Chapter 106 - Start of the Killing
'...finally...' Adam thought turning into the parking lot of Gamco Inc. HQ. Going toward his parking space, he stopped and shut off the car. Getting all of the things that he took with him, he exited his vehicle. Locking it and heading toward the main entrance, he got out his cell.
'...they still haven't called or messaged me...' he thought seeing the last text of the two hired men. About to send them a message for a status update, he stopped.
'...no...if they haven't communicated back after that...they have probably failed and went into hiding.'
'No matter,' the lead programmer continued. Putting his mobile away, he straight lined for the main entrance.
'All dealings were done in cash...at least I did with those two.'
Entering the building, the receptionists and lobby employees nodded toward him. Greeting back, he headed toward the elevator. Pressing the call button and seeing one coming down from a couple floors up, he waited. As it was coming done, he started putting together his plan of action. Hearing the ding and seeing the doors open, he stepped inside.
'First, check in with the team. Get an update from them and see where things are.'
'Second, go check in with Bennett and...formulate a PR plan so he feels secure,' he said in his mind.
Crossing his arms over his chest, he concentrated on nothing while thinking over what that PR plan would be. Not too concern with his team, he was confident that they were self-sustaining. Feeling the elevator slow down, he looked up. Seeing the doors open, he only got a few steps out before someone called him. Turning toward it, Mr. Bennett was heading over to him.
"Adam...there you are," the head admin stated. Getting near him, he stopped and looked neutral at him.
"I see that you are back from your little escapade."
"...yes...hello Bennett," Adam replied with a blink. Giving an impassive stare, he remembered the phone call earlier in the day.
"I take it you want to form an action plan now."
"I am already heading out for the day for it is the evening already. I came up with my own while you were travelling back here. We will follow it in the morning," he said and walked to the elevator.
"...I see..." the lead programmer commented getting out the way. Seeing the man enter and hit a button, he kept his back turned toward him.
'...a prick as usual...' Adam said in his head. Seeing the doors close and hearing the lift go down, he shook his head. Going toward the large floor room with the monitor techs, coders, and programmers, he saw all of them were still at it. Entering into the room, the crew was working hard.
'...wow...' he thought walking by and looking at the employees nearby. 'Everyone is putting in effort to get rid of the viruses.'
"..." the lead programmer said seeing Rodger heading toward a white board. It had a matrix with various places listed in E.D.E. on the column side. The row axis, had lists of numbers that seemed like coordinates. Each one had a different color theme. Seeing a number digit written down, it was the only one in green.
"John, test this coordinate in Stratnum," Rodger stated with the sound of anticipation.
"Copy. Give me a second..." the coder responded looking at his screen. Typing quickly and making a few clicks, his glasses looked filled with various amounts of code. Without looking up, he pointed at one of the lead monitor techs.
"Bill. In the upper class section of the city, the fifth house after the guard. Tell me if there is a visual anomaly. I don't know which room it is in."
"Checking," the man said. Inputting a couple of things, a window popped up. Zooming in on the house that was indicated, he got inside.
"..." Adam remarked feeling intrigued. Walking and standing nearby, he watched as the live feed showed the living room.
"...nothing here..." Bill muttered then went into the study rooms. Finding nothing, he went into the bedrooms. Oddly, a small portion of a wall in one bedroom had pixelated streaks. It was going into the floor and seemed to make a hole.
"Found something. The resolution has changed to be more pixelated...checking to see if there is a basement," he announced.
Adam heard two sets of footsteps heading toward where the tech monitor was. Seeing that it was Rodger and John, both had anxious faces. Both gave him a nod then looked back at the screen. Seeing the live feed back up all the way to the living room, there was no indication of a basement door. Bill pulled up a bird's eye schematic of the house.
"...the room...was there...pixels were on this wall," he muttered out loud.
