Chapter 5: The Recruit
"I thought I might find you in here."
A stern voice shattered Sinon's concentration. She scowled, setting down the novel she had been immersed in before looking up. Asuna stood behind her, a disapproving frown set on her face. As always, a rapier hung at her belt on her left and a pistol on her right. Sinon noted that both had been replaced since she had last seen the other girl.
"What brings you here, Asuna?" Sinon asked calmly.
"Anyone would worry if a friend of theirs stopped responding to their messages! Sinonon…are you alright? If it's something I can help with—"
Well, at least she wasn't angry enough with Sinon to stop using the silly nickname she had come up with out of the blue one day. But Sinon's problem wasn't something she was willing to involve Asuna in. In fact, it might not even be a problem at all, considering all Sinon had to work with was a hunch that something was off.
Besides, Asuna had enough on her plate as it was. Not long after the tenth district had been cleared, almost three months ago now, she had been invited to join the guild «Knights of Blood» by the raid leader. From what Sinon had heard, she was quickly making her way up the ranks of the guild, first becoming a party leader and then a council member. Between helping run the guild and leveling up her skills, Sinon couldn't help but wonder how it was the other girl had the time to worry about people outside of her guild.
Heathcliff had extended Sinon an invitation to join «KoB» as well, but she had declined, declaring that she refused to be tied down. The man had accepted her excuse without batting an eye. Sinon wasn't sure if she trusted the man enough to want to work under him even if she were amenable to joining a guild in the first place. He had shown up at the boss planning meeting, two and a half months after they had parted ways in the sewers of the first district, and by the time the boss had fallen had been hailed as the undisputed hero of the day. His strength was the real deal, seeing as he had done the work of an entire squad of shield-bearers by himself, but Sinon couldn't help feel that there was something odd with how she had not encountered him in any of the training grounds she frequented in all the time that had passed since their first meeting.
"No, I'm perfectly fine," Sinon lied. "I even have the time to relax and get some reading done. You really should take a break sometime, Asuna. It'd be bad for guild morale if one of their council collapsed from overwork."
One aspect of being a solo player is that one quickly learns how to lie convincingly. Lie about whether one has a party already. Lie about one's level, equipment, and skills. Sinon had become so accustomed to telling falsehoods to strangers that she felt nothing at deceiving one of her few friends in this world.
Have I now moved on to lying to myself? Or have I really become like this?
Asuna stared at Sinon for a moment before letting out a tired sigh.
"I wish I could," she admitted. "But Leader's such a believer in laissez-faire management that nothing would get done in the guild if it were just him running things. So I need to pick up the slack and maintain discipline. And that starts with leading by example."
"Admirable," Sinon replied honestly.
Far more admirable than herself, who still avoided people as often as possible. In fact, the only sustained human contact Sinon had on a regular basis, not counting the boss planning meetings and raids, were the one or two times per week she dropped by the orphanage to take Silica out hunting. Sasha, who ran the place, had stated that she was even considering allowing Silica to go out into the field on her own, now that the young girl was becoming capable enough on her own. Once that happened, Sinon would be alone again. That was what she wanted. Right?
"You're sure everything is alright?" Asuna asked once more, looking at her in a concerned, sisterly sort of way. Sinon would have been tempted to answer honestly if the other girl didn't look so tired.
"Yeah, nothing out of the ordinary," Sinon replied. And because the best defense was a good offense, she added, "But I was serious. You look terrible, Asuna. You need to get some rest and trust in the other officers in your guild to pick up the slack a few times."
"I'm getting guild advice from you?" Asuna asked, giggling at the irony. "I'll take a break once I finish submitting the report on the clearing progress. We'll be hosting the boss planning meeting for the 23rd district in two days. I probably need to tell Kirito-kun that too…he practically lives on the frontlines these days; he'll never get the word if someone isn't looking after him."
"Alright, get finished quickly then," Sinon said, closing her eyes and waving her hand dramatically in a shooing motion. "It's almost time for the normal, sane, group-loving players to return for the night so I'm going to be heading out shortly to claim a leveling area. But before that, I want to finish this book…"
Sinon picked up the novel again and flipped it back open, pretending to be engrossed within its pages once more. She had lost all interest in the story the moment she had been interrupted and besides, the reason she was in the library in the first place wasn't for pleasure reading. Her eyes followed Asuna as she exited the building. Once she had gone, Sinon counted slowly to fifty and got up herself, leaving the book on the table for the librarian NPC to reshelf. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the person she had been keeping an eye on get up as well. He had been following her since this morning, although always from a distance.
It was time for a confrontation.
Sinon took a deep breath and sprinted out of the library. The librarian NPC said something sternly in response to her quick movements, but Sinon ignored her programmed response. After all, what could an NPC do to her when she didn't actually break any rules?
Exiting into the streets just as the sun was going down beneath the roofline; Sinon immediately turned a sharp right and pressed herself up against the outside wall of the library. Moments later, her pursuer, a young man wearing dark-gray colored heavy plate-mail armor, ran out into the street, muttering a curse under his breath. He glanced left and right hurriedly.
"Looking for someone?" Sinon asked coolly, leaning on the wall and looking as nonchalant as she could manage.
The young man, face half obscured by his helmet, took a startled step backwards as Sinon stepped towards him.
"Now then, would you care to explain why it is I seem to have run into you all day long?" she questioned.
"Ah—i-it must just have been a coincidence," he chuckled nervously. "I mean, there aren't too many places to go around here, so we must have just ended up at similar places…"
Sinon stared him down before retorting. "Right," she noted sarcastically, "in a district known for its parks and scenic views, you just coincidentally walked into the same dimly-lit, almost shady café I went to and decided to forgo the nice weather in favor of spending an entire afternoon staring at someone from behind a pile of books in a musty library."
