Chapter Thirteen
Despite its unassuming outsides, the building was actually quite nice and well-furnished. Will sank into a plush armchair at Blanik’s direction, and smiled as the young man rambled on.
“It’s so good to see you again! I heard about the problems on Floor 5, so I was worried you wouldn’t have the time! I’ve been really busy too, though, since they’ve hired me as a Senior Consultant. I’m actually only in town for the week, before I’m off to Holland!”
It was lucky, Will reflected, that Blanik’s English was so good since they no longer had the benefit of the Tower auto-translating. He let the man finish his sentences, and then interjected quickly.
“It’s good to see you as well. Daphne and the others had told me you were doing well, but it’s great to see in person. Now, I’ve heard the story from them, but I want the full version from you. What’s happened since you left, and is there any way you’d be willing to come back? We miss you.”
Will almost felt bad at the reaction the last few words provoked. Blanik looked stricken, shaking his head with a guilty expression.
“I’m sorry Will, I just can’t come back.”
Will raised his hands quickly in defence.
“That’s fine, don’t worry. I’m not here to pressure you.”
The guilty expression didn’t fully disappear, but softened, and Blanik spoke up again to answer Will’s other question.
“So when I came back, I got in contact with the local police. They’d already been struggling with Tower-crimes, just people who’d got their first Class and a Stat point or two throwing their weight around, and so they were happy to listen to my advice.”
The story that followed was essentially what the other members of the Chancers had relayed to him, but Will enjoyed hearing Blanik tell it and the enthusiasm in the young man’s voice. Honestly, he’d never paid too much attention to Earth politics or law enforcement in the first timeline. It had been something above his notice, especially once he got up the courage to enter the Tower itself. To hear Blanik tell it, policies had been varying wildly between different groups in the same City, let alone countries.
The sudden appearance of people who could shoot fire, heal from a bullet wound in hours instead of weeks, and run as fast as a police car chasing them, had predictably caused some chaos. Not as much as one might expect, though. Anyone impatient enough to leave the Tower right away with their earliest buffs and start causing havoc was usually still low-level enough that a few officers could handle them. The governments of the world had typically had a head start, with each nation having a small core of at least partially Tower-improved soldiers and police officers to build from.
Blanik had been far from the only person to suffer things in the Tower that would have been serious crimes on Earth, and one of several who sought out Earth law enforcement as a result. Though his particular captors had already been dealt with at a level far above his local cops, Blanik had been keen to ensure that similar things didn’t happen on Earth. He’d quickly earned reputation in the community for his efforts both informational and active, even performing a citizen’s arrest on a pair of would-be bank robbers using Tower items to threaten the tellers.
Once the overseeing authorities in the EU had heard about Blanik and the others like him, efforts were made to unify them into a more accessible resource. From there, he’d been mainly involved in training officers and overseeing the use of Tower abilities and Items for law enforcement. Will was impressed with how easily Blanik rattled off details about the bureaucratic structures involved and the interactions of the various institutions when it came to policy. Honestly, a lot went over his head, and he found himself wishing he’d brought Brunjar along. His head for administration wasn’t a patch on his second-in-command.
The conversation continued for an hour or so after that, mostly inconsequential things and general information swapping, before the next particularly interesting nugget. Apparently, a man fitting Jackal’s description had been killed in a failed mugging in the United States, a few weeks after Will and Okembe had last seen him. Details were sparse, given that Blanik had only the most tenuous link with American law enforcement, but it sounded like Okembe’s original prediction had been accurate. Jackal had left the Tower, tried to pick on people using his Stats and probably fence a few Items, and ended up getting shot three times in the chest for his troubles. Will’s Stats now would probably let him shrug that off without too much trouble, but the thug had been far closer to human average months ago.
Eventually, the conversation took the inevitable turn, and Will had to ask.
“Are you absolutely certain you can’t come back, even for a bit? If you Climbed with us up to 10, at least, you could help me get Towerfall established in a way that will last.”
He tried to ignore how whiny his voice sounded at that, hoping it was just in his head. Truth be told, he’d avoided too much interaction, even from the Tower, with Blanik for this exact reason. He missed him and his presence on the team. They’d spent the least amount of time Climbing together out of all the Chancers, but in that time they’d saved each other’s lives and genuinely grown closer. The feeling of guilt that Will still had like a stone in his stomach at the thought of Blanik having to kill the assassin, of him nearly dying of poison afterwards, didn’t help either. Topping it off was the fact that despite having it as a priority on Towerfall’s agenda, and Will’s deeply held theory that the FCA were behind it, they had no clue who actually sent the assassins.
Will wanted Blanik to come back, but he understood completely why he wouldn’t want to. It was for that reason he’d avoided the talk, and for that reason he felt more resigned than disappointed when the sixth member of the Chancers gave his answer.
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“I’ve found my place now. You don’t need me, none of you need me to get to 10, to get to 50. But the people here, in my home, they do. I don’t blame you or EuroClimb or any of the other Clans for it, but you know that you’re causing a brain drain. The money and opportunities in-Tower are not trickling out anywhere near fast enough for us to catch up, and every soldier and scientist that decides to start Climbing is one that doesn’t stay here on Earth keeping things running.”