Pointing at a wall, he traced it a little to another in the living room. Seeing that a bookcase was where he pointed at, he brought up a minimized window. Seeing that it was editor program, he selected a command. Looking at the live feed, the furniture was now four feet left of where it was. Underneath it, there was a trap door.
"What exactly are you trying to find?" the lead programmer asked.
"An anomaly in the code that can be used to get players to log out," Rodger stated without looking at him.
"...how did you come up with that?"
"The crew did a brainstorm session and went with the ideas that everyone seemed to have had some clout on executing it."
"How are you managing that while fixing the spread of the viruses?"
"We aren't," the lead programmer answered. He turned toward Adam and kept his neutral expression. The expected reaction was there.
"You aren't!?" Adam repeated with surprise.
"No. We are concentrating our efforts on getting a method to get players to escape their imprisonment."
"Do that will effect the structure of coding of the game and cause it to collapse," the lead programmer informed then looked unpleased. "I left you specific orders and tasks about what to do."
"Yes...you did Adam," Rodger agreed lightly with same tone and expression. "From doing so, little to no progress was being made. The viruses were going at a rate that was equal to the rate we were removing the bugs. At the same time, little to no time was being spent on finding a method to enable gamers to escape from the trapped realms or the game itself."
"That is a failure on you and you managing the team," Adam commented and crossed his arms over his chest. "I am really disappointed."
"Based on your trip and coming empty handed Adam...you were no better," the programmer countered.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't relieve you of your role or fire you right now?"
"..." Rodger answered with narrowing his eyes. "Between saving your game creation or the lives of children and adult gamers...I rather save people than a fantasy world."
"Get out...you are done," Adam said with irritation. Blinking and looking around, the entire crew stopped what they were doing. Standing up and turning around, all the employees were looking angry at him.
"Hey. Get back to work. We have a job to do," he spoke with a firm tone. No one moved or changed their expression. Looking back angrily at Rodger, he still had an impassive face.
"You rebelled them against me."
"No Adam...we all want to save people," the lead programmer remarked looking down at him. "E.D.E. is not worth saving at the cost of lives that will never get out of a induced coma. Or worst, death."
"You think I don't want to save all the gamers trapped in E.D.E.? Well you are wrong. I do."
"You could have done that when Surreality was shutting down...you could have saved everyone that was trapped in the realms...you could have removed the human causality factor if you allowed the players to escape," Rodger emphasized still not showing any sign of anger or a rise in emotion.
"I gave my admin codes. The viruses blocked it. I was trying to," Adam countered.
"That fact that you know about the characteristics, abilities, and the severity of risk that the viruses are capable of...you have jeopardized the safety, the security, and the lives of all the players trapped in E.D.E. right now," the employee retorted back in which a few crew members nodded their heads a little.
"How could I have known that the viruses were going to evolve to this. This was never planned or written. None of the other creators even foresaw this development. You don't understand the gravity of what has become of this."
"I do understand!" Rodger barked in irritation. He pointed at the larger screen that was on the wall which showed a list of gamers that were logged in.
"2,000 gamers Adam. Two fucking thousand players that are trapped by your fucking creation!" he emphasized with pointing at the monitor then an accusing finger at him. "Do have any knowledge of how to kill of the viruses? Do you know how to fix this whole disaster? Do you have special administration codes that will bypass the viruses code manipulation? Can you get the players out that have their log out button disabled?"
"Maybe. I don't know-!?" Adam answered then got his shirt collar grabbed hard. Rodger looked at him with the face and body language of going to beat up someone. Based on the remarks of other employees, they were getting angry too.
"Do you know or do you not know?" he said with an even voice. "No bullshit. No beating the bush. No vague answers."
"If I did, I would have done so already."
"You son of a bitch," Bill commented loud enough for everyone to hear. "What kind of man are you?"
"Listen! Listen," the lead programmer began putting his hands up. Looking at Rodger, he was still looking at him with daggers in his eyes.