"Um…when you put it that way…"
"The only thing you're worse at than lying is tailing someone. Really—wearing heavy armor when trying to sneak doesn't work at all," Sinon said, letting some irritation slip into her voice. He withered under her glare. "Now, I notice you have the emblem of «The Army» emblazoned on your armor. Are you going to tell me what you were doing or do I have to find out from your superiors? I happen to know Thinker-san and I'm sure he'd be willing to have a nice chat with the two of us to settle this."
Officially known as the «Aincrad Liberation Force», «The Army» was the largest guild in the game, with roughly 5,000 players enrolled within its ranks. Only a small fraction of the guild was strong enough to take part in district clearing battles, but they had always sent at least a token force each time, starting with the fifth district. Their leader, Thinker, had participated on the frontlines until responsibility and pressure from the officers under him kept him away from high-risk activities such as boss battles. He still made a point of appearing at each boss planning meeting, but his presence was more ceremonial than anything else at this point.
"No! You don't need to do that," the young man pleaded. "I'll tell you…"
Sinon nodded slowly and kept her attention focused on him.
"My name is Highwind. I'm a member of the recruiting division. My commanding officer told us to see if any of the frontliners without a guild might be willing to sign up since we're trying to play a bigger role on the front these days by taking over all district clearing battles and having experienced guild members will help us reach that level faster."
He looked at Sinon expectantly, but she only replied, "I don't see what that has to do with me, seeing as how I've already made it clear to Thinker-san that I'm not interested. Besides, wasn't «The Army» originally created to clear districts in an orderly manner while protecting the populace at large? This new direction sounds too reckless for one of Thinker-san's ideas."
"The guild is too large for any single person to run. This plan came from the leadership tier just under him, not from Thinker-dono himself," Highwind explained. "A lot of the time, the leaders of the various divisions aren't in sync. But my leader told a few of us to get in contact with known players who aren't locked into a guild already, which is why I'm here."
"That doesn't explain why you've been following me all day," Sinon replied, slowly losing her patience. "Get to the point."
The young man hesitated, looking left and right before answering in a hushed tone. "I did say that the divisions aren't necessarily in sync, right? Well, there's a lot of internal politics that go on. The captain of the «Striker» division, er—the melee damage branch of the frontline-level players, wasn't happy when he heard that the recruiting division had its eye on bringing in solo players."
"Ohoh?"
"In fact, that's the reason why he pulled me aside and had me investigate you…not that I was any good at it, by all appearances," Highwind explained, his eyes darting to the gun slung over Sinon's shoulder. "He said he heard some unflattering remarks about many of the players on the frontlines. How they were all «Beaters» or selfish opportunists who don't play well with others."
Sinon gave him a patronizing look.
"Ah! I'm not saying you're one of those specifically," he added defensively, backing up and raising his hands up submissively. "But anyways, I figured there were worse ways that I could spend the day than following a cute girl around. I could have been on patrol…"
"And the word 'stalking' means nothing to you?" Sinon asked, narrowing her eyes at having been called "cute." All she needed was for the wrong person to hear that and her reputation as a tough-as-nails clearer would lose credibility.
"Er—right," Highwind admitted. "Well, I won't bother you again, so I really hope you won't hold it against me. And if this hasn't completely put you off to joining, please at least consider joining the «ALF»."
He turned to go, looking as he if wanted nothing more to burst away at a full sprint but that dignity and his guild's reputation required that he move at a more respectable pace.
"Wait," Sinon interrupted. "This surveillance thing…has your guild been doing it to me this entire week?"
"This whole week?" Highwind asked, sounding puzzled. "As far as I know, this only started today."
Sinon felt a chill as she watched the young man disappear into the crowd of players returning from the field and sewers. If «The Army» hadn't been behind the feeling that she was being watched, then who was?
-o-
Sinon stared through her scope at the enemy located almost 500 meters away at the intersection. She calmed herself and allowed the green circle that indicated where her bullet could potentially hit to shrink down into a dot that centered right between the monster's eyes. Although a body shot would also kill this particular foe instantly, Sinon believed that aiming for anything less than the most challenging target would dull her skills.
*BLAM!*
With a roar and a brief spurt of flames erupting from the front of the Hecate, a .50 cal bullet flew through the air, taking off the enemy's head a split second later.
Sinon pulled back the bolt of her weapon, ejecting the now empty cartridge with the clink of brass upon stone. The empty casing shattered into fragments upon hitting the rooftop, much as the unfortunate monster in Sinon's sights had done a moment earlier. She reloaded her weapon before flinging it across her shoulder as she ran swiftly to the next vantage point.
She covered ground a lot quicker these days. As a sniper, her early stat allocation had mostly been in «Strength». Back when she had first equipped the «Hecate II», Sinon hadn't had enough points in the stat to wear anything other than unarmored clothes; not if she still wanted to move around at normal speed while carrying a light dagger and a small amount of ammunition. Once she finally had enough «Strength» to carry her weapon, wear the latest light armor, wield a mid-level knife, and keep enough ammo in her pouch to avoid having to access her item menu all the time, Sinon had started putting points into her «Agility» stat.
At first, the difference had been negligible. But now that her level was in the high 20's, she noticed that her aiming circle had shrunk by about 5% at the start of a sniping cycle. Getting the green-colored aid to shrink down even further was up to her own innate ability to remain calm, but every bit counted. As an added bonus, her movement speed had increased, making it easier to move from one hiding spot to the next.
