Chapter 42

James wanted to tell the Knights everything. He wanted to fill Z in from everything that had happened since Day 1of DCO, from Xander, to Cyb3ru5, to Hades, all it. But he didn’t have time. The longer they wasted here, the less time they’d have to implement the plan itself. Therefore, even though he wished to tell them everything, he kept it short, succinct, and to the point.

There were a few stages to the plan that he needed the Knights Who Go Ni for. First and foremost, was their cooperation. They were the most notable players in his instance, probably all of DCO. If they said something was so within the dungeon, other players were bound to listen. Meaning, if they said people needed to rush experience, but die before leveling up to strengthen then dungeon ahead of the massive event, well, it sounded crazy, but James figured the players would listen. He left the actual convincing up to Z, as that man had the most charisma James had ever seen in a person. If Z couldn’t do it, no one could.

Next, was the insistence that they convince everyone to vote for the Dungeon War to take place against BLANK’s dungeon. As far as James knew so far, this 48 hour Dungeon War extravaganza was the largest full immersion event in history. Never before had such a possibility existed, where the entire world would be immersed at the same time. Nefarious reasons aside, it meant this single event would put the most eyes, ever, on whoever was on top. They needed something that would draw a crowd. Something that would pull all the eyes, all the attention, to them. Something to captivate. A rematch, between the Candy Dungeon and the Random Dungeon, was going to be just that.

Third, James needed to know he could count on the Knights, not only in the game, but outside of it. He still didn’t know full well how they’d assault the facility that held the DCO server, but even still, knowing Faust had government building access was a game changer. That type of clearance, combined with Fel’s skill sets and resources, would likely be pivotal in that plan moving forward. He also knew Z was a former Marine, and he was pretty sure Elm, at the very least, had a military background as well. He didn’t want to put anyone in danger, but he didn’t have any other choice. If they didn’t do this, well, there’d be no lives to risk ever again. And for what it was worth, the Knights, especially Z, seemed more than eager to give James a hand. The government had done them all wrong in their lifetime, and for the sake of the generations after them, they’d happily risk it all.

Which, just left a few other portions of the plan to sort out. First and foremost, how they’d actually carry out their plan in the real world. James knew the government intended to lock everyone within immersion. There was the necessary download time for the process, which Hades had implied couldn’t take place until a certain amount of time within immersion had occurred. However, there was no doubt the government could, and would, ensure once everyone was immersed, they couldn’t freely log back out. There had to be a trigger then. Something that would let the government know when everyone was logged in, and when to turn off the feature to log out. After all, if they did it too early, well, people would panic.

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Then again, James knew in his heart that if there was a panic, it wouldn’t change anything. That was why they were going through with the plan in this convoluted, backwards way. If this plan didn’t work out, there would be others. More… forceful plans. The type of plans that usually came with the ultimatum of get in the pod… or die. If it reached that stage, there’d be no stopping it. If the government mobilized their Enforcers and the weapons they had at their disposal, the masses wouldn’t be able to stop them. No. For this to work, they needed to strike quick and fast at the heart of the very system, take the whole thing offline, and only then, free the people. They had to strike a blow deep to the Government individuals and their massive, overarching system of control, and only after, could the people do what needed to come next.

James didn’t know what that would look like. But he had a feeling once they revealed the truths of the government’s plans, especially after taking DCO offline and being able to provide concrete proof of the evils that the government had been planning, things would change. After all, James had no doubt the Enforcers, and most of the forces the government used to keep order, wouldn’t take too kindly to the fact they hadn’t been on the short list of who got to live in the real world with new, robotic bodies, and were instead destined to be trapped within immersion forever.

That was the other reason for their plan’s secrecy, and timing, needing to be perfect. Hades had been confident that when this massive event took off, the Enforcers would immerse themselves. Once the greenlight was given, and those in power could confirm their plan was running smoothly, and everyone was safely trapped within their pods, the final layer of fast acting security, the Enforcers, would be permitted to immerse as well. Leaving the government members with whatever personal protection they had in place, as well as their various non-organic means of defense. Robotic sentries, drones, and various other security measures. All of which Hades, and to a lesser degree Fel, could deal with.

All of this was told to the Knights under the cover of the J-Kappa music, which made the whole scene feel… weird. A party of adventurers, all huddled close together, while upbeat pop music played, discussing the fate of the world in hushed voices. Five elves, an archon with a gargoyle head, and a vampire. Not to mention Z’s summoned pets, and of course, everyone’s little mob companions. The fact it was so dire, the fact they had less than three days of real-world time, before they could potentially be trapped forever within VR, or dead, made it all even more ludicrous. The game had gone from demonic chickens to devilish overlords.

And with all that said, with James passing everything he possibly could to The Knights, putting this burden on the shoulders of Z, who truly had been burdened far too much by life already, and the rest of his party, James couldn’t help but wonder if this was the right thing to do. Once again, he had to wonder, was this struggle worth it? Was it right to try and fight against this fate? He saw the concern, the stress, the worry on the faces of those around him, and it ate at him. If he’d told them nothing, if he’d done nothing… their fate would be sealed. But at the very least, they’d have been ignorant till the end. And ignorance, especially in the face of impending doom, was bliss.

The only thing that kept him on his course, the only thing that told him, in his heart and mind, he was making the right choice, was Rue. Free will was the right of every living human. Everyone deserved to be able to choose their path, to choose if they wanted to be immersed in forever, or to keep living in the real world. And a small group of powerful people didn’t get to make that choice. At least… not without any type of pushback.