"That gunslinger character type. The person that played it. I went to him because he is capable of defeating the viruses."
"...Jin Ainsley..." the programmer stated and shoved Adam to the ground. "The boy that was kidnapped twice within a month...you and Bennett did that."
"W-What? Don't be absurd."
"..." Rodger reacted with rubbing his face and looking very angry. Breathing in and out, he tried to calm down. Feeling less heated, he looked at Bill.
"Bill...see what is through that trap door."
"Gotcha," the lead monitor tech responded and sat back down at his seat. Everyone else slowly went back to their station and continued working. Adam got up and slowly dust himself. About to open his mouth to assert authority, the other lead programmer raised his hand and pointed at him.
"Adam...do what you have to do to get me fired or removed from here," he began then looked at him. "I will not leave this room until we have gotten a gateway solution for the players to escape."
"...fine...I will do that then," he spoke then turned around. Leaving the room, he ignored all the spiteful stares from the other employees.
"Piece of shit," Bill muttered then focused back on the monitor.
Putting in a command, the trap door opened. Going inside of it, there was a basement below the house. On the wall adjacent to the stairs, there was a stream of pixels coming from the ceiling. Getting closer to it, something of a code signature was picked up from being near the wall. He turned to John and called him.
"I have a code sequence reading from the wall here John," he stated. Seeing the coder get up, he walked over quickly. Looking at it and reading it, he muttered the location, the coordinates, and the strain of computer language. Going back to his station, he began typing on his computer.
"Carl?" he called. A man from another room of monitors perked up.
"Yeah?"
"You have that manipulator code?"
"Yes. I'll send it to you...it is sent."
"...okay...got it," John responded. Doing a couple of things, Bill and Rodger looked back at the monitor showing the basement. The wall there began to glitch a bit till the stone wall started to change. A circular shape hollowed out a large door size space of the wall. Looking at it, it appeared to be a black warp gate.
"Got visual of something similar to a warp gate membrane in the wall," the monitor tech stated.
"Alright," John said looking up with a confident look on his face. "I think we got our getaway portal."
"..." Rogue said chasing after Jin. Each time she got close, he would suddenly be further away down hallways. Behind her, Selbith was following. Focusing back on trying to catch up, she saw him head toward a double door.
'...where is he leading us?' Ami thought following the thief.
Seeing him appear in front of two French doors, the air around him glitched a little. Instantly, the doors were open wide and he was inside the room. Seeing Renee enter first, Selbith came in shortly after. Stopping herself from using "Fast Reactions", the gunslinger looked around. Rogue was doing the same thing and not scanning to see where the male teen went.
Inside the room was massive. It appeared to be the size of single tennis court with high ceilings. Various equipment was running with lights and beeps sounding off. To the thief, it appeared like an old sci-fi lab in an old movie. Proceeding forward, the other female teen followed some space behind her.
"Jin? Are you in here?" she called out passing a couple of terminals.
"...strange..." Ami spoke out loud while walking around. "This place seems...familiar."
"...c...L...o...N...e...F...a...C...i...L...i...T...y..." Jin spoke with a darker tone. Where he spoke sounded like it came from above. Looking up, both teens did not see him hovering.
"Cloning facility?" Renee repeated.
"In a region that can not be accessed without a warp gate, there is a cloning facility in a grass field," Selbith informed turning toward the thief. "It was an Eve cloning site."
"An Eve cloning site!?" she responded with shock. "You mean that she devil has an army of herself?"
"Eve herself is the only one that is a devil demon with powers...the others are just copies of herself with lesser power."
"...why...what for?"
"Her power amplifies based on the number of copies she has. When Jin blew up her underground cloning lab the first time, it rattled Eve to no end," the gunslinger explained with a smirk. "...but then...it got rebuilt somehow."
"...A...d...A...m..." he spoke then faded into existence. Both girls spotted him near what looked to be the core of the cloning equipment. As they walked to the sophomore, his head slowly turned to them. His eyes stared at Selbith which made her feel a little more tense.
