“Tell us already, what’s episode 8. You know I hate cliffhangers.” Alexander said with a questioning tone.
Atlas finished his beer slowly, paused just a bit longer, lit a cigarette and gave Alexander a wry smile.
‘Hurry up and explain you bastard,‘ thought Alexander.
“You watched the show, right?” Atlas asked, his tone serious as he puffed on his cigarette.
“You bet your ass I did,” Alexander replied, “But I don’t remember what happened in Episode 8. I just know I looked goddamn good in it.”
John suddenly snapped his fingers, realisation dawned on him. “Oh shit, Episode 8—that’s the one where Clark backstabs a settlement using the governance tokens!”
“That’s right,” Atlas said, his jaw tightening. “It was during the empire-building phase. We took down a major settlement using this exact same move. Those assholes must’ve seen the show too.”
‘It is so embarrassing that somebody else had used his time-traveled knowledge to almost screw him out of his own fort. Minus 100 OP MC points, Atlas thought. And the worst thing is, Shaniqua probably hadn't even been teleported back with her memories intact. So, so, so embarrassing. Hopefully, nobody else noticed it.‘
Amber frowned, still not entirely following. “Then why didn’t you stop it?”
“I thought I’d put in enough tokens to prevent this from happening,” Atlas admitted, his frustration with himself didn’t go away. “But clearly, I was wrong. I don’t know where those guys got so many governance tokens, but with all these refugees around, they could’ve bought them like we did—or raided them from other settlements.”
John looked guilty, his eyes downcast. “Atlas, I’m sorry about Snedlie. We should’ve taken care of him earlier.”
Atlas waved off the apology. “Water under the bridge, my friend. The fault wasn’t yours—it was mine. I keep thinking people can be better, giving them chances, and I keep getting betrayed.”
“Why didn’t they just raze the settlement then?” Asked John.
“They can’t if the leader is active and in town. That’s another bonus of the upgraded settlement capacity.” Atlas responded.
Isabella, who had been quiet until now, spoke up. “We could’ve lost it all. I also voted for Snedly to die, but the settlement decided to let him live. I can’t believe we almost lost everything because of that decision.”
Atlas nodded, the weight of their near-loss settling over him. “It’s a lesson we all have to learn.”
Amber leaned forward, her eyes narrowing. “Do you know who did this?”
“Yeah, I do,” Atlas replied, his voice hardening. “That was Shaniqua.”
John’s eyes widened in recognition. “Ooh, wasn’t that the girl from Episode 1? The one Clark betrayed you for?”
“Yep, that’s her,” Atlas confirmed, a bitter edge to his voice.
“Do you know where she came from?” Amber asked, trying to piece it together.
Atlas thought back, his mind racing over the details. “I didn’t pay much attention to where she came from, but I remember where we rescued her. She said she’d been a prisoner in Cell Block 21.”
Amber’s brow furrowed in confusion. “A prisoner? Why would a prisoner try to take us over?”
Atlas scoffed, the anger in his chest flaring up again. “Shaniqua’s a snake. She played on everyone’s vulnerabilities, pretending to be a poor black woman who’d been oppressed and taken advantage of. Clark, being the kind of guy he is, must’ve fallen for it. There are a lot of those white guys with a saviour complex. Especially if a hot threesome was thrown into the offer. I honestly don’t think she was ever a prisoner.”
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Isabella looked at him curiously. “How did you know how to stop what happened tonight?”
“In the show, we showed Clark taking over a settlement with governance tokens, but we never discussed how it could have been prevented. That's one thing about using the knowledge from my show—it gives you pieces, but not the whole story,” Atlas explained.
John’s eyes darkened with realisation. “Didn’t she also get teleported back with the other 100 people?”
“From what I’ve seen and guess, the other 99 people didn’t get sent back with their memories intact. The leaderboards would have changed if they had. I don’t know the exact reason why that happened though. I’ve only seen the Red Fairy here and the vending machines. And I’m definitely not asking the Red Fairy.”
“That’s probably a good idea.” Agreed John, “Then what should we do?”
