Chapter II – A Fate Worse Than Death:

The limousine they found themselves in was very nice, but ride itself was uncomfortably quiet. Agent Nishiyama drove the vehicle himself and was separated from Kirito and his friends, who were given free reign of the back. They were all nervous and curious to varying degrees, but none dared voice their concerns until they had sussed out more information from their mysterious driver.

Agil had closed down the bar before they left, sending everyone home and filling his wife in on Agent Nishiyama's request. Liz and Asuna were already planning a girl's night at Sinon's place who lived alone so they were free; Klein also lived alone and Kirito's family was out of town. Quietly Kirito wondered if this was all a coincidence or not. Him coming across them all on a night when no one had any other prior engagements other than the party.

After almost twenty minutes of nearly unbearable silence, they pulled the parking lot of a large building. There was no sign as they came in to say what the building was and there was little in the way of identifying features as they got out of the vehicle and looked around.

The sun had already set and only the dim streetlights cast a glow over their destination. The building itself was quite large and looked to be a few decades old. It was painted in drab unassuming colours and while the area around the building was far from dilapidated, it also didn't look terribly well kept.

"If you will all follow me please, I will introduce you to the rest of my team and answer all of your questions." Agent Nishiyama said as he approached a door with a simple key-card scanner.

With a quick swipe and a beep, the door opened and they were welcomed inside.

Once inside, they were lead down a short hallway to a large boardroom. The walls were painted a plain slate grey that their eyes tended to slide right off, drawing attention to the few things in the room. A massive window that they were unable to see through covered a large portion of the far wall. In the room itself, a large rectangular mahogany table that seated twelve took up the bulk of the space. At the far end of it sat a middle aged woman dressed in a similar fashion to Agent Nishiyama with a steaming pot of tea and several cups.

She reminded Kirito of Agent Nishiyama in her unremarkableness. Like him, she was average height and build without any features to immediately distinguish herself. Her dark brown hair was tied tightly at the back with something that Kirito couldn't see from where he stood.

"Please have a seat," Agent Nishiyama said, "feel free to help yourself to some tea."

Asuna graciously accepted a cup from the other agent while everyone else took a seat at the table.

"I'd like to introduce you all to Agent Chiho Shirai. As of right now, aside from a few support staff that have already gone home for the night, she is the rest of my team."

"Wait what?" Kirito exclaimed. "You made it sound like you were part of some big government agency."

"Well... we were." Agent Nishiyama said, taking a seat himself. "But with no disrespect meant, you've basically put us out of a job."

"What? How so?"

"You see, our agency was founded in the wake of the SAO incident. We worked in tandem with a few other agencies, but our primary goal was to contact the players trapped in SAO and work to secure their freedom."

"It was such a huge incident at the time that the government basically threw money at us hoping that we could solve it. At first it seemed like we were making headway, we developed a dozen full dive nerve gear emulation pods that would allow us to control everything that happened to the body while in full dive. This would keep myself and others safe when we would eventually head into SAO itself to assist you."

Agent Nishiyama leaned over and flicked a switch that illuminated the room through the window. The massive space on the other side held six of the pods he had described as well as all kinds of monitoring equipment. There was a door on the far end that Kirito assumed led to a room that housed the other six.

"While we managed to get the hardware crated in about six months time, the software proved far more... troublesome." He reached over and grabbed a cup of tea for himself as he spoke. "We still don't really know how Akihiko Kayaba coded SAO's authentication system, but even with over two years of the best tech geniuses and computer hackers money could buy and we still couldn't break into the game itself."

At the mention of that kind of firewall, Kirito could help but wonder just what kind of power the cardinal system had actually had over them in SAO. It seemed like a lot more that even he had been aware of.

"Then the day came when you all freed yourselves. The government lost a lot of faith in us, but we were still useful as not all of the players had escaped SAO." Agent Nishiyama took another sip of his tea as he looked to be remembering something specific.