"...which Hell domain...has these?"
"..." she answered stopping near him. Crossing her arms and looking closely at the spherical object, it glowed off and on with an amber hue.
"...I do not know...I have not seen Hell Stones of that size," Ami stated then looked at him. "Handling a Hell rune or even a stone that fits in your palm has more than enough power to conquer armies...I don't know how it creates clones."
"...it...uses...demons...and...changes...them..." Jin informed and saw both look at him with raised eyebrows.
"No way...she is taking demons and changing them to be clone copies of her?" Rogue asked and saw his head nod slowly. "...that is so messed up."
"...you are jesting...are you?" the gunslinger asked then saw him stare at her then slowly blinked.
"...n...o..." he stated and turned to the giant hell stone.
Moving his right arm up and putting his hand out with fingers extended out, he let out a vile sounding growl. Both females saw a translucent sphere expand rapidly in front of his hand. Encompassing all three and increasing in size to reach the lengths of room, Jin shoved his hand forward. Letting out short monstrous shout, the girls' sight seemed to go into micro vision.
A matte black cylinder beam came out in front of the male teen's hand. The diameter of it was taller than him and shot forward like a bullet being fired. Intense pressure from it hit the two as they quickly adjusted their footing. Leaning into it to not be thrown off balance, the energy blast went through everything in front of it. The Hell stone, the equipment behind it, the floor, the wall, and through it.
Lasting for only three seconds, the cylinder beam faded away. Once completely gone, all three looked at what remained. As Jin remained stoic and lowered his arm, Rogue and Selbith gawked at the destruction. Liking carving out a tunnel to make a cave, the blast made a rough hole through the building. Everything in front of him onwards was incinerated. Walking closer to him and looking in his direction, the outside could be seen several yards away.
"...by hell's domain...what...kind of power is that?" Ami asked looking at him with wonder.
'I'm starting to believe why Selbith had so much fear of these things called Blighters...talk about overkill and then some,' Renee thought both marveled and scared.
"...there..." Jin mentioned with a sinister voice and pointed.
"..." both female teens looked at where he was pointing. Outside in the middle of the blast hole, there was a she-devil hovering.
"...is that?" Rogue began then was interrupted by the gunslinger.
"...Eve..." Selbith finished with a mild glare.
"..." the Blighter remarked putting his arm down.
All three watched as the demon hovered toward them. Descending to the ground near them, she landed about a yard or so away. Looking recovered, Eve glanced at the two females. Narrowing her eyes at Ami, she got the same look back from her. Frowning a little, her facial expression went back to a neutral one looking at the male teen.
"...you...you are the one that did that," she stated. Thinking that he would respond, he didn't saying anything or blink. Staring her down, the she-devil felt a little unnerved seeing how piercing the black-frost white eyes were. Pressing her lips together, she pointed at him.
"I demand to know who you are and what you are."
"What's this Eve? Scared of a being stronger than you?" Selbith mocked with a smirk.
"I will skin you alive if you keep pressing your luck gunslinger," the female demon threatened and gave a glare at Ami. In defiance, the shooter just cackled at her. Pulling out her handgun and pointing it at her, she gave malicious grin.
"Go ahead whore. Make my day."
"I am going to enjoy-!?" Eve growled then froze. Looking slowly to her left, the male teen was standing toe-to-toe with her. Listening to him breath shallowly, it resonated something deep and dark like a large predator. Calming down quickly and turning to face the individual, he was levitating to be at her eye level.
"...who...are you...really?" she asked in a composed manner.
"...J...i...n..." the sophomore answered in a slow tone.
"...?" the she-devil responded with a mild look of confusion. "Jin?...that is your name?..."
"..." he responded with a slow blink.
"Kind of...you know...simple...doesn't really help describe...what you are. Right?"
