I've moved the Authors Notes to the bottom of the chapter. Happy reading!
Chapter Eleven: Ghosts
Day 3
Date: Sunday, 1st Month, 23rd day, 1017th year D.A. (Dark Ages)
Location: Coopers Inn, Obroseon
Time: 13:04 S.S.T. (Standard Sanctuary Time)
Yeman had been working on his glorious plan to rescue the Keepers when the thwipp of a short-range blinker caught his attention. The one glance to his right caused his whole body to freeze in shock. Standing before him was a figure in knee high white boots, shorts what were way too short to be worn in public, and a white and red unzipped jacket that revealed that the girl was wearing nothing but a white bikini. In the girls right hand was a massive white scythe that seemed to have a skeletal structure to it. Save for the scythe only two girls in the whole city wore that outfit. Her eyes glowed red, the right eye lit with a bright red flame.
White Rock Shooter, Black's dead twin sister.
With another flash of red light White blinked again, standing right in front of Yeman with scythe raised. The realization that he was about to get slashed to ribbons was enough to snap him out of his shock induced frozen state. Throwing himself backwards, Yeman fell out of his chair and dodged a downward slash that claimed the life of the chair's legs. Crashing to the ground, Yeman grunted as he landed hard on his left side. He doubted there would be any real damage but it still was enough to stun him for a brief moment.
A fast moving blur of white was enough to force Yeman to roll to his right, and the ringing of metal told him he had just avoided having his head split open. Trying not to think about what would happen if he made one wrong move, Yeman scrambled to his feet, backing himself up as he did so. In the confined space of the hotel room White had the advantage with training and short range teleportation. The only way Yeman walked out of this alive was if he managed to trick his assassin.
It had to have been the most unlucky time to be ambushed like this. Riho and her son Oris were out collecting the last of the supplies they'd need from their shop, and Pike had gone to get a drink from the vending machines in the lobby. Everyone who could've helped him out of this situation was out of the room.
Yeman saw a red flash that meant White was about to blink forward again, and he rolled forward diagonally, diving right past where the assassin reappeared. But when he felt the butt of a scythe slam into the center of his back Yeman crashed forward into another chair. His forehead screamed in pain and he could feel the blood start to trickle down his face. Now he most likely had a concussion and an injured back. The energy left his body as Yeman realized that he'd be dead in the next few seconds.
White Rock Shooter slowly walked towards Yeman, placing the blade of her weapon against Yeman's neck. Yeman closed his eyes and waited for darkness. He waited for a pain that never came.
When Yeman opened his eyes he felt the scythe's blade leave his neck as White Rock Shooter jumped backwards. At the same moment a hooded figure crashed through the wall and skidded to a halt where his assassin had been standing a second before.
The figure only stood one hundred and fifty eight microns tall dressed in a long black coat with various lines of white. They couldn't be much older than fifteen or sixteen from the looks of it. However what caught Yeman's attention were the massive metal gauntlets on the persons arms and the short vertebrae-like tail peeking out from the underside of the hoodie. He wore tall black boots that almost reminded him of the ones most of the Keepers wore.
The newcomers metal hands were clenched into fists and Yeman caught the figure glancing back at him briefly before returning their attention to White. The hooded newcomer jumped forward with their right fist pulled back, diving at the former Shooter with speed and strength that seemed to rival both the Keepers and the Guardians. White responded by disappearing in a small flash of red light, teleporting to a different location. However when Yeman desperately looked around the apartment, he couldn't' find any trace of her.
"That's it!?" The newcomer whined, the higher pitched teenage voice telling Yeman that 'he' was actually 'she'. "Aww man, and here I thought I'd finally found an opponent at my level!" The mysterious girl proceeded to stick her head out the window and shout "coward!" before letting out a long sigh.
Yeman blinked the blood from his right eye as a moment of silence fell over the room. He wondered which Guardian had been recalled from the front lines and why they were standing in his hotel room. It was obvious this girl wasn't a Keeper, she had too much personality and Yeman didn't recognize her. Could she have been sent by the council to track me down? But how did they know I was here!? Yeman's voice was caught in his throat as he realized he had just gone from a life-threatening situation to another crisis. Only plus was that this girl wasn't trying to kill him – yet.
"So uhh, are you okay? Gonna say anything? Maybe a thanks for saving your ass?" The girl grinned at him, tossing a box of tissues that had been knocked to the floor. A view of her front side revealed a set of bright orange eyes and snow white hair. Everything about this girl seemed a little backwards. But she was right, this girl had arrived at the perfect moment. The girl let out another long sigh as Yeman started cleaning the blood from his face, the pain in his back becoming nothing more than a small ache.
"Alright fine, I'll start. My name's Strength. I'm fifteen, I like punching things, sports, and traveling." There was another moment of silence. Strength's eyes narrowed. "This is kind of the part when you introduce yourself. Geez first Riho screams at me to get over here and now I have to deal with you! I don't get you Obroseon types."
"Riho sent you?" Yeman asked finally, picking himself up off the floor.
"No you ass, I was sent by the ghost of your dead grandmother. Of course I was sent by Riho!"
"How do I know you're not a Guardian sent by the council to kill me?" Yeman asked, holding a fourth tissue to his head. Thankfully it seemed the
"Well first off if I wanted you dead I'd have watched that other girl kill you while I watched. Sitting in a chair with a bag of popcorn and laughing my ass off I might add. Secondly the council doesn't know that Black left last night to go track down a bunch of teenagers on the front lines with nothing but the cannon on her back."
Yeman let out a sigh of relief. The only people who had any knowledge of Black's plans were himself, Pike, and Riho. And if there was one thing he knew about Riho, it's that she would die before revealing anything to anyone.
"So you're name?" Strength asked again. "Or do I need to start calling you by some shitty nickname?" Strong language for a girl of only fifteen. Yeman noticed. Who raised this girl?