As she moved on to the next building and took position on the roof, Sinon once again felt a strange pressure coming from behind her. A vague uneasiness within her mind which told her that someone was watching her. She scanned the rooftops for signs of other players, but could not spot anything suspicious through the gloom of the night. For the hundredth time that week, she regretting not putting the fourth skill point she had been allotted upon reaching level 20 into the «Searching» skill.
The first skill she had taken was, of course, «Basic Firearms». Immediately after finding her partner in the depths of the first district sewers, Sinon had put her spare skill point into «Extended Weight Limit» as a means of meeting the weapon's hefty weight requirement. Upon reaching level 10, she invested in «Hiding», a skill which had occasionally saved her life. And at level 20, she had chosen a skill solely on a whim. It had proven to be useful, if a bit of a pain to level up. But on days like today, she wished she had picked something else first.
There had to be something she could do about it. The uneasiness was starting to affect her performance. After months of being the hunter, it was disconcerting to feel like she was at the other end of the predator/prey relationship. The best course of action would probably be to just head back into town and try to either lose whatever was trailing her there or seek out the source. But Sinon really didn't want to give up this training area right now. It wasn't just a matter of gaining experience or leveling up. Her pride as a solo player was on the line.
She checked her inventory, panning through the list of items she owned. As she neared the bottom of the list, she found herself grinning. She had a few options left to her yet.
She didn't know exactly where that ominous pressure was coming from, but when she scanned her surroundings carefully, Sinon thought that it felt…sharpest…from the south-east.
"In that case—" she muttered to herself.
Sinon broke into a sprint, heading due north. She set off a large number of «Smoke-screens» behind her as she went; part of an old stockpile she had bought a long time ago and forgotten about when they hadn't come in handy. In no time at all, there was a wall of billowing smoke behind her. Even if she didn't know exactly where her source of uneasiness was stemming from, she should be out of sight right now.
Sinon smiled grimly. No doubt monsters would be attracted by the noise she had just made. Anyone foolish enough to keep up a pursuit would be more likely to find themselves running into the undead than Sinon while they tried to navigate through that dark cloud. She was just counting herself fortunate when…
"For a moment there, I almost lost track of you. Good work."
A mocking male voice called out from above.
Sinon pushed off the ground with all of her might, barely avoiding the metallic flash that rained down from the rooftops above. She rolled to her feet, shouldering the «Hecate II» while scanning the rooftops. She caught sight of a cloaked figure but before she could do anything, he leapt down, catching onto a windowsill before dropping down the rest of the way in order to avoid taking fall damage. It was difficult to make out any details about him in the darkness since he wore a tattered gray cloak with the hood up, but he was at least a head taller than Sinon. An orange player indicator glowed above his head.
Sinon squared off warily with the new arrival, keeping her gun pointed at his chest. "Who are you?" she demanded. «Orange Players» were never good news.
"What? Are you going to shoot? Can you even shoot another player?" the man laughed. Even behind his hooded cloak, Sinon could make out a sinister grin. He raised his gauntleted hands into the air in a gesture of mock surrender. "You know, it's not that simple to bring harm to another player. I'm not talking about the act of hurting someone; that's actually rather easy. What I'm wondering is whether you have the mindset required to pull that trigger."
All of a sudden, Sinon was back in the bank on the fateful day of the robbery. The mindset required… The shocked faces of all the onlookers. Her trembling hands gripped the gun she held unsteadily. The expression of disbelief on the would-be thief as he bled out on the floor…
Sinon unconsciously lowered her gun. The man's grin widened when he noticed the small motion and he opened his right fist. A dull grey sphere fell to the ground, as if in slow motion.
That's a—!
Sinon brought her gun back up quickly, but just a fraction of a second too slow. The street around the man was enveloped in a smokescreen before she could aim properly. Purely out of instinct, Sinon jumped to the side just as a pair of darts flew through the space she had been occupying.
This was bad. Not only did she have little desire to shoot at another player, but the reverse didn't seem true. So she did what any sane player would have done; she ran.
Another dart flew by her face as Sinon ducked inside an abandoned building for cover. She might be able to escape from a window on the other side, but that man seemed to be able to find her far too easily.
What did he want anyways? If he had been intending to attack Sinon from the start, it made little sense for him to speak before throwing his darts at her. Also, throwing weapons generally did low damage, certainly not enough to kill a frontliner. Most likely, he was trying to immobilize her with a poison, but to what end?
Sinon gritted her teeth. Two could play at that game. While she didn't have the throwing skill, the fourth skill she had taken was «Alchemy». At first, she had chosen it because it was the crafting skill which made components for gunpowder and incendiary rounds, both useful for her style of play. It wasn't until much later that she discovered that she could only make some of the required components; another crafting skill was needed to finish the product. Still, she had kept the skill; mostly because easy access to healing and status cure potions were extremely useful to have as a solo player. Now however, Sinon would use the darker side of the alchemic arts.
Sinon frowned for a second. For the briefest of moments, she had felt strange; a rush of adrenaline and excitement that she shouldn't be feeling was coursing through her body. It wasn't something that she should be feeling when she was fighting another human being. Not when this could mean life or death. She suppressed the feeling, reminding herself that she needed to be cold and emotionless to be in top form.
She searched through her inventory and found several potions with varying negative effects; these were either the results of experimental mixtures or what had resulted when she was trying to level the skill up when she didn't have the ingredients to make healing items.
The sound of footsteps echoed upwards from the entryway. Slow and deliberate, it was clear that the cloaked man didn't consider her a real threat. Blood pounded in her head at the thought of being underestimated. Still, his slow pace allowed Sinon to prepare everything she needed to with time to spare.
First, an ambush by the stairs. If it worked, great. If not, he would pursue her more quickly and hopefully, less cautiously, lest she get away.
