Chapter 23
The discussion ran for hours, and by the time they ended, James was exhausted. His mind hurt. His heart hurt. This was more than he’d ever wanted to have to deal with. More than anyone should have to deal with. How did someone carry the weight of the world on their shoulders? How was it fair that anyone, or any small group of people, should have to decide the fate of the masses? In the stories it made sense. But in real life, it was just bullshit.
“Shall we head back to the dungeon then?” Rue asked softly. Everyone else had parted ways. The mood was still heavy, and no one had felt much like joking by the end. Each and every one of them had tasks they needed to see to, in preparation for what would come. And time, even extended as it was thanks to immersion and time dilation, was not their friend.
“I, I suppose.” James said with a heavy sigh. He didn’t want to head back. He wanted to stay here, to just ignore his problems, ignore the world’s problems, and just spend more time with Rue. But he couldn’t.
“No matter what,” Rue offered him a small smile as she spoke, “in the end, we’ll all still be together.”
James looked at Steve. The developer shrugged. That was one of the last topics they’d discussed. What would failure look like? If they did nothing, the government, the powers that be, would win. Everyone would be trapped, forever, within DCO. And if James and his friends were successful, well, DCO may no longer exist, but at the very least, no one would be trapped in immersion… other than Rue of course.
But what happened if they put their plan in action, and failed? Death was a very real possibility. They were going up against the government. They would be facing down the unknown. Sure, Hades had provided him with a layout of the secret facility, and details of the expected guards and security measures. But would they all truly be listed? Even if they were, that still meant dozens of enforcers, various security bots, and of course, anti-personnel traps and measures in place.
Death was a very real threat. But death wasn’t the only threat. Failure could mean much, much worse, than death itself. If they failed. If they were captured, thwarted, stopped. There was no reason for the government to show them mercy. To put them forcibly in an immersion pod and allow them to serve out their sentence within DCO alongside the rest of mankind. No, if they failed, and weren’t killed outright, there was another fate that James and the others had envisioned. They could receive the same punishment that had been so coldly dealt to Xander. A chemical induced lobotomy, trapping them forever within their minds, leaving them at the mercy, at the control, forever, of the very ones they were seeking to stop. Death would be a mercy. Death, the preferred punishment, if they did fail.
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Rue knew that as well. Hell, she was in a worse position than James and any of the others. He didn’t know what controls existed to deal with her, but he knew there were options. Xander had once forcibly pushed Rue into a ‘time out’, meaning outside powers had the ability to apply punishments to Rue, if they figured she was a part of this uprising. That was one of Steve’s current tasks. Rachel and Steve were going to do some digging, and work to ensure Rue’s very being, her conscious self, confined as she was already to immersion, was protected. After all, her body itself, in the first, the proof of concept sleeping beauty pods, was sitting within the very heart of the facility they were planning to assault. Meaning, she was quite literally in the hands of the very people they were working to thwart.
“Whatever happens, we’ll be together,” James said as he clutched Rue’s hand in his own. If not physically, if not virtually, then in spirit. By some chance of fate, or perhaps the power of a god, if one existed, James and Rue had found each other. The stars had aligned to bring the two of them together, and no matter what, James vowed to never be without her. In this life, or the next, if there was one, he and Rue, belonged together. Of that much, he was certain.
“Well then,” Steve cleared his throat, and James saw a wetness in the old man’s eyes as he looked at the two of them. “We really should get the two of you back to the dungeon. Lots to do, and well, as we all know, less time than ideal to get it all done.”
“Do you really think we make it happen?” James dared to ask the developer. Sure, they’d planned, sure Hades had given them all the vital information the mysterious hacker had managed to acquire, and yet still, the task felt too monumental, too impossible.
“We’ve as good a shot as any.” Steve said, forcing his smile to his face. “Hell, compared to some of the hair brained things I’ve seen throughout my life, and history in general, our odds aren’t all that bad. Afterall, if the government could get away with convincing people for over 50 years that they’d landed on the moon, why can’t a group a highly skilled individuals, with vast technological resources at their disposal, take down a single government facility?” His smile widened a bit more, as he filled himself with the confidence of insanity. “If Somalian Pirates with basic weapons and wooden boats can capture miliary vessels, then I’m pretty sure we’ve got this in the bag, actually. After all,” the grin widened, and now he did look insane. “You’re the Random Dungeon. Your whole existence, your position at the top, is a ridiculous impossibility. We exist to make the crazy, the weird, the wacky, happen. And if I know your parents,” he winked, “which I do, I’m sure we’ll have even more to tip the odds in our favor, once this current immersion cycle ends.”
James opened his mouth to ask Steve what he meant. However, the man waved his hand, dismissing James. A moment later, the world shifted, and James and Rue were suddenly back in the hot springs of his fifth floor, gone from Steve’s secret space. And the developer, well, he was nowhere to be seen.
“Alrighty then,” James stood from the hot springs, letting the sudden chill of the fifth floor bring his senses back to focus, mustering what courage he could, momentarily emboldened by Steve’s infectious confidence, to act before he got cold feet. “It’s time we see a certain guild about organizing the greatest experience train in existence,” his grin widened, and he was sure if he had a mirror, it would almost be as wide as Steve’s, “for the dungeon, that is.”