"Yeman Aland, former councilor of Obroseon." Yeman placed an open hand in front of him, however Strength didn't shake it. Instead she scowled at the ground.
"Damn I just saved a former councilor? Jacob's not gonna be happy 'bout that."
"What the hell happened in here?" Yeman turned around to find a stunned Pike standing in the doorway with a can of juice in his hand. Giving the room a second look Yeman realized that there was a lot more damage than he originally thought. Two of the chairs for the counter had been cut in two, both windows as well as a massive chunk of the wall was missing, and last but not least was a long gash in the floor. Yeman glared at Strength.
"You could've caused a little but less damage." He pointed out. Strength rolled her eyes.
"Yeah and had I taken a second longer you'd be walking around without a head. " She retorted.
"Hello! I'm still here!" Pike reminded them. "And I still need to know how we lost a flipping wall while I was out getting something to drink! A trip that lasts for five minutes mind you! Five minutes!"
"White Rock Shooter showed up." Yeman answered grimly.
"Say again?" Pike sounded both confused and surprised.
"Black's dead sister just tried to kill me!" Yeman said more firmly. Pike looked from Yeman to Strength and back again.
"Damn I must have had way too much to drink last night." Yeman resisted the urge to roll his eyes and slap the hacker.
"Wait are you telling me you almost got killed by a ghost!?" Strength exclaimed.
"That was no ghost." Yeman said with the shake of his head. "Somehow the Thilans are involved in whatever conspiracy is going on in the council."
"Just goes to show that you can't trust politicians." Strength commented bitterly. Yeman ignored her.
"So what the Thilan's got their hands on White's dead body and brought it back to life like those idiot mad-men are doing?" Pike scratched the front of his head and adjusted his glasses. "Geez if I didn't see any records of this it must have been a well kept secret."
"Or White could have been the first test of that revival machine." Yeman pointed out. "Then given to the Thilan's in exchange for whatever mind control probes they used on the rest of the Keepers."
"We don't even know if those probes are Thilan technology." Pike countered.
"And all the records say that there wasn't anything left of White's body after the explosion!" Yeman shouted. It took him a minute to realize the elevation in his volume, and realized that he was clenching his fists so hard his knuckles were turning white. Taking a few deep breaths, Yeman let his shoulders and hands relax.
The last two days had been the biggest shit-storm of his life, and Yeman's thought process wasn't doing a good job of keeping up. Everything choice he was making was rash and foolhardy, and his problem solving ability was showing the same signs. If he wanted to really figure out how White Rock Shooter had come back from the dead and why she was working for the Thilan Empire, he needed a cool head and more information.
"Look." Yeman continued. "We'll meet up with Riho and get out of town, that way we won't have to worry about the Obroseon PD while we figure this out."
"And what about our new friend?" Pike asked. "I doubt leaving the city will be enough for the Thilans to turn a blind eye."
"That's why you're not just running out of here without a plan." Strength cut in with a grin on her face.
"Wait are you saying that you know a place where the Thilan won't follow us!?" Pike asked hopefully.
"Yeah, Lara," Strength snickered, and the color drained from Pike's face.
"Lara?" Pike repeated.
"That's right Hacker Boy. Time to face the music."
At first Yeman didn't understand what was going on, but then he remembered that Pike was wanted by four of the seven major gangs on Blue Rift. All seven were located in the city of criminals, Lara.
"You're a member of Jacob Lara's gang." Yeman realized, turning to Strength. Strength smirked.
"You're smarter than you look. His daughter actually."
"You're Jacob's kid?" Pike repeated again. Strength laughed.
"Yup! Originally I was here to pick up a delivery from the Rock Queen, but once I learned you were in town I figured I'd bring my old man something nice." If Pike could have gotten any paler, Yeman guessed he would have. Clearly going to Lara wasn't an option for the hacker. But it was that or face down the Obroseon PD and White.
"Oh this is just great." Pike muttered. "Yeman, remind me to never work with you again. Every single time I work with you on something I get burned for it."
"Hey it's your own fault." Strength said stretching her arms. "You were the one to hack into every computer in Lara and steal our money and weapon blueprints."
"If I didn't I was going to get shot!" Pike protested.
"Then you should've gotten shot." Strength retorted.
"I see you've gotten acquainted with Yeman and Pike." A voice called from down the hall. Yeman leaned over and saw Riho walking down the hall towards the room with Oris on her heels.
Riho had clearly used her trip back to the shop to get a change in outfit. Riho's usual messy, torn up cargo pants and raggedy old shirt were replaced with a set of expensive bright blue jeans, a T-shirt with the Sanctuary Army logo, a pair of black sunglasses and a black beanie. Her shoulder length hair also now had a long streak of dark blue on her left side.
Oris however wasn't too different, and it actually looked like he'd been rushed to get out of the shop, as he was still wearing the well worn brown cargo pants and long sleeve gray shirt that Yeman saw him wear every day in the shop.
"Yeah and you were right about getting over here." Strength admitted reluctantly, not even bothering with any kind of a formal 'hello.'
"I can tell. You only break walls when you're late." Riho said with a smirk, slipping past Pike to inspect the broken wall.
"At least I bothered to show up at all. Remember that I don't take orders from you." Strength replied.
"So White Rock Shooter's back I hear?" Riho asked, still looking at the massive hole in the wall.
"Yeah, but she's using a scythe and a Thilan Blinker now." Yeman explained. "Her entire fighting style is different, not that I had much time to look at it properly."
"Not surprising, White was trained as an assassin not a shooter." Riho seemed to be talking to herself. "Never thought they'd try anything this bold though, usually Thilan assassins are better informed."
"Wait did you know White Rock Shooter was in the city?" Pike asked angrily.
"I wasn't sure it was her and I'm still not." Riho shot back. "We don't know enough about the Thilan's. That could just as easily have been a tank-breed soldier made to look like White to get in our heads. The only way to know for sure would be to capture and interrogate her."