"Whoa...wait a minute?" Rogue asked and took a cautious step forward. "You don't know who Jin is? You don't recognize him?"
"...honestly...you are the first demon I have never seen before...are you from the Obsidian Domain of Void?" Eve asked in a normal tone as possible. The killing intent she had on the gunslinger was replaced with caution.
"Mmmmm hee hee hee," Han-Ko chuckled at the door entrance of the large room. Everyone turned toward her as she walked toward them. She was unharmed and to Eve, she looked more than refreshed. The black sphere in her hands immediately grabbed her attention.
"Eve...you silly goose...how can you not know who he is?" she stated walking directly toward her. Seeing the she-devil walk back a little, Jin did not move. To the demon's surprise, the nightmare hell being walked next to him and hugged his arm.
"...?"
"And lets not forget Rogue and Selbith...surely you recognize them...especially miss vampire there," she continued and walked toward the two female teens.
"I know the bloody gunslinger...quite well...I have unfinished business with her...as for the holy thief...I do not."
"Oh my...that is...quite funny!" Han-Ko stated with mirth and snickered. Her reaction threw Eve off and made her feel uncomfortable. Looking back at the male teen, he was still staring at her.
"So...Jin...what are you? And what is your purpos-Gah!?" the she-devil began.
Without warning, her left arm was ripped off brutishly. Gasping in surprise and mild pain, she took a step back. Still staring at him, his boring at her seemed to intensify. Grabbing her bleeding shoulder socket, she opened her mouth to speak. Only another painful gasp was heard as both of her eyes exploded.
Fluid and blood splashed in the air and on the ground in front of her. Rogue gawked in shock and disgust from what was happening. Only glancing at Selbith and Han-Ko, both looked enthralled from what was happening. Finding their behavior fitting though unpleasant, she looked back at the sophomore. His stare down seemed like he was trying to burn a hole through the she-devil with his mild scornful face.
"...why...why are you-AARRRGGGGHHHH!?' Eve shouted in agony as her other arm got ripped to pieces. Coughing up blood and dropping to her knees, crimson still flowed out of eyes as she cringed hard.
"More Jin...do more..." the nightmare demon cooed while giving a cruel smile.
"...yes...kill her...severe her existence," Ami remarked with dark sadistic enthusiasm.
"WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON-AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" the demon screamed as both of her legs obliterated suddenly.
More blood poured out in gushes as she began to fall face first to the floor. Levitating instead, she reoriented to be facing toward Jin. All looked at him as he hadn't move or said anything; however, the vibe he was emitting gave Han-Ko goosebumps of enjoyment. Selbith looked like she was seeing something wonderous though had a malicious smile on her face. Renee looked horrified at him and started walking to him.
'...Jin...stop...' she called in her mind. Hearing another scream, there was a diagonal slash across Eve's torso that cut her skin. Seeing her bar her teeth hard, it looked very painful.
'This isn't you...you aren't like this.'
"Do it again Jin...make me orgasm again," the nightmare demon seductively spoke while touching herself.
'Stop it! Please stop Jin!' the thief shouted in her mind and got closer to him. Another diagonal slash appeared to make a X-cross on the she-devil's bloody stumped body. Instead of bellowing in pain, she was now whimpering in agony.
"Make her suffer Jin! Show them why you are the reason you are my only one!" the gunslinger declared out loud proudly.
"..." Jin responded with narrowing his eyes and clenching his teeth. Feeling his head beginning to shake, he slowly lifted his arm toward Eve. Making a clawed left hand, he tensed it up to the point of shaking it. As if responding to how is hand was, the she-devil's body began to shake at the same rate.
"JIN!" Rogue shouted. Getting behind him, she hugged him tightly fearing what he was becoming.
"This isn't you! Please sto-!?" she pleaded then froze stiffly hard. Upon contact with him, what washed over her and invaded her mind shook uncontrollably with horror.