were close to the front of the crowd and in plenty of danger if they opened up with those guns sending hot 5.8x42mm bullets tearing through the crowd.
Dyne looked back towards Klein trying not to draw attention, "Look, I'm going to talk with them, get them out of here through the back door once you can, got me?" He saw the samurai nod.
"Hey, wait!" Kirito whispered, "I can take care of myself just fine, you guys take Argo and get out of here, they just want orange players!" He felt Argo jerk in his protective grasp.
"Kii-bou, I'm staying here with you! I'm not leaving you!" Argo growled.
Dyne shook his head as he started to stand, "We don't know what their intentions are, now just get ready, I'll give you an opening." He stood up with his hands raised as he heard Kirito push out a complaint through clenched teeth. The old man breathed deep as he stepped forward. He saw the three soldiers aim their LMGs closer to him.
The soldier whom was assumed to be the commander spoke, "You, you're not an orange player. Surrender your arms and they'll be returned once you're escorted back up top."
"My name is Dyne," he ignored the soldier, "I'm the leader of the ‹‹Black Dog›› bounty hunting group. We're here for the man in the pink dress back there." He pointed with one of his raised hands towards the karaoke stage. "All I want is to take him out of here."
The commander shook his head. "The GMPF will be taking all of the criminals here to the ‹‹Glocken Brig››. Your services are appreciated but no longer needed within Glocken."
Dyne clicked his tongue, he didn't have to get an explanation to understand what was happening here. "So you're here to take my paycheck, eh? Can't really allow that." When he saw the commander frown, he spoke, "Ginrou!"
Darkness. The room was plunged in it as screaming started. Dyne's dove to the ground behind a brick half-wall, his hand shot to his coat and pulled out NVG goggles, quickly throwing them on under his hat as he heard the GMPF throw off warning shots to the roof. A few orange players started screaming again as they tried to run for the door, more gunfire erupted making Dyne curse as he heard bullets tearing through flesh. He started crawling for the back, finding his way with the dark green illuminated room.
Those bastards probably have the same tech in their visors if I had to guess, they weren't even phased. He glanced over to where the others were, already gone. He looked up and saw Cactaur Queen, shooting his head around as he looked for an exit.
"Masks!" he heard the commander yell.
Fuck, fuck! He had enough experience to understand what was coming next. He picked himself up to a low squat as he ran for Cactaur Queen, pulling out his ‹‹Mateba›› and moving as fast as he could to the back of the room, shoving people out of his way. He heard a high pitched ting over the sound of the crowd. He rushed up against his target and shoved the barrel against his body. "You're coming with me, move!"
"What?! Who are you – let me go!"
He grabbed the massive man and pulled as hard as he could, hearing him cry out in protest about his hair. "Shut up and run!" The sound of something hitting the ground and smoke shooting from canisters caught his attention as he looked towards the middle of the room where gas was filling up the room. The soldiers had their guns trained on him but weren't firing. He cursed, running towards the open side door. He prayed to every God he knew that he wouldn't get a bullet in his side, having to shove people aside with his shoulder, almost crying in relief when he cleared the doorway.
"Freeze!"
He stopped dead in his tracks, as he saw to his left three more soldiers armed with ACR assault rifles aiming at him, two more behind them holding Klein and Ginrou in place, neither of the men looking none too pleased. He hesitated for a moment, keeping his gun on his bounty, but sighed, there was no way out of this. "Fuck. . ." He let go of Cactaur Queen and holstered his gun, pulling off his night vision goggles. "Fine, I give up."
The soldiers rushed forward, all aiming at the criminal before them screaming demands as a lone soldier walked up to Dyne. "I'll need you to come with us."
Dyne growled at him, "First you take my bounty, now you want to me come with you?" He opened his mouth to say more, but the soldier shifted his weight, holding his gun steady. Dyne stared him down, narrowing his eyes, "Fine, bastard." He let himself get led towards Ginrou and Klein, who both shot the same dirty looks to the soldier before moving towards Dyne.
"You okay, old man?" Ginrou asked, looking over Dyne's shoulder at the soldier. He'd been snuck up on by the soldiers shortly after he'd cut the power. They confiscated his PDA and his goggles.
"No, they're currently serving cold pavement to our meal ticket." Dyne crossed his arms as he glared at the soldiers who managed to overpower the giant and dog pile on him as they bound his wrists. He looked like he remembered something as he snapped his head to Klein. "Did they. . .?"