"You can't be serious." Pike protested. Riho shook her head.
"I am but now right now. First we need to go talk with Jacob and rally the gangs against the council."
"I thought we agreed the plan was to talk to the Guardians?" Yeman reminded her. Riho let out an annoyed sigh.
"Have you met any of the Guardians? They think this whole damn war is a game. Their blind to what's really going on. Besides the army has them under lock and key, no way you'd get within a thousand mechrons of them. Besides Jacob's gang has the best information network on the continent. They knew about the plan to repurpose the Keepers before you did." Yeman raised an eyebrow.
"You're not the only one who wants to see the Keepers go free." Strength put in. "Jacob and I have our own reasons for going along with this crazy revolution of yours."
"It's not a revolution." Yeman corrected immediately. "It's…" Yeman didn't know how to describe what he was doing. Heck he didn't even really know himself. He knew he wanted to free the Keepers and put them on the front lines and stop them from killing each other, and that meant weeding out whatever group was behind this plot.
But what was that going to take? They had control of the government, the army, and the new Guardians. They were the ones in charge of Blue Rift. They called the shots. Yeman slowly realized that what he needed to do was essentially start a revolution. The weight of the realization hit Yeman hard, and he found himself slumping into the last intact chair.
"Seems you figured out what freeing the Keepers is gonna take. Get used to it." Strength walked past Pike and down the hall towards the main lobby. "So are we gonna stand here all day or are we going to go!"
Yeman exchanged a glance with Pike, and his facial expression matched his feelings. What the hell had they gotten themselves into?
Location: Obroseon Flats, Southeastern Obroseon Territory
Time: One Hour Later.
Yeman spent most of the last hour sitting in silence. His brain processing everything that had happened over the last two days, from the news that the Keepers would be turned into a spectator sport to rescuing Black and almost getting assassinated the day after, all of it needed processing.
Revolution.
The word echoed in his head again and again. Yeman didn't know anything about leading an army. His job had been managing researchers and relaying data to the council. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Hell it was probably a job that a restraunt manager could pull off. Now he was walking into a world he knew very little about. What the hell had he gotten himself into?
Everyone else was busy doing their own thing. Since there were only five seats in Riho's Boltway he, Strength, and Pike were all cramped together in the back while Riho and Oris enjoyed the luxury of space in the driver and passenger seats. Yeman sat in between Strength and Pike to prevent the two from fighting, although the sweating hacker on his right was more concerned with his elaborate escape plan to worry about fighting with the girl on his left.
Strength also seemed to be ignoring Pike as well. No longer wearing her gauntlets, she and Oris were chatting up a storm about anything and everything. Recent events, accomplishments, comparing lifestyles and the pain of their parents, the last one earned Oris several light punches on the arm. To Yeman it seemed that these two were old friends. He wanted to ask about it but it felt wrong for him to pry into Riho's history.
Riho herself was for the most part silent, except when she needed to correct Oris on some of his wild stories or punch him. Yeman caught her glancing out the window or through the mirror, like she was expecting White Rock Shooter to hunt them down while they were traveling at over () mechrons per hour.
Finally though, Riho hushed the teenagers and started a conversation of your own.
"So then Yeman, how are you holding up?" She asked, looking in the rear-view mirror at Yeman. Yeman sighed.
"Honestly? I'm freaking out. I had no idea things would escalate this quickly."
"You always were a naive councilor." Yeman bit back a retort. After all she did have a point. The only thing Yeman had ever accomplished was getting the Keepers new weapons and making sure the scientists didn't go too far.
"I don't know how I'm going to handle something like this. If anything my field was science, not war." Yeman admitted. Riho let out an amused snort.
"Buddy if you think we're going to put you in the leadership position for this whole thing just because you were the one closest to the Keepers you got another thing coming."
"Take it from me man, you're good with people but you suck at leadership." Pike chimed in, his voice still hesitant. "After all look what you got me into!"
"So he can't fight, he can't lead, and all he did at that Keeper complex was direct a bunch of scientists? Why the hell did I save this man's ass if he's totally useless! He doesn't even have his old connections as a councilor!" Strength's comment stung Yeman more than anything else. It stung not because of the insult itself, but because it was true. In school Yeman had studied politics and how to work with people, but now all of that was useless because of his criminal status.
Riho's eyes narrowed. "Strength you of all people should know that when a General asks their troops to do something it's for a reason. Now I want you to think long and hard, why would I ask you to save a man like Yeman?"
At first Strength looked like she wanted to hit Riho for asking such a question. One that obviously embarrassed the young adolescent, but as time passed her expression changed from anger to thoughtfulness.
"Because he knows where Black is?" Strength guessed.
"But I told you where Black was before you saved Yeman." Riho pointed out.
"Because a man who cares for the Keepers as much as Yeman does will be more determined than anyone to find a solution." Oris answered. "It also makes him the perfect man to manage the Keepers should we succeed."
"That's right Oris. Should this get to the point where everything goes to shit and we're minutes away from being killed, a man like Yeman – no matter how unskilled – can create some strange miracles. He might be willing to take on the missions no one else will, or can. But there's one thing both of you missed."
A moment of silence passed as both teenagers struggled to come up with an answer, and even Yeman didn't know the answer. Why would Riho save me? Yeman asked himself. What do I have that could be of value, something no one else has… Of course!
"Keytonium." Strength said suddenly. "If Yeman was the man in charge of the Keepers then he must have had access to Keytonium!" Riho smiled in approval.
"Two for two well done. Only councilors have direct access to Keytonium, and since we don't know which councilors are traitors, it's in our best interest to keep Yeman here alive. Well for now anyway."
"Yeah but Yeman is a criminal now, so he won't have access to any Keytonium." Strength pointed out. "So unless he has some secret stash somewhere he's still useless."
"You forget that under the Accused Family Protection Act the council can't close his family's bank accounts for seven days." Pike reminded her, crunching on a cracker. "That way the family of the accused person can claim the money. Yeman's old man was smart enough to put his entire stash of Keytonium into his bank account."