"We suspected that they were being held in some other virtual space as Aincrad had been completely destroyed. We even had our suspicions that someone with former ties to Kayaba had done this on purpose. We were keeping tabs on Nobuyuki Sugou as well as a few others, but couldn't come up with anything concrete. Then, once again, you managed to free yourselves without our intervention. Or more aptly, you freed them Kirigaya."

Kirito couldn't help but fidget a little nervously at the directness of it all. He had a gut feeling where the rest of this conversation was heading and didn't care for his unintentional involvement in it. At the end of the day, he did what he had to do, but seeing how it had negatively affected others who had been trying their hardest for years to help them ate at him a little.

"We lost face and were hit with steep budget cuts. Our team was halved and we set about working on preventative measures to keep situations like that from ever happening again."

"Then the Death Gun incident happened. It seems that Kikuoka had little faith in us a well as he didn't even ask us to take part in the investigation and went straight to you."

Agent Nishiyama looked directly into Kirito's eyes, as if he seemed to be reading the young man's mind. "I want you to know that we don't blame you for what happened to us Kirigaya, any of us would have done the same in your place."

Despite the directness of it, Kirito relaxed a little at the comment as Agent Nishiyama continued his story.

"We were all hands on deck, spent nearly all of our waking ours in game trying to track down Death Gun. If we could interact with him and get any kind of data, it could have lead to his real self. However after weeks of searching, we came up empty. Then the third BOB happened, and you once again solved our problem for us."

"That turned out to be the straw that broke the camel's back so to speak. Nearly everyone was let go, the department is now run with only a skeleton crew just so that the government can officially say it has a gaming cyber-security division rather than believing that it actually needed one. It's not like they could actually tell anyone that they were leaving the fate of it's people up to a bunch of civilian gamers they had no control over."

"Now, another threat has arisen, and we are no longer capable of handling it on our own." Agent Nishiyama's gaze drifted between Kirito and his friends. "You've all been a part of facing this kind of thing before and now we need you to do so again. I've liquidated everything we can spare to come up with a small retainer for each of you. Please... we need your help." he said wrapping up his speech with a sincere bow to which Agent Shirai silently mimicked.

Kirito looked to his friends all of whom were still taking in the information of how their lives had been affecting all these people whom they had never even met before.

"We might be able to help," he finally said. "First though, we need to know what we're up against."

"Right, of course." Agent Nishiyama replied. "Have any of you heard of the new VRMMO that hit the Japanese market last month, Eldritch Tales Online?"

Everyone shook their heads, except for Sinon who nodded. "I haven't played it myself, but I've heard of it. A few people I know from GGO swapped over to give it a try since it has some gun-play in it; however they had a lot of trouble using firearms without a bullet circle and quickly gave it up. From what I recall, it was developed in the west and based of the works of some famous horror novelist."

"Yes," Agent Nishiyama replied, "H.P. Lovecraft."

"Wasn't he the Cthulhu guy?" Klein asked.

"Yeah that's right." Asuna replied. "I'm pretty sure that I read some of his work a while back."

"Wow," Kirito said "since when are you into horror fiction?"

"I'm really not, it was for a school assignment. We were studying how famous authors from around the world shaped their cultures perceptions around genre. Honestly his work wasn't for me, but it was interesting from a technical level."

"How so?"

"You see, he never really described the creatures and horrors in his stories; in fact there was little to no action in them at all. Instead he helps the reader to imagine a situation and allows them to scare themselves through their own conclusions... at least in the stories that I read."

"So the game is made to really scare players... in the Amushpere rig, that shouldn't really be possible should it?" Kirito finally stated. "It has a panic mode built into the processing; if a person's heart rate rises to abnormal levels, it will initiate an auto disconnect. It should be impossible to play a horror game on a rig like that."

"You're right on the money Kirigaya." Nishiyama stated. "That's why ETO was never originally released in Japan. It requires players to sign a waiver allowing them to disable certain safety features in the Amusphere in order to play the game. Since no other countries have had an incidents like SAO, they are a lot more lax with their regulations and the game was approved for mass distribution, but not here."

"But it is now?"