Will did know. It had come up in their conversation, only by association, probably because Blanik wanted to avoid the appearance of blame. It had happened in the first timeline, too, though probably at a slower rate. Things would peak around the time they hit Floor 10, and then level off to a stable situation, most likely. But for the time being, Blanik wasn’t wrong that it caused problems for everyone outside of the Tower.
Will had tried to put affairs on Earth mostly out of his mind, right from the start. He’d cut the last remaining ties with an old life that had never held much enjoyment anyway, and dived head first into Climbing as though the final battle had never happened. Part of it was coping, that much was obvious, and whatever his flaws Will had never been incapable of introspection. The other part, though, was a sinking feeling of futility. If they didn’t clear 25 by the 5 year mark, nothing that they did for Earth would mean anything anyway. If they didn’t clear 50 by the 10 year mark, nothing they did anywhere would mean anything. Now that the early stages were out of the way, and “25 by 5” could be a realistic slogan and not an optimistic chant, he could probably ease off the hyperfocus somewhat.
Of course, if he did that, if he let himself think more about Earth and the people on it, he’d be forced to spend time out of the Tower. He’d be involved in social interactions without the comfort blanket of swords at his waist and monsters around the corner. He might have to acknowledge that his original excuse for not contacting John looked flimsier with each passing day. No, better to focus on getting to Floor 10. He could deal with the other stuff after that.
“It’s down to you, you know? I would probably still be risking my neck stealing other people’s stuff for those assholes if it wasn’t for you. Even if I’d got away, I wouldn’t have been doing this, making a difference. Just because I’m not a Chancer anymore, don’t think I don’t want to be a part of your mission. You’re saving Earth, remember? I’m making sure there’s still one here worth saving.”
A surprisingly poetic statement, from the young man who Will realised for the first time wasn’t that far from him in terms of physical age. He’d forgotten that despite the decade he spent in the first timeline, he still had the body of a 26 year old. Blanik was taller than him by a good inch, even in spite of Will’s Stats, and had a respectable stubble. Mentally, Will corrected his internal monologue. Calling Blanik a young man was too diminutive for the person he saw in front of himself.
They hugged, Will promising to stay in better contact and Blanik promising that once they hit 10 he’d come to the Tower for a celebration party. It was with a much lighter feeling in his chest that Will headed back to the Tower, though when he arrived and remembered what the next day’s activities would consist of that feeling was weighed down again. Four Villages, taken over by force by “rogue Climbers” that Will was certain the FCA was funding under the table. He’d be hitting the largest of the four in one day.
He walked back into Dunebed Village early in the morning, and was immediately welcomed by several guards wearing the cracked Tower logo of his Clan who led him to the Mayor’s Office to reunite with the others. That was new, probably Domovoi preparing the Clan for the coming day’s fight in his own way, which brought a grin to Will’s face. Inside, while the Mayor himself was out, he found the other Chancers occupying the large room set aside for them.
Metrodora was first over, kissing him and staying close, as he broke the good and bad news to the others. Daphne and Unk were the most visibly upset, but Okembe wore an even more solemn expression than usual. Met, for her part, just seemed to be aiming for supportive and comforting in general. That made sense, as she was the one who knew most well Will’s worries about Blanik.
“So we need a new Rogue, then?”
It took a bit of time, but it was Daphne (of course) who broached the sensitive topic before anyone else could. Unk exaggeratedly tutted at her lack of decorum, but she just flipped him a rude gesture and turned back to Will.
“I mean, we’re a 5 man party now, so we need a new Rogue type. What are we going to do, hold tryouts?”
That brought a laugh from the group. Will shook his head with a thoughtful expression on his face.
“I’ve been thinking about it. We don’t need a new Rogue type right this second, though when we get closer to 10 there are definitely things I’d like to be a full party for. The issue is that if we bring someone new in, I’ve got to brief them about the whole situation. I can’t go back to trying to subtly guide and hint, it was a ball-ache.”
The others all seemed to agree with that, thankfully. He’d been worried there might be some jealousy, but then, none of them had protested when he’d told Brunjar and Dane. He was sure that between the administrators he had, they could find a trustworthy Climber to fill the hole left by Blanik, but he was wary about taking someone else’s word for it. He’d found the Chancers, each one organically, and a lack of belief in some sort of destiny was harder to maintain when you’d found a magic coin to time-travel back to before the apocalypse.
The discussion went nowhere, other than with the group all agreeing to look out for a likely candidate. From there, it moved on to the topic of the next day’s assault and their plans. Partway through, Metrodora brought something up that Will felt like an idiot for forgetting.
“I was thinking I’d drink the Bloodline Vial today. If it has any side-effects, they’ll be worn off by tomorrow, and if I can go into the fight with both arms it’ll be a big help.”
The fact that he’d suggested the Sandwyrm’s Bloodline as a possible fix for her lost arm, and then completely forgotten about it, kicked Will in the head. He’d been so stressed, so busy, so stupid. After apologising profusely for being such an idiot, and taking Daphne and Unk’s jibes in good spirits, he hugged Metrodora tightly.
“One arm, two, none or thirty, it’s all the same to me. With that said, if you want to give it a try, we’re all rooting for you.”
The others echoed his sentiment, and after a few deep breaths and some rambling about the alchemical tests she’d spent the last few days running in secret on the vial, Metrodora reached out and brought it to her lips. She drank deeply, and after a heartbeat of silence and anticipation, it began to take effect.