Sinon hurled a fluid-filled bottle at the cloaked man. However, due to her lack of the «Throwing» skill and the orange player's cautiousness, she missed by a large margin, the contents of the bottle splashing harmlessly over the floor far to his right. She ducked under his return fire and slipped back into the room.
Sinon focused on the sound of his footsteps as he approached the door. She lay in waiting to the side, aiming her rifle carefully as she counted down.
3…2…1…Now!
She pulled the trigger, feeling the heavy recoil as the Hecate responded to her command. For the first time, the man's calmness was shattered. Sinon's rifle had that particular effect on players experiencing the noise up close for the first time. He managed to recover himself quickly, patting himself down as if he were checking for a bullet wound. Not that the Hecate would have left him capable of checking for a wound had Sinon been aiming for him.
"Foolish move," he gloated. "If you were trying to take me down, you just missed your only chance. I won't give you the time to reload before I—"
With a crash, the wooden plank Sinon had leaned on the door earlier toppled over. Although it was an «Immortal Object» and couldn't be destroyed normally, it was still affected by the physics engine. The vials that Sinon had carefully balanced on top fell to the ground, shattering on impact and splashing their contents all over the cloaked man.
"You—!" he exclaimed, managing to take two staggering steps before the paralysis effect took over and he collapsed.
"Now then, let's get some answers out of you, shall we?" Sinon stated calmly, fingering the edge of her knife. Despite all that had happened, despite how the man in front of her had tried to harm her, she wasn't sure she could carry out her unspoken threat. Luckily, the man in front of her didn't know that.
"Like I'd tell you anything!" the man replied angrily, spitting to show his defiance.
"You know…that gunshot I fired earlier should have attracted a lot of attention from the monsters in the area. And that paralysis agent you got on you? Well, good luck recovering from that in less than ten minutes," Sinon explained as she waved a bottle in his face. "But I happen to have a curative potion right here…"
"Tempting, but it's worth more than that to hold my tongue," he replied sarcastically.
"I don't think you understand the situation here. You're only alive because I want answers," Sinon said, stabbing the knife into the floor right by his face. "Now, tell me why you've been following me around."
"Hehehehe…Hahahahaha!"
Sinon was taken aback by the man's sudden burst of laughter. She pulled her knife back and stared at the man warily.
"It looks like you were right after all, Xaxa…" the man called out. "She does have the makings of one of us."
Sinon rolled to the side just in time to avoid a stab. The attack came deliberately slow enough that she suspected the wielder of the weapon was only trying to put some distance between her and his ally.
The newcomer wore a cloak just as his companion did, but unlike the other, his face was fully visible. Or rather, the lower half of it was visible. The top half of his face was concealed by a mask shaped like the top half of a skull. Glowing red orbs shined through the darkness of the eye sockets; Sinon guessed that the color was an effect of the mask and not the wearer's natural eye-color.
"Hehehe," the second cloaked figure, Xaxa, chuckled. "That's a nice look for you, Johnny… The 'poison master' hoisted by his own petard…"
"Shut up and use a status cure already," his partner replied. It was in a bantering tone, as if the two were good friends.
While this was going on, Sinon was searching desperately for another way out of the room. There weren't any. She hadn't anticipated a second orange player showing up. The situation had gone from bad to worse.
One orange player she could handle but two, especially when they were this close to her already, was a different story. Her close combat skills weren't particularly good since she hadn't taken a melee weapon skill yet. To make things even grimmer, she had initially thought the weapon in Xaxa's hand was a long sword, but on a closer inspection, she realized that it was an estoc. It would be difficult to parry a continuous thrusting attack while minding the darts that "Johnny" seemed fond of hurling.
"Well now Hecate," Johnny said, stretching his limbs, "It looks like the tables have turned on you."
Sinon silently readied her knife, resolving to take down at least one of them. She didn't have enough time to reload her gun; the distance was far too short between her and the orange players.
The red-eyed one, Xaxa, sighed at her show of defiance and charged. Sinon parried his first thrust and counterattacked by slashing at his arm, hoping to disable his use of his arm. She couldn't use a «Sword Skill» just now since the momentary delay after it executed would make her an easy target for a counter from either Xaxa or Johnny. Sinon had planned on keeping Xaxa between herself and Johnny so that he wouldn't be able to hit her with a throwing weapon without risking friendly fire, but the two orange players worked well as a team.
Xaxa jumped to the side as Johnny threw a barrage of three darts at her. She avoided two of them and barely managed to deflect the third with her knife by placing it in the path of the «Projectile Path Prediction Line», diverting the needle away from her midriff. But before she could fully recover, Xaxa charged in again, this time using a «Sword Skill» that Sinon didn't recognize.
She avoided the first two hits of the skill by a hair, but the third attack, a wide swing with the blunt edge of the blade, connected and sent her sailing back a meter. Sinon grunted reflexively as she took the hit in the side even though the attack did less than 10% of her total health. But the momentary distraction was enough for Johnny to finally hit her with a ranged attack.
"Guh!"
Sinon collapsed to a knee as the paralysis effect began to take hold. Although it might not have been what was actually happening, she felt as if the two now had gloating expressions.
"Damn it," she thought, "not like this!"
Something clinked by her side as she collapsed on the ground. Puzzled, she glanced towards the sound with some effort. Of course! The potion I was trying to use to extort information earlier! She tried to move her hand towards the bottle. Progress was painfully slow, but it didn't seem as if Xaxa and Johnny noticed anything other than her struggling.
"Still fighting? You don't know when to give up, do you, Hecate?" Xaxa asked, squatting down and peering at her face.
Sinon glared at him, refusing to give him the satisfaction of an answer. All the while, she inched her hand towards the vial.