"Yeah but the accused person can't access the account. Duh." Strength retorted before sticking her tongue out at Pike. The young hacker grinned and gave a sideways glance at Strength, bits of cracker in his teeth.
"Did you forget who I am already? If Yeman gives me the account password it'll be easy to get the Keytonium transferred to one of my dummy accounts. Then one of us just has to pick up the goods. And before you start whining about how Keytonium transfers are illegal and heavy tracked remember how 'impossible' it was to hack into Lara's entire computer network." Strength looks like she wanted to hit Pike.
"Of course that means Yeman's still useless after we get his money." Strength muttered.
Yeman resisted his urge to smile. Despite all the grief Strength had given him in the little over an hour that he'd known her, Strength had a charm of her own. Arrogant, moody, and filled with the desire to always be right in some form, but still a loyal kid from the looks of it.
Naturally that reminded him of his curiosity regarding Strengths history. The girl had the strength of a Keeper and the confidence of one too. Then there was the fact that Riho sent Strength into a situation where the presence of an Elite Thilan soldier was all but confirmed. So who was Strength, and where did she come from?
"So there's something I've been meaning to ask you." Pike breaking the silence drew Yeman out of his thoughts. "How the hell do you know the daughter of the most powerful crime lord on Blue Rift?"
"What, you mean that wasn't in my file?" Riho taunted. "The great hacker Pike doesn't know how I have ties to Jacob Lara, I'd never thought I'd see the day."
"Yeah, like the words 'connections to top criminal' would be in a file with a near perfect record." Pike retorted.
"Funny considering your history. I'm surprised you haven't put the pieces together yet." Riho chuckled in amusement, sending Pike into a frenzy.
"What the hell! I think I would have known if I was dealing with an ass like you!"
"Yeah well clearly not Mr. Too Stupid to Remember." Strength said with a wild grin. "Does the name Rock Queen ring a bell?" Pike stared at the back of Riho's seat with wide eyes.
"Wait, that was you?"
"I can't believe that you didn't think it was me from the beginning!" Riho laughed. "What did you think there were two Keytonium Weaponsmiths?"
"It was a possibility." Pike muttered.
"You've worked with Pike before?" Yeman asked with a questioning glance at Riho.
"Only in secret. Whenever I'm doing anything off-grid I go by the name Jacob gave me several years ago."
"But you said there wasn't any Keytonium left!" Yeman said in disbelief.
"I lied." Riho replied simply, reaching for another cigarette. "You know you really shouldn't trust people so much." Thanks for the tip. Yeman thought bitterly.
Yeman couldn't exactly blame Riho for lying about any leftover Keytonium, it was his fault for not knowing anything about the element and therefore making it easy for Riho to give him a value that was bigger than what she actually needed to make the first set of Keeper weapons.
It still came as a surprise that she had ties to the number one most wanted man on Blue Rift, but he wasn't ready to ask about that yet. Yeman guessed that her ties to the criminal underworld came shortly after her ejection from the front lines, and was probably a touchy subject. Either way knowing didn't do anything for their present task. Besides the five of them still had a three day long drive ahead of them to reach the edge of the continent and the secret location of the biggest city of crime on Blue Rift. He did not need to piss off the one person who had the best connections and was willing to help him out.
"That being said it was probably for the best that I took the extra Keytonium." Riho continued.
"And why's that?" Yeman dared to inquire.
"That extra Keytonium led to a trip to Lara a few weeks after our contract was finished. At first Jacob just wanted to buy the Keytonium from me to give to a Weaponsmith that specialized in Rock Cannons." Oris let out a small laugh.
"Show's what he knew." Yeman's eyebrows went up.
Riho chuckled. "I said that whatever that Rock Cannon his 'smith made I could do ten times better. So he challenged me to make a Rock Cannon pistol, something that even the Thilan's hadn't been able to accomplish."
"The look on that old 'smiths face was priceless!" Strength laughed.
Yeman had seen Riho's pistol in action back at the second Keeper Facility, so he knew the rest of the story, but that didn't seem to stop Riho from pressing on with it anyway.
"Needless to say I did it, and became that scoundrels new favorite Keystone Weaponsmith. Ended up making those massive Gauntlets sitting in the trunk, might honestly be my most impressive piece of work."
"Hey don't take all the credit, it was Oris's idea!" Strength pointed out with an annoyed expression. A glance at Oris revealed that he was trying to shrink down in his seat.
"It's not that big of a deal, Riho did all the work." He replied modestly. Riho dismissed it with a wave of her hand, leaving a trail of smoke in the air from the cigarette in between her fingers.
"Nonsense, your idea for combining a four-barrel machine gun and a set of boxing gloves was excellent. There wasn't a better design that fit Strength aggressive personality." Oris sunk further into his seat and Strength looked out the window. In the back of his mind Yeman wondered if there could be something between the two teenagers.
"So that means that there are other Keystone Weaponsmiths." Pike observed.
"None worth mentioning." Riho responded dismissively. "None of them could make a Rock Cannon with even half the caliber of the Black Rock Cannon, let alone my upgraded version that was given to that Guardian kid.
Yeman shot Riho a look of surprise and interest. "What sort of upgrades?"
"I replaced the rock generator with a plasma." Riho explained. "Less time spent of forming your shot and more time shooting, somewhat better heat management too."
"Wait, why the hell didn't my Ogre Arms get plasma generators!?" Strength asked. "It's such a pain in the ass to get rounds made for those things!"
"For the same reason you didn't get a rock generator." Riho replied calmly. "Too heavy. Generators are meant for single shot weapons, not automatic machine guns."
"I'm looking into it, I'm sure that eventually we can get a plasma generator installed in your Ogre Arms." Yeman could have sworn he saw Strength blush but a quick motion from Riho caught his attention.
"Only if you start taking your lessons seriously lady killer!" Riho scolded with a smirk.
