[NPC Log Start!]

[Log Holder: Lucky Paine]

[Level: 1, Sub-Level: ???]

Lucky Paine faced down the embody of pure violence and malfeasance: Harry Burks.

And the entity blinked first. His head rotated as he looked around.

“Huh. Guess that they’re gone.” He clicked his tongue in nonchalant annoyance, and then turned around, “Oh, well.”

They stood, uncertain, their legs hovering in place. She was supposed to be striking. Why wasn’t he attacking? They had already made all the preparations that they could!

“Where are you going?” She asked his retreating back, “You are just going to leave like that?!”

“Yeah.” He agreed, “What else do you expect from me? They’re gone.”

“You are supposed to be fighting me!” She snapped.

He turned around, finally looking her up and down with a very skeptical look, “I don’t think so. You aren’t much of a threat.”

She saw red, pulling on the controls of her chair to send it shooting forward, intent on ripping out his hair, or maybe something more solid. Burks took a step back, easily sidestepping the attack. And the one metal arm that had gotten through, he simply held up an arm, and easily deflected it. Not even the slightest damage was inflicted.

Or maybe it was, as he shook his arm out, letting specks of blood seep out from under his heavy suit, “Okay, you are a threat to my physical form.” He corrected, “But not to the wider Apocalypse plan. That has succeeded under your nose, and you are powerless against it.”

The shame of her failure and complacency welled up inside of her. He was right. She had done all of that. Needed some children to snap her out of the grave of denial she had dug for herself. It was a failure for the ages.

Burks seemed to understand that it had struck true, “I would suggest that you accept your fate, but it is just as fun when they resist. I think Ciera prefers it that way. But, run along now and figure out your next course of action in privacy. You want me to give an excuse to Genevieve for all the unrest here?”

This still didn’t make any sense.

“Why are you helping me?” She asked, as that was the only thing that came to mind.

“I’ve been controlling you for so long.” Burks replied, chin resting on his hand as he considered it, “It seems to be second nature to look out for you. To herd you along as one of my sheep and guide you in your journey. Just what happens. Maybe ask that boy Jared about it? He’s certainly familiar with the concept.”

“Don’t compare yourself to the child.” She glared.

Burks laughed, soft and velvety, “Do you feel free to excuse our similar actions simply because he is a child? That menace is as aware of his actions as I am of my own. We’re both just playing a Game. Of course, we can’t hope for you to understand, as you are a mere NPC. Not even a Mob! So, run along, will you, and don’t concern yourselves with things beyond your comprehension.”

Lucky growled, and let her chair carry her back down to the landing pad. Burks’ mocking gaze burned on the back of her head, and she fought the urge to turn around and swing. She had been a fighter during her time in the tumblethorns. She could take him in a squabble.

But no. She contained herself. And she focused on the little details. The long game. The tiny button on the panel of controls she had her hand on, which was piloting her most subtle and sneaky arm that was currently stealing the Console tablet Verity had told her he kept in his pocket.

It connected to something oblong and heavy. She activated the gripper function and pulled sharply. Burks did not seem to notice, even as it slid back to her chair, hidden in the shadows.

This guy really needed to stop letting himself get pickpocketed from.

As long as it suited her ends, she was not going to tell him that, though.

She didn’t dare look at it, simply tucking it into her storage spaces as she scrambled to the terrace, opened out the wings, checked her fuel supplies, and then took off. The hole in the glass was hard to pick out, given that it was transparent and all, but she was able to track it down using the smoke that was slipping in through the hole that they had made.

Easy enough to glide out through it, with the cries of people echoing down below her. They hadn’t seen her, she hoped. And if they had, maybe this unexpected rapport she had built up with Burks would lead him to Compelling them all forget.

Or maybe he won’t. Because she had ruined his life all over again.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Now, where to? She pulled clear goggles down to stop the fast winds from impeding her sight, eyes roving over the smoke-stained world spread out over her. In her urge to raze all Gunnerson facilities, she had neglected to build her own safehouses. She was carrying enough equipment to not need her own workshop, but some airtight space, outside of the smoke would be very much appreciated. Except they weren’t sure that such a place would let them enter. Who could Lucky trust in a situation like this?

The tumblethorns, they realized. They should still keep be welcoming her. Unless her abrupt betrayal still stung them. She hoped not, after she had given some of the kids from there free reign to pick apart the house she had broken down.

So, that was where she changed her course to, following the tracks that lay a hundred miles below her, as if in ingrained habit. Until finally, she found the overly large dune that marked the submarine buried by sand that was the home of the tumblethorns.