"Those are good eyes," Xaxa crooned. "Anger and hatred can't begin to describe what I see in them. What else do they hold? A touch of pain? Sentiment? But I see the truth. Those are the eyes of a killer."
His words shocked Sinon. He couldn't possibly know? She was so startled that she momentarily forgot the task at hand.
"Oh, don't look so shocked," Xaxa laughed. "You only have the beginnings of a good PK. If you truly lived up to the potential in those eyes…well, I doubt Johnny and I would be standing here right now."
So he didn't know… Sinon almost sighed in relief before remembering that she was still paralyzed. She continued the painfully slow task of reaching for the potion.
Xaxa cupped her face in one hand in an almost intimate gesture. Although the game had a «Harassment Code» that prevented players from touching one another in overly familiar ways unless both players permitted the action, it seemed as if this action was minor enough that it did not count. If she had the ability to move, Sinon would have slapped him as hard as she could have. Instead, all she could do was redouble her glare and try to hurry in her attempt to grab a hold of the status cure potion.
"You asked why we were after you?" Xaxa asked. "Well, I'll be happy to tell you now that we have your undivided attention." Johnny chuckled a little at the joke as the masked player continued speaking. "I'll be honest. We want you. You'd be an asset to our group with your weapon and personally, I don't think the clearers appreciate you as much as we would."
Only a few centimeters more…I need to buy some time.
"Like hell I'd join you," Sinon sneered.
"I don't think you understand the situation here," Johnny stated mockingly from behind his companion. "You see, we're from the nicer faction in our little gathering. There were those who would have just killed you and looted your corpse to save themselves the trouble of approaching you. We convinced them that it might be better to try to convert you first."
He drew three darts from within the folds of his cloak and walked over to Sinon.
"But I'm not a patient man," he added. "I'm going to impose a bit of a time-limit for you to give me your answer."
He stabbed the darts into Sinon, one through the back of each hand and the last into the small of her back. Angry red spots appeared where the weapons were stuck into her flesh; the system's rendition of a wound. Her health bar slowly began to decrease, about 15 points per second.
"Judging by how quickly your health is going down, I'd say you have close to 5 minutes to make your decision, maybe a little less," he noted. "If you value your life, I'd suggest taking our offer. If not—well, it's not that big of a loss for us. We'd still get your gun."
Sinon clenched her eyes tight. "After all this time…it's still not enough?" she thought, "after all these years, all that suffering…I'm still that scared little girl looking down the barrel of a pistol?"
Her health bar slowly crept downwards, turning yellow as it went below the 50% mark. I'm not going to die here! Her survival instincts kicked into high gear as her health bar dropped into the red and the alarm began to ring in her ears. 25% left. Her hands finally reached the bottle. Johnny finally noticed what was going on and stomped on her wrist, preventing Sinon from moving any further.
Just a little bit more and…
But she couldn't bring the bottle to her mouth. It was all that she could do from letting go of it again. Just when she was beginning to think that she might not make it, a voice called out from the doorway.
"Isn't this a surprise? Two grown men picking on a young girl. And here I thought you orange players couldn't possibly be more pathetic."
A man with disheveled brown hair stepped inside. He wore a dark-green military-style outfit trimmed in silver and carried himself in a confident manner. Sinon recognized him at once. What was the leader of «The Army» doing in a place like this?
"Well, it looks like we've got ourselves a big catch here," Johnny laughed as he turned to face Thinker. "I wonder how much we can ransom you for, 'Leader of «The Army»-san'?"
Thinker smiled confidently, "Do you really think that you're even remotely capable of capturing me? Or that I'd be stupid enough to come alone?"
As if on cue, a silver-haired woman entered the room.
"Thinker, I wish you wouldn't run off like that. The rest of your guard are searching for you desperately even now… They're on their way."
"Ahaha…sorry for making you worry Yulier-san," Thinker replied. "That being said—You two, are you sure you want to stick around right now? The rest of my men should be here soon and I can promise you a long vacation in the dungeons of the «Black Iron Castle» if they catch you."
Xaxa dropped down into a fighting stance and replied, "We can take on two of you and escape easily enough. There's no way a soft person who made a guild to help the weak is a match for us even if you match our numbers right now."
Thinker sighed, regarding the orange player with one eye closed before he drew his weapon, a lance. "Have it your way. But it's not two against two here. You might want to take a look behind you."
The orange player was about to mock Thinker's attempt to distract him when the clack of a bolt being closed sent a chill down his spine. Behind him, fully recovered from the paralytic effect of the poison from earlier, Sinon stood with her rifle pointed straight at his chest. Her expression was calm and indifferent, but the air around her seemed to blaze with suppressed indignation at the humiliation she had just gone through. Her eyes, cold and unforgiving, pierced through the orange player. They no longer held any shred of hesitation.
"Fine," Xaxa stated, lowering his weapon. "You win this round. But next time, I doubt you'll be as lucky."
The two orange players strolled out of the room without looking back. If they were annoyed at having been thwarted, neither one showed any sign of it.
"You're not going to try to capture them?" Sinon asked, looking almost as if she might attempt that task by herself.
Thinker sighed, "I would like nothing better than to do so, but I doubt it would do any good right now. You never know what people like them would do if driven into a corner and I didn't want to risk anyone getting hurt in the night."
"But didn't you say you had men who would be here soon?"
Thinker looked surprised before bursting out into a hearty laugh. It was the first genuine sounding laughter Sinon had heard in a long time. "That was a lie. But a very believable one. I left without letting anyone know. If Yulier-san hadn't caught me sneaking out, I really would have been alone."