The redhead shook his head, but he had a grimace on his face. "No," he lowered his voice as he came in closer. "We snuck out just as the lights went off. Those guys were already out here and grabbed Ginrou. I created a distraction and let him slip out that way," he pointed with his eyes towards a smaller alleyway between them and the soldiers. "I think someone saw them though, I heard some shouting. No gunfire however."
Cursing under his breath, Dyne closed his eyes and pulled the brim of his hat down. "We'll just have to hope they get away." He opened one eye as he remembered, "Did you copy that Sinon? . . . Sinon?" He frowned, "Are you there, Sinon? . . . Sinon!"
"Keep it down, I can hear you fine." Her voice was irritated but calm.
"Where are you?"
"I'm by the bar. I tried to come in to see if you guys needed help but these jerks are holding me in 'protective custody' until they can escort me back to the surface. But never mind that, you're sure Kirito is okay?"
Klein snickered, "Yeah, he's fine. No need to worry about your boyfriend." In truth he was worried too, but he had to have faith in him. He winced as he heard Sinon's tongue lashing. He glanced back towards the alleyway where Kirito and Argo had disappeared down. You better not make me a liar Kirito.
It was dark and cramped. It smelled a bit, but the Slums always did. At least the concrete underneath was dry and stain free, it was rare.
No, what concerned Kirito more was the tiny warm girl who was currently wrapped around him. He was glad for the darkness, otherwise his face would perfectly reflect how he felt about feeling Argo's muscular arms wrapped around his upper torso, her neck resting in the nook of his. Her legs were parted, her butt resting on his right thigh, her right leg resting in his crotch. Her dress rode up, and would have given him a perfect view of her thick thighs, and muscular legs that were currently warming his. Not to mention the black underwear she wore.
He could start to feel his body react to the intimate contact, this was bad.
"Kii-bou. . ." Argo whispered, her breath coming out heated against his ear, making him shudder. "I've seen you come up with some crazy ideas before but I think I really like this one." She giggled into his ear again. "Are you sure you didn't just choose this cardboard box to get me draped over you like this?"
His secret technique for hiding. He'd surprised even Miller with it. Like he'd told the older man, sometimes you just gotta think inside the box. "N-No, of course not!" he replied, trying to ignore her smooth and warm thigh that was pressed into his crotch.
"Well, I'm pretty pissed our date got rained on by these bastards – which reminds me to give that damn Blue a piece of my mind – but I suppose, it could have gone worse." She had to muster up every last inch of bravado she had stored in her to not absolutely freak out over their position. Every slight move Kirito made rubbed against her, making her head swim. And, with an embarrassed thought, she had a pretty good idea what the hardening spot against her own leg was. But, just maybe this was the chance she needed.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed herself up against him more, rubbing her sensitive spot down his thigh, suppressing her voice.
"A-Argo?!" He could feel her modest chest press against his, this wasn't like other times when her only goal was to bother him. This was something else.
"Kirito. . ." She whispered his name, no nicknames. "You know. . . you know I . . . how I feel about you, don't you?" She pulled away from his neck as she did so, making sure not to disturb the roof of the cardboard box. Her hands moved up to his shoulders, thumbs finding naked skin on his neck under his open fatigues.
The teenager blushed as he heard the words leave Argo's mouth. "I. . ." He started, more than once he repeated the letter, doing everything he could to try and deal with the question without answering it. "I-Is this really the time for such an important question?" He managed to sputter out. He felt his skin spark with electricity as her hands squeezed his shoulders, and now with how close her face was to his, he could make it out in the dim light that filtered in behind him from the open handle.
Her lips seemed to almost glow in the light. The virtual reconstruction of the anatomy was perfect in every way, perhaps even improved. The light glistened off her moist lips, the redness of them perfect and highlighted in such a way it was almost appetizing to see. Her eyes too, they held an emotion he'd never seen before. So full of honest, well, Argo. Though, what she was saying now, wasn't coming from Argo the Rat, it was from Akiko the Girl a far more vulnerable and human version.
"I know it's a bad time," she admitted, making his heart hurt a bit at her sad tone, "But, I have to know now, while I still have you here within arms reach. . . I planned on doing this sometime tonight anyway, but certainly not in a box." She hugged him again, a small chuckle leaving her lips. Then, her face turned serious, a hint of despair hidden in her features. "I know, I understand the way you look at Sinon, you know? I look at you the same."
"Argo. . ." He breathed out, as he heard her speak.