"Yes ma'am." Oris replied sheepishly. All the talk about Rock Cannons caused Yeman's thoughts to drift back to Black and her hunt for Squad Keeper. It would still be another day or so before Black made it to Khua, and it would be even longer before Yeman would hear any news from that region.
"So you're saying that Black is hunting down a guy whose weapons are superior to hers?" Yeman asked, hiding his increasing concern for Black.
"I doubt she's stupid or desperate enough to try and take on four well armed Guardians directly." Riho assured him. "Relax worry-wart, next we hear of Black she'll have dealt with Whitestar one way or another and be working on a plan to free the other Keepers."
What does Riho mean by 'one way or another?' Yeman wondered. I know she met Squad Keeper just before I approached her, so does she know something I don't? Yeman didn't bother to ask what Riho was talking about. It wasn't like she'd give him a straight answer. He'd just have to wait and see. And how will she react when she learns that White may be alive?
Day 3
Date: Sunday, January 23rd 2015
Location: Kheawuton: Khua, near Firebase Zina
Time: Roughly 1:15pm P.E.T. (Pacific Earth Time)
Whitestar
White wondered if taking Black out to meet Rush had been a good idea. Her shoulders had been tense and her eyes darting left and right ever since they had gotten to the destroyed train stop. Things had almost taken a turn for the worst when Beals had asked about her, and even with the story they had come up with White had his doubts. It looked like Beals had bought the story, but White didn't want to take any more chances in the future.
His sister also seemed to have a genuine interest in Black, and was dying to be given an explanation. White had made sure to shoot her a warning glance that would prevent any questions until they were a safe distance away. The last thing they needed was to draw more attention and risk exposing Black.
Since they had another fifty minutes to kill before the repairs to the Liberator were done White figured it would be a good time to pull the whole group aside and get everything out in the open and all their facts straight. Something had been nagging at Black all morning, and Rush didn't even know who Black was.
Settling for what looked like an abandoned café a few blocks from both the bunker and the station, White had everyone pull up whatever intact chairs they could and put them in a group in a corner of the café. To make sure that no one could overhear their conversation, White had everyone except Black check their surroundings before actually sitting down. A ten minute search turned up nothing and earned him a comment from DJ about being paranoid but it was better safe than sorry.
"So you mind telling me why you dragged me out here to an abandoned coffee shop before letting me ask about anything?" Rush asked in a low, frustrated tone that warned White that he could get punched at any moment.
White glanced at Black and motioned with his hand for her to take her improvised cloak off, but the Keeper remained unmoving without saying a word. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she didn't trust Rush.
"She's my sister, its fine." White reasoned. After another moment of silence without movement, he could feel the frustration coming off Rush in waves.
"I doubt she trusts any of us." Rose pointed out. "The only reason she's tagging along is because we're the best shot at freeing the Keepers."
"I'm sorry what?" Rush cut in with a snort. "Please tell me I didn't hear that correctly. Are you trying to tell me that you're big secret is a crazy plan to break into the coliseum and quote 'free the Keepers?'" A quick glance around the table showed a mix of embarrassed and nervous looks. "White I know we've done some crazy shit in the past but this is on a whole different level. For one the second you turn traitor you get unplugged by the system, and on top of that assuming you were to succeed in breaking in without getting deleted, the Keepers were programmed to be a spectator event! I don't know what crazy, idiotic forum page got you to come up with this plan but-"
"You think the Keepers want to be stuck in that pit of pain and suffering?" Black spat with more emotion in her voice than White had ever heard her use. Her head was now raised and she was staring Rush in the eye, causing the new Guardian to pause, but only for a second before turning to White.
"Who the hell is this by the way, the one who dragged you into this suicidal crusade!? I did not come down here to jump into a pointless death run." DJ and Rose both looked uncomfortable and remained silent, and Winston's expression was blank. White knew he wasn't going to be getting any help from them. White couldn't blame them, standing up to his sister was something most people couldn't handle considering how strong her personality was.
Black answered before he had a chance, her eye igniting and her tarp flying across the room as her cannon whipped out from the holster and sat inches from Rush's face. Everything froze. God dammit! White thought. This is so not how I wanted this to go!
"Would everyone please shut the fuck up already!" White shouted, suppressing the urge to smack Black's cannon away from Rush, who now sat with a stunned look on her face, not like one of those looks where you just lost a laptop or a large check, but one where you lost your job when you've been a loyal employee for ten years.
"Black calm down, Rush doesn't know what we know yet!" Rose said with a small squeak. White didn't let any kind of tense silence sit in the room, it was too much of an uncertainty. On top of that explaining how Rush got her head blown off so fast to Beals would be a pain in the butt.
"Rush, Black Rock Shooter. Black Rock Shooter, my moronic and hard headed sister Rush." White shot Rush a glare. "I assume this clears up why we're trying to do something stupid?"
"No, not really." Rush replied flatly. "How the hell is she here?" Her tone said it all. Clearly she thought that White and crew had already somehow convinced Black to go with them and break out of the stadium. Somewhat true, but they weren't responsible for the breakout.
White realized that he had jumped from his seat somewhere in the middle of all the chaos and was wound up tighter then a knot. Letting out a deep breath and sitting back down, he tried to shut out the cannon being stuck in his sisters face.
"Well we didn't do what you're implying first of all." White began. "We were a little too busy with a Thilan T.A.T. factory is you recall." From there White launched into the whole story from the point when they got off the train, the special assignment from Beals, the attack on the T.A.T. factory, stealing the Liberator, and finally getting randomly attacked by Black in the middle of the street.
"You know what happened from there. We blew up the other Thilan T.A.T.'s and survived an ambush by a group of Thilan Elite's, where Black probably saved our butts mind you."
"That still doesn't explain why she's here now." Rush retorted.
"That's something she hasn't told us yet." White countered.
"Then you need to shut up. Something's wrong here and I need to get to the bottom of it."