Atlas took a deep breath, his mind already forming a plan. “We’re going to tighten up security and make sure this doesn’t happen again. There should be guards there 24/7. And the next time someone tries to pull off a stunt like this, we won’t be caught with our pants around our ankles. If intruders can’t get to the settlement government kiosk, they can’t pull this kind of stunt. Only authorized people can approach it from now on. The anti violence protocol only turns on, once a vote is initiated.”
They all nodded in agreement, the weight of their recent brush with disaster still hanging over them. Atlas knew that they’d have to be more vigilant, more ruthless. And this time, he wouldn’t hesitate to eliminate any threat—no matter how small it seemed.
John, who had been deep in thought, asked, “So, what are we going to do with Cell Block 21? This attack couldn’t have just happened by chance. They must have been planning it for a while.”
Atlas finished off another beer and leaned back, a determined look on his face. “As for Cell block 21, I definitely have a plan for it. Cell block 21 is right next to us. Our settlements are side by side. I’d planned to take them out before, but I guess they made their move first. Now, it's our turn. “
He turned to Alexander. “Did you bring clothes from home when you portaled over?”
Alexander grinned, his vanity showing through. “Sure did. I couldn’t stand the thought of wearing a military uniform all the time. It would have been sheer garbage.”
“Good,” Atlas said, a smirk forming. “You still have that John Deere hat I always saw you wearing on earth?”
“You bet your ass I do, nothing runs like a deere.” Alexander replied, clearly proud of his style.
“Perfect. Tomorrow, we’re going to have a counterattack.”
‘‘‘
The Fort Boned brothel was alive with gossip, the hookers lounging around, cigarettes hanging lazily from lips as they swapped stories of the day’s near disaster. The town had almost been taken over, and the girls were milking every ounce of drama from it.
“I’m telling you,” said Ruby, leaning back against a cushion, “Atlas nearly lost the entire settlement today. One more minute and Shaniqua would’ve been sitting on his throne, sipping whiskey from a golden cup.”
“Golden cup?” Delilah snorted, flicking her ash. “Girl, please. I heard she was planning to throw a whole damn party in the town square once she took over. Word is, she was already ordering drinks.”
A few of the girls gasped, eyes wide with exaggerated shock. “No way!” one of them whispered.
“Oh yeah,” Ruby nodded solemnly. “I even heard Snedlie was in on it too. They say he’s the one who handed her the governance tokens. Can you believe that? That little shit digger of all people, was almost our new king!”
“King Shit Pit the first,” the girls laughed .
“But I thought John had it under control?” asked another girl, wrinkling her nose in confusion.
Delilah leaned in, her voice low and conspiratorial. “John didn’t have a clue what was happening. From what I heard, he was too busy trying to figure out why the settlement wasn’t updating. If it wasn’t for Atlas catching on at the last second, this place would’ve had a new ruler.”
"That Shaniqua’s a sly one," Ruby added, shaking her head. "Played the victim, poor little prisoner in Cell Block 21. But the second she saw her chance, BAM! Went for the kill."
“I heard it wasn’t just Shaniqua,” a quieter voice said from the corner. It was Violet, always the one to bring in the darker rumors. “They say Cell Block 21’s been planning this for weeks. They were just waiting for Atlas to slip up.”
“Well, they didn’t count us working girls from single handedly stopping them, did they,”Ruby laughed.
“Go us!” The girls gave each other high fives,
“Still,” Violet continued, “word is, it wasn’t even about the tokens. Shaniqua wanted revenge. They say Atlas did her dirty back in the day, and she’s been waiting to strike ever since.”
“Now that I believe,” Delilah chimed in, smirking. “A woman scorned and all that. Makes sense why she’d go after the settlement.”
The room fell silent for a moment as they all considered the weight of the day’s events, then Ruby cracked a smile. “Well, whatever the truth is, thank god we’re still here, and not under Shaniqua’s rule. Can you imagine? We’d be stuck in some ugly prison uniforms, and she’d probably ban booze.”
The room erupted into laughter, the tension breaking as the girls went back to their stories, each one more over-the-top than the last.
“I heard Alexander’s gonna lead a counterattack tomorrow,” Delilah said, her eyes gleaming with excitement. “And you know how he loves to show off.”
Ruby raised an eyebrow. “Think he’ll stop by before heading out?”
“Oh honey,” Delilah winked, “you bet your ass he will.”