"I still don't understand why you'd take such a risk in heading to the frontlines," Yulier scolded him. "You know it's dangerous enough even by day. And you have responsibilities to the guild. You can't just go on and—"
Thinker cut her off with a raised hand. "As I told you while we were tracking Sinon-kun down, I wanted to apologize for the actions my men took without my knowledge. And like you said, I have responsibilities towards the guild; that includes giving a formal apology in person for offending actions whether I was aware of them or not. Sending someone to trail her exceeded the limit of what I will tolerate."
Sinon noted to her amusement that he had used the "-kun" honorific. The first time the two had talked, he had used "-chan," to which Sinon had given him a scathing reply as to just what she thought of that.
"So with that said," Thinker continued. "I'd like to apologize for the actions of my subordinates and hope that it hasn't put you off to the idea of joining the «ALF». We really could use someone with as much strength and experience as you, both on the battlefield and in training our recruits."
"I refuse," Sinon replied, walking past him. "Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for your intervention today, but life in a guild isn't something that I'd care to experience. I've had far too many bad experiences with other players."
"Hold on."
Yulier interrupted her before she could leave. Sinon turned back to face the woman, slightly annoyed. Yulier had her hands on her hips and a disapproving look on her face. For a moment, Sinon was reminded of Asuna.
"What is it?"
Yulier hesitated for a moment before answering, "If Thinker hadn't shown up, you'd probably be dead. I think you owe us a little more than mere thanks."
"Yulier-san…" Thinker warned.
"What are you trying to get at?" Sinon replied.
"I'm saying that you owe it to Thinker to join us, even for a while, and help us with training our ranged-weapon users," Yulier said. "Plus, those orange players are less likely to bother you if you were part of a guild."
Sinon stubbornly shook her head, "I refuse to be tied down by other players. I like my independence and nothing is going to convince me to dedicate my time to a guild, not even being the target of orange players. If they want to go after me, I just need to get strong enough that they won't consider it worthwhile."
"You obstinate girl. Can't you see that you're worrying other people? That there are those who would appreciate your help? Your knowledge and ability might be enough to save dozens in the coming boss fights and you're still refusing?" Yulier was practically yelling now. "How much can you do if you're lying dead on the frontlines because you ignored the threat that «Orange Players» pose?"
Thinker placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Thinker! Say something already. You believe the same don't you?" She looked at him expectantly, hoping he would reaffirm her words.
Instead of addressing his subordinate, Thinker spoke to Sinon, "If that's what you really want, I won't force you, Sinon-kun. But I really think it'd be safer for you if you joined at least for the time being."
"If I was worried about safety, I would still be hiding in the first district," Sinon scoffed.
"You know that's not what I meant," he replied. Then, contemplatively, he added, "What if I told you that I'll allow you to join the guild and still have a large measure of independence? That I won't force you to participate in guild activities if you don't want to?"
Sinon had to admit that the offer was tempting. But she still had many reservations about joining a guild. Also, «The Army» was less of a guild than an entity. The sheer number of players within the guild meant that she would definitely encounter people she would never be able to get along with.
"If I join, I want to set a few conditions of my own," Sinon replied after a long period of deliberation.
"We can discuss those later. This isn't the best spot to talk about such details. I'll meet you at the «Black Iron Castle» in a while," Thinker said. "There's still one thing I need to take care of before I go."
Sinon was about to ask him what it was, but judging from the looks that were passing between Thinker and his subordinate, she could guess what it might be. Without another word, the girl walked out of the room, leaving the two to their business.
"Thanks for the backup back there. Things might have gotten messy if you hadn't gone along with my story about having people close by," Thinker said gratefully.
Yulier crossed her arms across her chest and replied, "You're welcome. Now, will you tell me what that was all about?"
Yulier was normally a patient woman, but tonight's events were starting to wear her thin. Not only did Thinker try to sneak off by himself, but he had deliberately placed himself in danger and was now seriously contemplating overturning the discipline that she had come to expect from every member of the guild for the sake of a single player.
"What?" he questioned. "That was the course of action that would be best for us as a guild."
"That's only in your opinion," Yulier retorted. "I've followed you so far without question because I believe in you as a leader, but this is really pushing it. You can't expect to stay in control of the guild if you're going to play favorites. There's enough dissention already without you—"
"Yulier…" Thinker interrupted, dropping the honorific that he used in public. "My goal in creating this guild was to get as many players out of this world as possible while taking care of those who are unwilling or unable to fight. Somewhere along the way, the guild's purpose may have begun to shift, but my own objective will never change. They might question my actions as the leader of the guild, but I think that they'll come to understand why I'm making this decision. I really believe that the guild will come to respect and rely on that girl. She only needs a chance. And besides…she needs a guild that will look after her as much as we need her."
Yulier sighed, rubbing at her temples. "You're always like this…optimistic to a fault and too trusting of the good in others. I doubt that girl needs a guild at all. After all, she's survived all this time on her own. You can probably count the number of players who still solo on the frontlines on the fingers of one hand."
"That's where you're wrong," Thinker replied. "She doesn't need a guild to protect her. Not really, except as a deterrent against orange players. She needs to be in a guild for an entirely different reason."
Thinker began walking down the creaking stairs of the building that had almost turned into a battlefield. He sat down on the last step, patting the wooden board to indicate that Yulier should sit as well.
"What did you mean by that?" she asked, joining him.
"Tell me Yulier, how old do you think Sinon-kun is?"
All of a sudden, Thinker looked older, more burdened by his perceived responsibilities than Yulier had ever seen him before. He was not one to shirk duty, one of the reasons why Yulier found him endearing, but that came at the price of his willingness to get involved in matters that he could not solve on his own.
She pondered his question briefly before answering, "No older than 15."
"Exactly. At her age, she should be laughing with friends and hanging out without any worries," Thinker said. "She should not be fighting for her life in this death game…"
"Plenty of other children are trapped here as well," Yulier replied.