"After a year of high sales and no issues overseas, the regulations were eventually scaled back, and the game was released. However, something's different about our version; I just don't exactly know what yet."

"That's... not very helpful. Do you have any more specifics?" Kirito asked.

Agent Nishiyama looked down at the table for a moment without saying anything. Kirito couldn't be sure, but he thought the man was shaking ever so slightly.

"It started a few weeks ago with the Anathme Blades incident." he finally began.

Everyone perked up at the mention of that, it had been all over the news lately. Two gamers that led a small guild called the Anathme Blades killed their guild mates IRL, then committed suicide. The game they played in however had never been disclosed, though it now seemed obvious that it was ETO.

"The media had a field day and the usual proponents of "ban violent video games" came our of the woodwork again. However it's being downplayed as an isolated incident as most of those people lost credibility long ago." Agent Nishiyama sighed and finally looked back up at Kirito and his friends. "It is not however, an isolated incident; but we've been given a gag order to stay silent until we can find the cause." The man was shaking now, but from fury, sadness, or some combination, Kirito couldn't say.

Agent Shirai, who had so far been silent on the sidelines stepped up and put her hand gently on Nishiyama's shoulder. "It's okay Dai, I can tell them the rest." Her voice was soft, but still somehow strangely commanding. When she turned to face them, everyone paid immediate attention.

"With all the budget cuts around here, we've all been forced to tighten our purse-strings. Dai... I mean Agent Nishiyama, moved in with an old collage friend of his. He was a big gamer as well and had gone full force into ETO."

"It's okay Chiho." Agent Nishiyama said, cutting her off. "I appreciate the thought, but this is my story to tell."

With a slight nod, she steeped back once again.

"Things were normal at first, he played a lot, but he still was always up for work on time and we even hung out IRL on occasion. However, a couple weeks ago, things started to change." Agent Nishiyama took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose while looking down at the table.

"He started getting obsessed with the game; it was gradual at first, just little things like blowing me off or skipping the odd meal... but eventually he eventually stopped going to work, barely ate, never showered. Within the span of two weeks, he was a totally different person."

"Then, a few days ago... he just snapped. He lunged at me with a knife from the kitchen, babbling incoherently. We grappled for the weapon and he actually bit me, like a rabid fucking dog, he took a chunk right out of my arm." Agent Nishiyama was silent for a moment, and Kirito noticed his left hand resting gently on his right forearm.

"I was able to throw him off on reflex, but he came down hard on the knife..." Agent Nishiyama's eyes welled up, but he managed to hold back the tears. "He was dead before the paramedics arrived."

"My God..." Asuna whispered.

"He was a top tier player in ETO, just like the Anathme Blades, and the same thing happened to both of them; there's no way that's a coincidence. Something's wrong inside that world, but the multi-billion dollar company that owns the game is keeping it under wraps, at least for the time being. We're too small to investigate something like this on our own now... we need your help."

Agent Nishiyama finally looked back up at Kazuto and his friends. "I won't lie to you and tell you that you will be safe in taking this job. We can keep your physical bodies protected here of course, but after learning what we have, there's no guarantee that your minds will return. That being said... I'm going after whatever is responsible for this, and I'd feel a lot better about my chances with all of you in my party... I can give you all time to think it over if you need to."

"I'm in." Kirito said without hesitation.

"Kirito wait," Asuna urged him. "We should at least discus this first."

"I know, but when I released the World Seed I became responsible, at least in part, for everything done with it. I can't in good conscience let this go on, regardless of the risks."

"I'm not saying don't do it, I'm just saying lets have a conversation about it first, we're a team aren't we?" Asuna asked.

"It's my fault this is all out there, you don't all need to -"

Asuna and Agent Nishiyama both opened their mouths to speak but Klein beat them to it slamming his hands down on the table.

"K... Klein?" Kirito stammered in surprise.

"I have had it with your whole lonely hero crap!" He shouted.

"Look I-"

"I'm not done!" Klein interrupted again pointing accusingly at his best friend. "Every time you've got to be the one to go and save the day and to hell with the rest of us. I know you're thinking that this is your responsibility, that you don't want us to be in danger, well tough."