"Kii-bou, I've been trapped in this game just like everyone else, you know? But honestly, I've almost never really considered the harsh reality we're faced with in here. Do you know why? It's because you've been here. You make me laugh, you make me worry about you, you make this world something worth fighting in and doing my best to live in." Her emerald eyes sparkled in the low light, as she gave him a sad smile. "That's why I can't stand to see you look at Sinon the way I look at you." She let out a soft gasp as she felt a hand on her cheek.
"I know it's hard to hear this," He started, looking her in the eye, "but I really don't even understand my own feelings for you – or for Sinon for that matter. Argo I. . . I like you. I would be lying if I didn't say that I think of you often, or that I worry for you too. You've been my best friend since we met. Not just that, but you," he hesitated, before looking at her with a small half-smile, "You might be the very first real friend I've ever had." Her reaction didn't pass him by, but he continued, "That means you're very important to me, you know?" He wrapped his arms that were around her midsection a bit tighter, he gave her a small smile before it fell into a frown that knew he would disappoint her. "But I really can't return your feelings right now, I can't even understand my own."
When she lowered her head, he was worried he had said too much, but was shocked as she saw a huge smile on her face. "That's okay Kii-bou. You can take as long as you need figuring out what you feel." Her hands moved up to his face, gently resting them on his cheeks.
His breath caught in his throat as her face was so devastatingly beautiful this close up he could barely find a thought in his head to articulate.
"My feelings for you will never change," she whispered, her hands gently running down his face as if to forever trace the shape of it in her mind. "So I'll wait, for as long as it takes."
Touched is the only word he could possibly come up with, as he whispered her name again, unable to even slightly understand the depth of the woman on top of him. Then, as if the illusion was shattered into a thousand shards of glass, he felt her knee rub against his still hard crotch.
Argo giggled with a huge blush on her face. "Too bad you're not as honest as this part though!" He let out a soft moan, making both of them get even redder.
"T-T-That's!" He started before a harsh shout echoed in the alley.
"Who goes there?!"
The switch flipped. Kirito grabbed Argo and spun them both around in the box, causing her to let out a small shriek. "Don't move, okay?" he whispered at her. He saw her start to protest but he gave her a look that offered no argument. "They see you with me, your reputation is gonna be ruined. I'll be fine." He gave her a wink before clearing his throat. "H-Hold on!" he shouted, trying to sound as scared as he could, having to fight his arousal.
He got down on his belly and crawled backwards out of the box, causing his face to press up against Argo's midsection and hover very close to a warm spot that made the girl want to cover her face. When he emerged, he put on the best face he could, as he saw two soldiers with their rifles aimed at him, their backs illuminated by the neon lights filtering in at the far end of the alley. He put both his hands up, "Don't shoot!"
Both soldiers stepped forward, "This is 1-3 Bravo, we have another prisoner secured over." The one on the left spoke, Kirito presumed it was into a microphone somewhere on his helmet.
The other stepped closer to Kirito while the second stayed a step behind. "Turn around." She spoke, her voice rough.
He complied, running ideas through his head. He felt a hand grip his left wrist, the placement of the thumb told him it was their left hand, the gun was still pointed at him. As she pulled his arm down he spun with lightning speed to his left, the gun going off too late as a round shot through the empty space he was. His right arm snaked around her neck and pulled her in front of the other solider's line of fire. He charged forward and shoved her into the other one. As they fell, he grabbed the male soldier's gun while he was still recovering and yanked it from his grip as he tossed it down the alley.
The male soldier tried to make a grab at him with a yell as he stood up, trying to catch Kirito off guard when he threw his rifle, but the teen grabbed one of his arms and flipped him onto his back, slamming him as hard as he could into the concrete, just as the female soldier stood and drew a knife.
Kirito parried her downward stab, grabbing her wrist and twisting it making her cry out and drop the knife. He yanked her close in and spun her around to push her back against his chest as he wrapped his right arm under her right armpit and around her neck, choking her out. She kicked and struggled against him, but soon slowly fell limp in his arms as she passed out. He lowered her to the ground, and took a deep breath.
He heard a small clapping, looking down to see Argo sitting with the box corner resting on her head with a smile. "I didn't know I was gonna get free entertainment tonight. Too bad there was no dinner with it."
He smiled at her, before looking down at the two unconscious guards. He sighed, just what the hell was the GMPF doing here? Martial law? He supposed it could be needed here, but this was such a savage offensive he had no idea how to take it. Shaking his head, he looked back to Argo. "It isn't safe down here, you should get back top side, as long as you're by yourself they shouldn't bother you much."