"C…can someone please fill me in on what the hell is going on?" DJ asked nervously.
"I would but I think our friend here would shoot me before I could finish." Rush snorted.
"Black please put the cannon away, Rush gets really pissed when things like this happen without her knowledge. She's just worried about us." White reasoned. They needed to clean the air, and that meant knowing and understanding what his sister's concerns were, and then Black telling her story. All without someone losing their head. Black however, wasn't lowering her cannon.
"Black please, there's a reasonable explanation for the way Rush thinks. I know it's still wrong but she won't understand unless we explain it." White pressed, hoping that Black would see reason. Not easily considering her fits of rather strong emotion. However this time his words must have clicked, because Black slowly returned her cannon to her back and sat down, her face expressionless. White resisted the urge to let out a sigh of relief. They were out of imminent danger but the threat hadn't passed yet. They still had to trust that the stories the other told were true.
"So why are you so upset Rush?" Winston asked. "You may be hot-headed but this much anger is unusual, even if you're worried about White."
Rush sighed. "I worked on the coding for BRSO. The Keepers were nothing more than a spectator sport. They had no lines of dialogue or any dialogue engine. Theoretically they were never supposed to leave the Grand Stadium, and they wouldn't want to. Lore said that the Keepers were supposed to enjoy their job." Rush glanced at Black. "Obviously not."
White knew this was big, not just because there was a massive miscommunication in Fulldrive but also because that meant there was a massive system bug if Black was breaking out of the stadium and trying to kill him, and also acting like a person instead of an NPC programmed for nothing but combat.
"What about Black's sister?" White asked. "Was there any mentioning of her?" Rush looked at White in confusion.
"What sister?" White's only reaction was surprise.
"Weren't you the head of your department?" White asked.
"There wasn't a line of code that I didn't know about." Rush responded firmly.
"So nothing about a back-story about Black losing her sister in some training accident?"
"None." White ran a hand through his hair and let out a large sigh.
"Wow sis you really need to go talk to your boss then." White's attempt at a joke was held back by the long sigh that came with it and the stress in his voice. Something was seriously wrong with the game, not that White thought this 'bug' was a bad thing. What worried him was the result when this bug was discovered.
"I think I need to make a phone call." Rush said flatly, but her attention was drawn to Winston before she could do anything.
"You still need to listen to Black's story before you do anything."
"And none of the whole 'this shouldn't be happening' bullshit. I don't want your Guardians face blown off while you try to make that call." White added quickly. Rush glared at White, obviously unhappy that he had read her mind so easily. It was something White did often when Rush got upset. While he often paid for it later, it was very useful for keeping her in check.
"Fine I'll listen, but don't expect me to go along with any of this."
White turned to Black. "So how did you get out of that stadium?"
Black looked from White to Rush, and for a moment White wasn't sure she was going to answer the question. It wasn't easy to read Black's expression, but the lack of emotion, the explanation Rush just gave, and Black reaction to DJ's comment the night before didn't give White a good feeling. Sure enough he was proven right after a few moments when Black tried to jump out of her chair and dart towards the exit. Anticipating the move, White grabbed the tail end of her jacket and pulled Black backwards. The move must have caught the Keeper by surprise, because she snapped backwards and fell on her rear.
"Not a chance." White said with a small grin. "I get that you probably don't trust us now more than ever, but if you're going to ditch us I want to know why first."
Instead of a verbal reply Black went right for her cannon, pulling it right in front of White's face with a familiar blue glow coming from the barrel. O shi-
BLAM.
White opened his eyes to first find that his face wasn't blown off. The second thing he noticed was Rush standing next to Black's cannon, the butt end of a long staff against the side of it. The cannon itself had shifted six inches to White's right, causing the shot to graze DJ and explode into the wall behind him.
"How about a little warning next time!" DJ shouted angrily. "Why are the hot chicks always so dangerous! Ouf!" White figured the grunt had to have been Rose punching his perverted friend in the gut, but his focused remained on Black, who in those few seconds had pulled back her cannon, pulled herself free of White and had whipped out her Katana from her jacket. What the hell is her problem? White wondered as Black stared down Rush. After one simple explanation she loses her cool!
White wondered if it was the idea that Rush treated BRSO for what it was, a game instead of being reality. But why would Black get upset over that? She obviously thought this was reality, and in a strange sort of way it was. It was about perspective. From Rush's point of view, fixing the 'bug' and returning Black to her original state was nothing more than fixing a problem and returning the game to normal functionality. But to Black, a bugfix meant that she would go back to being a slave of the Keeper Battles and her belief that the Keepers needed rescuing would be gone.
Vaguely aware that Black had thrown herself at Rush, White wondered what he should do. Normally he'd jump in and stand side by side with Rush to take down Black, but the last few hours had sparked something in White. He didn't know why, but he felt like more was going on here than a simple bug and a strange character. Something about Black's story seemed real, and the rest of the team had felt it too.
But White needed more than that if he was going to side with Black. He needed a logical reason. Somehow, Black had been given the same advanced programming that drove the rest of the world, and BRSO was supposed to be self evolving. But clearly Rush hadn't programmed the game to go this far. So why was any of this happening? Could someone have altered the code to give Black a back-story and personality?
Even if someone had it didn't give White any answers and sure as hell didn't give him a reason to jump in. So why was every fiber in his being wanting to help the Keeper instead of his own kin? Ah fuck it. White finally thought with an angry inward sigh. Why the hell do I do anything anymore? All I know is that my gut's telling me something's not right and dammit I'm gonna find out why.
A sharp movement and a crashing sound caught White's attention, and he looked up to find Black on the ground, her back against a sideways table with Rush slowly walking towards her.
"Oh no her leg!" White heard Rose whisper. Rush walked right up in front of Black, who tried to whip out her cannon but couldn't get it out from behind her with her back right against the table. Rush raised her staff high over her head, clearly with the intent of killing Black. Not giving himself the chance for second thoughts, White quickly pulled his cannon out and shot Rush as she was bringing her staff down. The impact sent her flying into the front wall of the shop a few feet away.