"You're not here to see how much all your friends worry about you, you don't see how much we wish we'd all be fighting alongside you. You don't get to decide for us, and you don't get to run off on your own again. We're a team, he brought us all here together, we're all doing this together. Right?" He said, looking around at everyone.

"Always." Asuna answered.

"For sure." Liz replied.

Sinon just smiled and nodded her assent.

"Mister Tsuboi is correct Kiragaya. I have assembled you all, because I need all of you. Not only are you all either S class or A class MMO players, but you're all close friends. If something in that game really can alter peoples minds, I want to catch it before it gets too serious and prevent any permanent damage. That means people who know you inside and out and can speak up if you start acting strange. I need all of you."

"All right... I'm sorry." Kirito finally said.

Liz smiled and nudged Klein with her elbow. "You know, you do have your moments... not many of them, but you do have them."

"Thanks... I think." he replied.

"I really hate to be the one to break up the cheer, but I can't come along." Agil stated.

Everyone turned to look at him in surprise.

"Don't get me wrong, part of me would love to go off on another crazy adventure with you lot, but I've got a family to think of now. If whatever this is really can alter peoples minds and make them hurt the people around them... I just can't take that chance."

"It's okay, we understand." Asuna replied and rest of the crew nodded in agreement.

"Thanks everyone." Agil said with a sad smile. "Drinks are on me when you all get back. It's the least I can do when you're all out risking your lives again."

"That's completely understandable Mr. Mills." Agent Nishiyama said. "Agent Shirai can drive you back to the cafe while I go over the details with everyone else."

Agent Shirai politely nodded to the group then escorted Agil quietly outside.

"I know it's late, so I'll try not to keep you too long." Agent Nishiyama stated. "We'll do a quick overview of the game itself and my current leads, followed by a brief dive to acclimatize yourself to the UI. Tomorrow is Saturday so we can start in earnest then."

"That sounds good to me." Kirito stated and everyone else nodded their agreement.

"First off, the game has six classes, but they don't follow the typical holy trinity of tank, healer, and DPS; though some do tilt towards specific archetypes." As Agent Nishiyama spoke he tapped a few icons on a keyboard built into the table and 3D images of the classes appeared on the table. "The classes are Brawler, Duellist, Rouge, Officer, Researcher, and Spiritualist."

Asuna knew that Kirito and Klien would both want to play the duellists and Sinon was staring at the Officer as it was the only one with a gun. Liz was skimming through some projected notes that showed the researcher as the best crafting class. She had no idea what Agent Nishiyama preferred which meat she was probably going to be relegated to healing/support duty again. Asuna sighed, but quickly internally reprimanded herself; this wasn't about having fun, it was about saving lives.

"The party system in ETO can accommodate eight players, so it's good to have at least one of each class to be prepared for anything." Agent Nishiyama mentioned.

"What are you and Agent Shirai going to be playing?" Asuna asked "We should base our decisions somewhat off that?"

"I'll play whatever role needs to be filled, I'm not picky," Agent Nishiyama replied. "However Agent Shirai will not be diving, she will be monitoring us from the outside."

Asuna did a quick head count to make sure she hadn't gone crazy. "Wait, so then even if Agil had stayed, we would still have been down one person?"

"Not exactly." Agent Nishiyama stated. "We have recruited one other player, though they insisted on being allowed to make their own introductions."

As if on queue, the side door to the meeting room swung open and a young woman walked in.

She was short with curly dirty blonde hair that was mostly covered by the hood of an old beige sweater. As she looked up at them her brown eyes gleamed and Asuna knew who she was even before she spoke. "Hey A-chan, Ki-boy; it's been a long time."

I hope you all enjoyed the second chapter. I had wanted to actually get them into ETO by the end of it, but there was a lot more setup to do than I originally realised, so that's going to have to wait until the next chapter.

Please let me know what you think, was this too much of an info dump too early, or is it flowing nicely so far.

Next chapter you'll get to see what this new game world is all about. See you next month.