Argo frowned, staring up at him. She saw that look in his eye, there was no arguing with him when he got like this. She sighed, before giving him a small smile. "Sure I can't convince you to get back in the box with me?" She winked at him.
He blushed, scratching his cheek. "If I listened to my male hormones I'd be back inside in a drop of a hat."
"Listen to those more." She laughed, but stood as she stretched, then proceeded to dust off her dress. "What are you going to do?" She asked, her concern clear in her voice.
"I'll be fine, I'll find a place to lay low."
"What about my place?"
"No, you have customers who come to your house all the time. Sorry Argo, but I can't." He gave her a smile. He let out a small surprised gasp as she closed the distance between them and embraced him with a tight embrace, her small head resting against the middle of his chest.
"Kii-bou. . ." she started, trying her best not to cry, feeling the real want to do so. "You're always thinking of me. But you know I'd drop all of it in a moment for you, right?"
He smiled at her, as he hugged her back, resting a hand on top of her blonde hair giving it a gentle rub. "Yeah, I know. That's why I gotta make sure you don't." He felt her move after a long moment of a continued embrace, when she grabbed the sides of his head and pulled him down, leaving a kiss on his cheek, making him blush. "Argo?"
But before he could get his answer the girl jogged off away from him, stopping about ten feet to turn her head, which was bright red, but he swore he saw the faintest evidence of a tear drop on her cheek. "You better not get hurt okay? Come see me soon!" Her hand rose to her face, before sniffling once and full on running out of the alley.
His smile was sad, as her small feet echoed out of the alleyway once she got to the sidewalk. It left him alone in the dark of the back streets of the Slums with the two unconscious soldiers. Reaching down, he pulled the helmet off the one who spoke, hearing a buzz of radio chatter coming through built in speakers one one side of it. "I'll need this." he muttered, before lowering it again and staring at the box. With a shrug, he folded the box up and took it with him as he started going deeper into the maze of alleyways.
The white walls of Siegfried's room almost glowed from the lighting inside. Nero's white suit and silver hair too took on the same illuminated properties, leaving him standing like an otherworldly being, or at least to Locusta it seemed that way. She stared at the man whom had been her savior, quietly by his side.
She stared down at the sleeping body of Siegfried. Even though his avatar was a cyborg, a human soul still powered it in reality and required rest, especially after an episode like the one he had. She turned her head back to Nero who was reading screens monitoring Siegfried's vitals from reality. "My lord, will he awaken soon?"
The mastermind of the game turned his head with a smile. "He should, it's of course all up to him, but whenever this happens he's always back on his feet soon enough. A side effect of the life he's led I'm afraid, it's left the boy with a fragile psyche." He flipped through a few more reports on his condition before closing out the windows. "And you? Will you be ready my dearest warrior?" He spoke, turning towards her.
Locusta nodded her head once, a reverent smile on her. "Of course my lord. Fighting for you is the greatest pleasure I have ever known." She let out a small gasp as a white gloved hand came to caress her dark cheek.
"My dear warrior. Since the day I plucked you, a pure white flower from that battlefield I've known nothing but joy at having you by my side. But please, do not fight for just me, this stage, this play is for all to fight for their own lives."
She gave a nod, "Of course Lord Nero." She felt his hand leave her, the warmth of the man whom she loved lingering. She looked back down towards Siegfried, remembering the players whom were aware of her master's existence. "About the Ballad of Bullets, have you decided what to do yet?"
He smiled at her, "But of course. They have been showcasing themselves as fine players in my play. I must reward them all by giving them special roles in the act to come. A regular toss of the dice would be far too boring, no. I have a very special scenario for those four."
"And what of the man who followed me that day? You know who he is, we can't afford to let someone like that just do as he pleases can we?" She still couldn't believe that he of all people was here. God truly had a cruel sense of humor in how he brought people together. Even in a situation that was hand crafted by her lord, outside influences always sought ways to put themselves into it.
Nero's grin only grew. "Oh, I know just the thing to do with him. I do believe a certain actor will have great pleasure at being able to meet DARPA's hired dog once more on the field of battle."
Sinon sat in her apartment, chewing on her nail, staring at her PM inbox, waiting for a reply. After being forcefully escorted back to her apartment by the GMPF two hours ago, which she had let them know full well her opinion of them, leading comments like 'hellcat' to be muttered under their breath, she'd sent a message to Kirito.