"What the hell White?" DJ shouted in surprise.
"I'm not standing here and watching this!" White retorted sharply. "Bug or not it's not right to just show up and call someone a mistake!"
"Regardless shooting your sister will have lasting consequences." Winton pointed out. "And Black won't remember any of this once the game gets patched."
"But we'll remember." White spat. "And I'd rather remember doing the right thing alright? Besides didn't I already promise Black that we'd help her out?"
"You promised a computer program!" Rush spat from the far side of the room. White glared at her.
"Yeah one that can clearly think for itself, program or not dumbass!" White shot back. "I'm asking you to trust me on this one. Now we can sit down and talk about this like civilized people or we can continue to act like immature five year olds!" Rush looked like she wanted to kill White, but after a few moments let out a sigh of defeat and hobbled over back to her chair, her right leg limping. Good, now the both of them have o sit down.
White returned his cannon to his backside and offered Black a hand, which much to his surprise she took, leaning on him for support until they got back to the table in the corner of the room. DJ and Rose still looked surprised beyond belief at what White had done, while Winston nodded in approval. It was good to know that at least one of his friends had his back.
"Alright Rush, mind explaining why this is such a big deal?" Winston asked. "Why is this 'bug' such a disaster?"
"This game is my first professional work!" Rush said angrily, leaning back into her chair. "The fact that a bug this big got in after triple checking everything for the past two weeks pisses me off!"
"So you're mad because things aren't working the way their supposed to?" Winston clarified.
"No shit!"
"But is this bug really so bad? The Keepers are more complex, have a back-story, and it gives the game a hidden, major quest to follow." Winston pressed. Rush opened her mouth to respond but paused. After a few moments her mouth shut again and she slumped in her chair, trying to find an answer.
"This 'hidden quest' you're talking about could get Guardians banned for no reason."
"Yes, but we're the ones on this quest and you're a GM. If anything does go to crap you have a lot of leeway on it. That or you can talk to the design team and work to make this an actual part of the game." Winston reasoned.
"Can I just point out that this is way too big to be a bug?" DJ jumped in. "Bugs are like, White's cannon not shooting or people randomly dying if they walk on a certain spot on the map and do ten jumping jacks. Not re-writing the Keepers!"
"That's what pisses me off the most! This whole thing spontaneously came out of nowhere!" Rush pounded her fists on the table.
"Were the Keepers ever supposed to get a back-story?" Rose asked.
"There was some talk about giving them one, but nothing like a Keeper having a dead sister." Rush sighed. "I need to make a phone call." With that Rush's Guardian body went limp, and White let out a sigh.
"Sorry about all that." White apologized to Black. "Since it's her first 'work' she's really passionate about it. Hearing that something this big slipped by her really freaked her out." White tried to laugh, but it didn't come.
"You really believe this is a game?" Black asked quietly.
"To be brutally honest, yes." Winston answered before anyone else had a chance to reply. "Marketed, sold, and played like one. However if there's one thing I can now safely say, it's that this is way bigger than we think it is."
"Bro, what the hell are you talking about? The last ten minutes have given me a bigger headache than the last forty-eight hours combined." DJ complained, rubbing his head.
"Think about it, the Keepers turning on each other, Black showing up trying to kill White, a shop NPC having that much personality. If I didn't know any better I'd say Fulldrive didn't just create a game, they created a virtual reality."
"What about Rush? She's the one who coded the whole damn thing!" DJ reminded him. "If it was a virtual reality, she'd know!"
"Not if the official 'game code' was just a front."
"Are you seriously turning into one of those guys whose paranoid that the government is running secret experiments!?" DJ said, looking wide eyed at Winston.
"It may be possible that our world contacted yours." Black suggested. DJ stared at her like she was crazy.
"Can we all just take a chill pill and come back to reality? You guys are talking science fiction here!"
"I cannot be certain, but I remember hearing about a project to travel to other worlds during my training." Black returned DJ's glare as she spoke. Rose sighed.
"We are so in over our heads here. Either way what do we do now?"
"One of a number of things happen. One, Rush reports this whole thing to Fulldrive, they discover that they've used the wrong copy of the game in their release and everything shuts down for a week while they fix it." White saw Black glare at him. "Two, Fulldrive uses this copy of the game and things proceed like normal." Black's right arm started twitching. "Or three, the most likely, Winston's right and this is some crazy VR experiment, in which case real lives are going to be at stake here."
"So now you're calling VR reality?" DJ exclaimed.
"An A.I. can think for itself just like a human can, and everyone clearly has a sense of emotion. I'm with White, we assume that this world is real and play it that way, in which case we're dealing with a classic case of corrupt government."
"We're so fucked." DJ moanded.
"But no matter what we're sticking to the original plan." Rose stated firmly. "Besides, that's the most fun option."
"This is all way over my head." DJ stressed, earning him a slap from Rose.
"Just think of it this way, we're planning on the world itself. NPC's, Blue Rift, and every other player out there in an attempt to take down a corrupt government and rescue a bunch of hot chicks."
"Now that sounds like a plan!" DJ grinned, and White rolled his eyes. Leave it to Rose to break it down for the dumb, reckless one.
"So to answer your question Black. This isn't a game anymore, but we're sure as hell going to play it like one." When Black's eyes narrowed he continued. "Anything else and we wouldn't be giving it our all!" While the answer wasn't the perfect one, it was at least honest.
"You sound like an idiot White." Rose muttered. "Can't you just say that we're on Black's side?"
"Speaking of Black's side." Winston cut in, looking at the Keeper. "We need to hear your side of the story. Every detail could help us out." There was a short pause before Black answered.
"Very well, although I'm unsure it would help our current situation."