She had a soft spot for children, often visiting the orphanage when she had time off from her guild duties. Most of the time, she brought pastries and sweets to distribute, since the children, with one exception, were unable to earn the «Col» required to purchase food and snacks.
"True, but how many of them are risking their lives on the frontlines?" Thinker answered. "And more importantly, how many of them would be willing to kill another player if driven into a corner like she was today? She's lost something important, Yulier."
"And you're willing to let someone who would potentially kill another player if they threatened her wellbeing into the guild?" Yulier asked incredulously. Unconsciously, she shifted slightly further away from Thinker.
"That's not it at all," Thinker replied, fiddling with his fingers as he thought about how to word what he wanted to say. "She needs to learn that there's more to this world than just power, fear, and death. The scariest thing about this world, in my opinion, aren't the monsters or the fact that if you die here, you die in real life. To a certain extent, even the willingness of some players to rob and cheat and harm others doesn't frighten me too much. The scariest thing is how this world continues to slowly change us without us noticing."
He took a deep breath before continuing, "Do you know how militaries around the world train their soldiers? They give them human-like targets during practice. They even gave the process a fancy name: Desensitization. After a while, it becomes easier to think of the enemy not as another human being, but only as a 'thing to be killed.' In fact, you may not know this, but there was a lot of speculation when VR technology first came out that it would be used for military training."
Thinker laughed bitterly at his own words. To Yulier, it sounded like the laugh of someone stretched to the breaking point. Stretched far beyond what she would wish upon her enemies, let alone the guild-master she deeply respected.
"Kayaba was exceptionally cruel in making most enemies in this world look like people," he added. "We're all slowly losing the ability to differentiate between a «monster shaped like a person» and other players. I can't begin to imagine how far down that path Sinon-kun and the other clearers have travelled. She needs to relearn how to laugh, to cry… all those little things that make us human, or she might become something worse than what we're up against right now."
"And you're going to teach her that?"
"I can't do it alone, obviously," Thinker replied. "I'll need the help of the guild. And—I'd like to have your help in this. You're the one I can trust most; I don't need to worry about whether my words will be turned against me if I'm telling them to you."
Yulier smiled at the last words. "You don't even need to ask. I've stuck by you for this long because I believe in you. Even if I think you're being overly naïve, I'll stand with you and watch out for you so that you can do what you need to without worries."
Instead of replying with words, Thinker suddenly threw his arms around her in an embrace. Yulier was so stunned by this that she didn't return his hug until much later. The two sat on the steps of the decrepit building, oblivious to the haunted ambience, lost in their own world for what seemed an eternity. When they separated at long last, Thinker whispered the words "thank you" into her ear softly.
Yulier stood up and brushed off her pants, praying silently that Thinker wouldn't notice how red her face was at the moment. She turned around and offered a hand to help Thinker up, which he took gratefully.
"If you still plan on recruiting that girl, you shouldn't keep her waiting," Yulier said with a smile.
The pair left the building together. If any observers out for a late night session on the frontlines happened to follow those two back to town, they would have noticed that the two never once let go of the other's hand until they reached the outskirts of the town.
Sinon walked out the large double doors that led to Thinker's office within the «Black Iron Castle» with a hint of a smile on her face. Negotiations had gone unexpectedly well. She looked at the information tab where the words «Aincrad Liberation Force» were now displayed alongside her name. As per the agreement between Thinker and herself, the membership was mostly in name only.
She had a few responsibilities within the guild, mainly attending the training for their ranged-weapon users twice a week, but aside from that, she was still an independent player. She was not required to patrol the cleared districts like most members of the guild nor did she have to help in the recruitment effort or find a party when going out hunting. Best of all, she was outside of the chain of command. While Thinker had stated that he expected her to at least acknowledge the command tiers within the guild, she did not report to anyone. Sinon didn't even have to follow a direct command from Thinker himself, although she knew that she most likely would if that was ever the case; it wouldn't do to erode the authority of someone who had shown her this level of trust and leniency.
Yulier followed her out, looking displeased with how permissive her superior had been. She motioned silently for Sinon to follow.
"You're still angry with me for what happened back in the 23rd district?" Sinon asked. "If you have a problem with me, it'd be best for you to get it out now. For you, I mean. I really don't care about what others think of me anymore."
Yulier paused, the final clack of her boots against the stone floor echoing through the empty hallway. For a guild that boasted over 5,000 members, this section of the headquarters was surprisingly desolate.
"You honestly think that everything revolves around you, don't you?" she asked in an annoyed manner, her silver hair swaying gently as she shook her head. "It's not you I'm worried about. It's how Thinker is sticking his neck out for your sake. I hope having you around is worth the cost, because I can guarantee you that many of the upper command will not like our leader's decision."
"That's something that I'll prove to you with actions," Sinon replied. "And I'll make you eat your own words soon enough."
That response got a small laugh out of Yulier. "There's no shortage of confidence in you is there?" she asked. "If only half the players in this guild had the same backbone as you..."
They continued down the hallway. About a minute later, the younger girl could stand the silence no further.
"So? Where are we heading?"
"To your quarters here in the castle," Yulier answered. "You can choose to use them if you want or book a room in an inn, but it'd be more convenient for us if you were close at hand should we need to contact you."
"My own quarters…" Sinon mused before jokingly adding, "Do I get a nice matching uniform too?"
Yulier snorted in amusement, "I doubt you'd wear it even if we gave you one. If you really want one, I suppose I can arrange to have one made. Or you could just dye your armor in the guild colors."
Sinon shook her head. "No thanks," she replied. "I'd rather not look like one of the masses."
"I figured as much."