She landed there, tucking her wings inside their slots, and began piloting the wheelchair towards the ramp she knew was there. Back from when she had only her wheelchair, it was a lifesaver.

When she sent legs to scrape the sand aside, she was surprised to see it still there.

It wasn’t something she’d expected them to keep around once the only person who needed it had left.

She slipped the hatch open, moving inside.

It was dark, and the tunnels were tight, but she managed it just fine, readjusting her legs to take up as little space as possible.

But when the ray of light fell across her face, it stopped her nearly in her tracks, blinded by the high beam.

“Who’s there?” A sharp voice called out, probably the owner of the torch currently in her eyes.

“Lucky Paine.” They said, reaching up their arms to block the light, “Do you remember me?” She must, the voice was familiar though a little deeper.

The sharp light dampened for a moment as the torch was pointed down, “Woah, Lucy?” The holder asked, finally letting her get a good look at her. It was a girl with honey-blond hair, all sharp angles and sunken cheeks from starvation. They recognized her immediately. It was Melinda, who had barely been thirteen when they had last seen each other.

“Lucky.” Lucky repeated firmly, “It is Lucky now.”

Melinda hesitated for a moment, before nodding, “Okay then, Lucky. Why are you here?”

“I need a place to stay.” Lucky explained, “Just for a little while. On the run from the Gunnersons.”

“You finally outlived your usefulness to them?” Ah, so there was still bad blood here. She should sort that out right now.

“I actually destroyed the majority of their facilities.” She explained, “And they are not very pleased at me for that. You can imagine why. And also I’ve stolen essential equipment from them, and they might be a smidge more determined to get that back.”

A grin spread across her smile, “Oh, bloody sick. What was the equipment?”

She pulled out the Console, finally getting a good look for herself, too. It was a slim tablet, all smooth glass and sharp metal, with a C pressed onto the back of the device. There were no buttons except two small ones on the edges and a larger square one in the bottom corner, instead favoring a sleek and minimalist style. Just from the style, it was immediately obvious that it was not from this world.

Or was an unusable hunk of experimental glass art.

“And you think this is important?” Melinda asked skeptically, “Does it even turn on?”

“Yes. But I will not try to access it directly.” They replied, “No one would get this far without putting some security over their very important dimension-hopping devices.”

“I’m sorry, their what now?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just get me a quiet room with adequate light, and I will show you something that you would have never believed was possible.”

Melinda didn’t look like she believed them, and it was obvious that there were a thousand reasons why she shouldn’t let Lucky Paine have the run of the place, but in the end, she let her better judgement go and instead moved aside, taking her deeper into the sub and the one place where you could even stand up without hitting your head on the overhanging pipes. The control room. It was open, and would no doubt be the perfect place for the other children to spy on her activities, but Lucky couldn’t give a toss about that right now. She had a Console to dissect.

Putting it on the table with the glass side down, she got to work examining the smooth metal back, no doubt where the meat of the machinery would be in easy access. There was a slight ridge on the side, and with her letter opener, she was able to prise it open. Underneath was delicate circuitry and components that made no sense to her. She had to be very careful with how she handled this. Good thing it was all labelled, even if it was in shorthand that she could not decipher.

Except for one. Scan.Scrty. It was an add-on, clearly not part of the default device, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out that it meant scan security. For biometric purposes, or was there some other type of security she needed to be aware of? Who cared, it was getting taken out either way.

She didn’t just pluck it out, no. She was an engineer. Cracking her knuckles, she got out tweezers and a soldering iron, adjusting a lens in front of the device to get a clearer look at what they were working with. Easy enough to carefully turn off the power source – yes, she could tell which one was the battery, thank you – disconnect the security component, close the circuit again properly, and then- she got a good look at the memory card. Or what she was assuming was the memory card. It said Memory on it.

But what was odd about it was that it was two-toned, and even by shape, it was clearly meant to be two different memory stores tied together, with only one side connected, while the other port was empty. She hesitated for a moment, before melting off the coupling on the side that it was currently on, and instead transferring the wire to the other side.

If something went wrong, she would at least have the original memory remaining intact, though she didn’t know what to do with it.

Now that she had done everything that she could, there was nothing left to do except reattach the back, and then press on the power button. It turned out that the big button under the glass screen was not the power button, so she ended up having to press each button in turn until the screen lit up.

A pack of tumblethorn children were leaning over their shoulder, mesmerized, but none so much as Lucky Paine themself when a dark green panel appeared in front of them.

[You have Entered the Game]

[You have been Upgraded to Player!]

[NPC Log End!]

[Further Logs from this Holder will be stored under Players]