"Anything on why the Keepers turn against each other that night, or how you got out." White explained. "If someone helped you or you know why things went so badly in that arena, it could help us start coming up with a plan."
"Very well, then I shall start with what happened in the arena." Black explained what the plan had been in the arena, to blow a hole in the wall and escape that way. When that had failed something had caused the Keepers to turn violent and start fighting against one another. Most of this was old news to White, but it was confirmation that they hadn't just been seeing things.
The next part of the story was where things got interesting. Black met a man named Sy, who apparently started trying to become friends 'or something' with her. The way she described it made it look like Sy was sympathetic to the Keepers. A potential ally.
Black then described her second night in the arena, which raised questions since all the Keepers had supposedly participated in the first battle. That's when Black revealed that they had revived Dead Master.
"What!" DJ exclaimed. "They brought back someone from the dead?"
"Only to have them kill each other again." Rose whispered before pounding her fist on her leg. "How cruel can they be?"
"So who won?" White asked, careful to keep his voice neutral.
"It was a tie." Black continued. "Both of us ended up dying."
"Damn that's crazy." DJ sighed.
"After I was revived Sy told me that I couldn't die again. He informed me that my body reacts badly to the revival process, and that they wouldn't be able to revive me again. So Sy gave me the key to my cell and the location of my weapons, and I broke out."
White doubted that Sy would be alive after pulling a stunt like that. There was always a chance, but the odds weren't very good. Still it meant that if they did face a Keeper along the way they won't have any problems if they kill him or her. If Black doesn't mind that is.
"After I broke out I met up with a man named Yeman and a Weaponsmith named Riho."
"Wait, she couldn't mean…" DJ trailed off, White was thinking of the woman who had the harness for the White Rock Cannon.
Black nodded. "Yes the same Weaponsmith that assisted you four in the past. They, along with a young hacker, have turned against the council and also appear to be attempting to free the Keepers."
"So why not stick with them?" Rose asked.
"Because of my cannon." White answered.
"Yes," Black agreed. "I still needed to hunt Whitestar down and learn the truth about him. However he may now prove to be a resourceful ally."
"What makes you say that?" Winston asked.
"The man is a former councilor." Black answered, and White nearly fell out of his chair. If a councilor was turning against his own government that meant that not everyone felt the same about the Keepers. Play our cards right and we could have a small army working for us…
"So what happened next?" Rose pressed.
"I learned that a small computer chip inserted into the back of our necks were responsible for what happened during the first Keeper Battle. They claimed that I was immune to the effects and they couldn't use it to track me. After departing I hitched a ride with a supply truck driver. Red Chain showed up briefly but was unable to stop me. After that I snuck past the Thilan army and found you."
"When did you leg get injured?" DJ asked.
"When I was entering the city, a very careless mistake." Black answered with a hint of disgust at her injury.
"We know the story after that." White finished. "Well that explains a lot."
"So the Council is altering the minds of the Keepers using chips." Winston muttered.
"Thank you Black, this is information we can work with." White grinned.
"Shouldn't we be getting back to the TAT now?" DJ wondered. "The repairs should be done by now and the General will be wondering where we are."
"So what do we do about her?" Rose asked gesturing to Rush. White let out a long sigh.
"DJ will have to carry hey back."
"What!" DJ cried in protest.
"Aren't you always the one complaining about how you'd like to 'get your hands on Rush's body?'" White reluctantly reminded him.
"He lays one hand on my and there won't be enough bits left to sweep into a trash bin!" Rush warned angrily with a sharp look at White. White grinned, not quite believing how perfect the timing had been.
"Aww come on sis, better you than some random chick off the street!" Rush leaned in to punch White, but he jumped out of his seat in time to dodge the blow.
"So what happened?" Winston asked, his voice serious.
"Well I hate to admit it kids, but it seems that DJ was right." A round of confused looks met Rush's words.
"Wait I was?" DJ asked in disbelief.
"Yeah. Before I could make that call I got a number of emails. One was from Fulldrive letting me know that I was being laid off, The rest came from every programmer in the company, claiming that they were also being released." Looks of confusion turned to looks of shock and surprise.
"Well then!" White threw his hands into the air. "Fulldrive is now officially full of shit."
"They know about what's going on." Winston guessed. "And they want it to continue. The only question is why?"
Why indeed? What purpose would Fulldrive have in hiring a bunch of programmers and then completely ignore the code they used? The more White thought about it the less he could deny the facts that lead to the crazy, insane possibility that Black's story about traveling to other worlds was correct. What have we gotten ourselves into now?
A/N
SURPRISE! So not only did WRS get revived and turned to the dark side (yes cookies were involved) but Strength is now in the mix! Her upcoming backstory gives her more of a snotty, know-it-all, I'm the boss and a badass sort of attitude instead of what she had in the caring support style she had in the anime. DON'T PISS OFF THE GIRL WITH THE GAUNTLETS!
Then there's Rush, who I hadn't originally planned to lose it like that when I thought up this part of the chapter. But the more I wrote, the more it just made sense. Hot headed and passionate, also a badass but for totally different reasons. Somehow I think Strength and Rush/Olivia would make good drinking buddies someday.
Man but piling all of the information into that conversation with Squad Keeper was a pain. Everyone was going to have different reactions, and re-gathering all my sloppy notes wasn't fun. Still I think it worked out decently. White/Rick's the type of person who will do stuff with half the facts on a gut call. What a people person.
REVIEW TIME YAY
UnkownSoul
I came to expect a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter, but this one still got me good.
But damm, you opend up something big there, very very big. If that person at the end is who I think it is and it is her right? RIGHT?!
The confrontation between her and Black or Squad Keeper in general will be epic, will it?
I just managed to write ths whole review without saying her name! Ain't I awesome? :D
Yeah I did a really crappy job hiding White Rock Shooter's intro there… Oh well. As for big, I'm just getting started. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA- *cough cough*
Enjoy the next two weeks everyone! (Not two months… I'll try.)