She kept eying the rifle leaning in the corner, ready to grab it and run back down to the Slums. She wasn't about to let him get captured if he did –
Knock, knock
She jumped to her feet, she was on edge, her heart beat like mad as she ran for the door. Please, let it be him. She begged in her mind, as she threw open the door. Her heart sank as she didn't see anyone there, but noticed a cardboard box at her feet.
"Sinon!"
She jumped as she heard the box speak in Kirito's voice. That's when she squatted down and looked into the open slot, seeing Kirito's grinning face. "Uh. . . what are you doing in there?" She asked, her previous thoughts robbed by the strange occurrence.
He scratched his cheek inside the box, "Well, I kinda forgot my cloak here." He pointed at her coat rack where his cloak still hung. "I'd hoped I could come get it. Makes it a bit hard to sneak around topside without it."
"Did. . . did you get out of the slums and through Glocken in that box?"
"Never underestimate the box."
She sputtered out a laugh, holding her mouth before standing. "I can't believe I actually worried about you. Idiot." She stood and stepped to the side. "Hurry up and come in before someone sees me talking to a box."
"Thanks." He squat walked into her apartment until the door closed behind him, where he popped out of the box, stretching. "Damn this would be killer on my back." He groaned. He felt a gloved hand rest on his shoulder, turning to look at Sinon who was smiling at him.
"I'm really glad you're okay Kirito." She held an honest smile. When she saw him blush and start to look sheepish, she reached forward and hooked her finger inside his cheek pulling on it making the boy cry out. "But start checking and answering your damn PMs." She smirked at him.
"S'owwy! S'owwy!" He mumbled out with her finger still in his mouth.
She let him go, and then looked as if she remembered something. "Is Argo okay?"
He nodded, as he folded the box up and leaned it against the wall, reaching for his cloak. "Yeah, after we ditched the soldiers I had her run off alone. She'd be fine, the GMPF wouldn't bother her. And I certainly don't worry about her safety from the people in the Slums." He chuckled. "Probably the other way around."
As she watched him start to don his cloak, she stepped forward making him stop. "Where are you going to go? They've got the front area on lock down and are going to start clearing out the entire lower area soon."
He stared at the wall for a second, before shrugging. "Out to the wastes I suppose. I can't stay up here, I'd get caught eventually. At least there I can forage up food and still level up." His voice was low, getting more pained as he continued, realizing how much this was sounding like goodbye.
Her heart felt like it got caught in a vice, as she brought her hand up to rest on her chest to try and relive the tightness she felt. The idea of him leaving was horrible to her, she had to do something. "Well. . ." she started, taking a step closer to him. "You should. . . you should stay here, with me."
He turned to her, shaking his head. "I can't, I'd put you in a bad position if I left you here." He briefly considered Miller, but knowing him he was already out of the GMPF's reach. He wondered what he would do. He'd probably send him a PM later. He let out a small gasp of surprise as Sinon stomped up to him, standing half a foot from him.
"No."
"No?"
"I won't let you go like that." She spoke, crossing her arms. "Whatever position I get put in will be my choice. And I choose to have you here with me." Her face turned red, "I-If you go on something like that, you won't be able to prepare for the BoB coming up, and no one ever visits here besides the team. You'll be safe."
He held his cloak tight in his hand, staring down at the black cloth. He couldn't really rebuke what she said, it was all true. The thought of going out into the wastes didn't terribly bother him really. . but he also knew that it would be lonely and the more he thought about having to leave his friends he'd made, the woman in front of him and the one who'd shed a tear for him. . . he sighed, closing his eyes. "Alright. But if something bad happens, I'll leave right away, okay?"
She smiled, "That won't happen. Now put your cloak back on the rack and take your shoes off – you're getting crud on my carpet."
He gasped as he jumped back to the tiled part. "I-I'm sorry!" he fell to his ass and started quickly unlacing his boots. He looked up as he heard a light laugh, seeing Sinon's face turned up in a smile, her eyes closed and her face radiant. He blushed, before going back to removing his shoes, smiling to himself.
Fuuuck that was a long chapter.
I realized I had so much to put in that it was gonna be a long one. It's right at the cusp of being too short for one chapter and too long for two, SO we have this thing.
I hope you all enjoyed it, and I hope you're all ready for the next one because the BALLAD OF BULLETS begins! (also I know it's called the Bullet of Bullets in canon but come one that's kinda lame.)
I promise you all this, whatever you think is gonna happen next, I guarantee you won't be right.
And don't forget to leave a review and favorite! I love hearing from you guys!
So, until then!
Shinobi no Ryu