As the two turned down hallway after hallway, Sinon found herself admiring how massive this building was. It was impressive enough from the outside, but it seemed even larger from within, if that was possible. The passageways were all crafted from the same dark colored stone from which the castle derived its name. There wasn't much in terms of decoration, a tapestry here, a grim-faced statue there, but mostly just empty space. Either the residents didn't care much for ornamentation or the blandness was a reflection of a spartan lifestyle expected from members of «The Army».
Someone was waiting outside of the room already when Sinon and Yulier arrived at the door. It was someone that the girl had not expected to see again and she wasn't happy at all to find him standing there.
"What have we here? A new recruit?"
Judging from the sneer on his face, it seemed that Kibaou had recognized Sinon just as quickly as she had him. Life in «The Army» seemed to have suited him well. He wore a flashier outfit, although still in the guild colors, than the members of the guild that Sinon had seen in the streets. It wasn't the uniform itself that was eye-catching; the clothing was of a similar cut as Thinker's. What was drew Sinon's attention was how the man had seen fit to decorate his uniform with a plethora of awards and medals. She suspected that most of them were self-awarded.
"Why bother asking? Your spies have probably told you everything you wanted to hear already," Yulier replied curtly. It seemed that there was little affection between the two.
"No need to be nasty, Yulier" Kibaou said, feigning hurt. "They're not my spies, merely loyal members of the guild who see fit to inform me of the happenings of the guild."
Yulier eyed him with contempt as she retorted, "And yet they didn't seem to inform you that Thinker had left the headquarters alone in the middle of the night. Or if they did, you didn't see fit to send anyone after him to protect him."
"You dare accuse me of such a treasonous act?" Kibaou replied angrily. "I didn't send anyone after Thinker-sama because, as you said, he left alone and told no one that he was going." With a small nod in Sinon's direction, he continued, "Had I known he would encounter riffraff such as this, I would have gone after him myself."
He did not seem to notice that his last sentence was inconsistent with his denying knowledge of Thinker's absence.
"That 'riffraff' you're talking about happens to be the newest member of our guild, here on Thinker's personal invitation," Yulier answered coldly. "I would like to remind you that you need to set a good example for the other members of the guild as their second-in-command."
"As second-in-command, I believe that you should be more polite when addressing me," Kibaou replied, arrogance seeping into his voice.
The two faced off for several seconds. It seemed as if they had forgotten Sinon's presence. Not one to get involved with drama, Sinon walked past the two and opened the door to her room, revealing a small chamber furnished with the bare minimum of necessities. There was a bed at the far corner, a dresser in the middle and a stool in the corner to her right. A window on the far side looked down on the streets below, but it was too dark outside to see much. From outside the room, she could hear Yulier and Kibaou continuing their heated discussion.
"If he continues to associate with scum like that «Beater» you two just recruited into our ranks, I doubt Thinker will remain as the leader of this guild for much longer!"
Challenging Thinker's authority touched a nerve with Yulier, as she answered more angrily than Sinon had heard coming from her before.
"Sinon is not a «Beater». The way you go on accusing anyone even slightly more capable than yourself of being a «Beater», I'm surprised you haven't driven more members to quit the «ALF» than you have already! Get off your ego-trip and quit with the hate-mongering; I don't tolerate that behavior with other members of the guild and you're no better than anyone else here no matter how highly you think of yourself."
The noise from outside her open door was getting to be too loud for her tastes, so Sinon returned to the door and shut it. As the room was now set up for her personal use, she was able to lock the entryway. But she caught one last scathing remark that passed between Kibaou and Yulier before the sound cut off entirely.
"That girl is a damn «Beater» and I refuse to acknowledge her right to be a part of this guild! She all but admitted it in the first district boss battle. And if you want to remain in good standing with the majority of the people here, you'd best learn a measure of respect when your superiors are speaking, Yuli—"
Sighing deeply, Sinon plopped down on the small bed in the corner of the room. The mattress was stiffer than the one in the room she rented in the 20th district, but at this point, she was tired enough that she hardly noticed the difference.
What have I gotten myself into? Being in a guild is bad enough, but this one seems to be falling apart even before I arrived.
With that thought in mind, Sinon drifted off into sleep.
*notes- Guild drama. It's something I'm sure many of you who have played an MMO before have experienced before. Of course, the experience isn't always bad; there are always nice guildies who are willing to help out and share a laugh with you. But "and then they all went for a drink in the virtual tavern and all their troubles vanished like the alcohol in their mugs" doesn't really make for an interesting story. Plus, the «ALF» canonically was split into various factions due to its size, even though readers don't ever see what went on aside from a small bit in one side story.
There's quite a bit of a time-skip between this chapter and the last. But for those of you who are confused, it's close to 6 months into the death game at this point (five and a half, going by the brief mention at the beginning of the chapter.)
Xaxa and Johnny Black play a major role this time around as antagonists. I figured it would be appropriate that they be the ones Sinon encounters considering the Death Gun incident in the GGO portion of the LNs. Yes, I realize that the Death Gun in the novels aren't exactly the same as the orange players in SAO (left this vague so I won't spoil too much for those of you who haven't read those books yet [and what are you waiting for if you haven't!]) They give off a bit of a creepy stalker vibe, don't they? I hope they do, since that's what I was aiming for.
Kirito doesn't show up at all this chapter aside from a very brief mention. Yeah, before you all complain, this is Sinon's arc. Kirito will get his own later on and I can say now that Sinon will probably show up there about as much as Kirito does in this arc. I'll leave you with a final thought that should get you thinking a bit. The players are currently clearing the 23rd district, close to the first milestone; and events here generally have parallels in canonical events.
EDIT: Minor corrections to make a few conversations flow a little better.