The world stilled as Victor’s mind went blank. Jason? Jason Woo wants to volunteer. His son-in-law want to volunteer to fight in an Emergency? Now, Victor understood why Jennifer sounded so strange.

“I must say I am surprised.” Victor said hesitatingly. “Do you guys need the money? Why would he-”

“Several of his family members were killed during a Nexus Emergency.” His daughter interrupted. “Now that he has that power armour you gave him, he feels it is his duty to volunteer.”

Suddenly, Victor realized he didn’t know much about his son-in-law. As long as Jason treated Jennifer well, Victor didn’t feel the need to inquire any further. Was that a mistake? Maybe it was, but Victor could understand why Jason wanted to help now.

“Mrs. White, I am not sure what you want me to do.” Victor carefully said. “If Mister Black want to volunteer, I can’t stop him.”

“Yes, you can.” Jennifer hissed. “He works for you. We work for you. Just tell him not to go.”

“The Nexus Emergency is an open call. Anyone can step up and volunteer. If he wants to volunteer, I can’t stop him.”

“Don’t let him take the armour and he won’t be able to join.” Jennifer said after a pause. “Daddy, please. Do it for me.”

Hearing the words, Victor felt a weight forming in his heart. It would be so simple to just say ‘Yes’. It would be so easy to just agree. However, Victor was never a man to take the easy way out. He respects the Game too much for that.

“I won’t.”

“Daddy, please!”

“I won’t,” Victor repeated, “but I will look after him. I can’t promise nothing bad will happen, but if something does happen to him, it will be over my dead body. I am sorry, but that is the best I can give you.”

There was a silence after that. Seconds that felt like hours passed before Victor said something that finally got through to his daughter.

“Jennifer, this is the Game. Fighting against what comes out of the Gaps is part of it. Some would argue it is the ‘most’ important part of it. This is what you sign up for. This is what you wanted.”

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

“Okay.” His daughter finally replied. “Guess I can only take solace that you two will not be alone. Bradley and Deion had also volunteered.”

“How do you know that?”

“When the call went out, I send a message out to everyone in the crew asking anyone who is volunteering to report in. Bradley and Deion were the only ones who did.”

Victor thought quickly. Bradley always wanted to be in the Game, so he wasn’t a surprise but Deion? Victor could not think of any reason for him to join, unless he got some orders from his mother.

“Good,” Victor said. “If there are four of us, I can request that we be stationed together.”

“Is that allowed?”

“It is a bit of a grey area” Victor admitted. “Technically, you are to go where you are posted, but things are always chaotic during a Nexus Emergency. Also, with powers flying left and right, you don’t want to fight alongside some guy you never heard of. Most of the time, the heroes in charge will be smart enough to station people from the same city together. If things haven’t changed since I went in, I should be able to get us designated as a small unit.”

“Good. Jason is heading to the lair to pick up the power armour. When are you going?”

“Now.” Victor said as he went out the door. The villain support stationed outside his flat saw him, and their eyes met. Victor could see the indecision in his eyes. The villain support was wondering if he should join Victor in responding to the emergency. Victor did not want to influence him one way, or another. He turned and headed to the elevator. The villain support stayed where he was.

Victor went down where the car was waiting. There was no driver. The villain support who drove the car over was standing well away from the vehicle. Victor went to the driver seat without a word and got in. He turned on the navigation program and hit the accelerator. As he drove, he sends out a mental thought to his system.

“Reunion.”

“Host, I am here. How may I assist you?”

“Stop being a smartass. You know what I am going to ask, Reunion.”

His system gave a mental chuckle. “Yes, I do, and you do not have to worry. She is…well, she is in an active combat zone, so I won’t say she is totally safe, but she has been evacuated so she is in no immediate danger at the moment.”

Victor nodded. That was as good as he could hope for.

The streets were quiet and deserted. No one, not even the streetwalkers and drug-dealers, was on the street. Although the Invasion Gap was nowhere near Velocity City, everyone was at home watching the news. That was why Victor did not turn on the radio. He knew every station would be reporting on the Emergency. If the Emergency last a few days, things may slowly return to a weary normal, but for now, on the first day of the Emergency, the streets were quiet. In the silence, Victor wondered if he made the right decision.

Jennifer was right. He could have stopped Jason, but it did not feel right to do so. If his son-in-law wanted to brave and help, who was Victor to stop him? The fact that this was Jason’s chance to step up and take the next step up the villainous ladder was also an issue. That was how Victor went from a minion to a villain.

Victor remembered it like it was yesterday. He had been working as a freelance thug for two years when the call for volunteers came in. Victor remembered rushing to the marshalling point thinking that it was a great opportunity.