Axton and Thomas finished filling out the paperwork with the help of the man in the booth. It took far less time than either of them had expected, which was mostly due to the fact that the man whose face could not be seen had helped them considerably, explaining things in a clear and concise manner while generally walking them through the more complicated legal language. Of course, Thomas, being a man in charge of a massive corporation, had his own training when it came to lawyer-speak, so he was also able to lend a hand when it was applicable.

As a result, the two finished their paperwork in record time, and all without signing away their freedom, rights, and money in the process, which was a victory that not many could attest to having obtained. With that done, the red glow around the doorless threshold vanished, proving to both Players that their hunches were likely correct. If they had tried to cross into that place, they likely would have either been unable to or would have drawn the aggro of everyone nearby, if not everyone in the space station.

Axton took the lead and walked between the giant cyborgs and into the area beyond. What he laid his eyes on was, in his mind, more beautiful than the atrociously tacky and overly flamboyant décor of the place they had come from, which seemed to be the opinion of Thomas’ as well.

Gone was the excessive usage of precious metals and gems, the copious exotic plants, and the fancy holograms and lighting. Instead, what he beheld was more along the lines of a mix of a rustic biker-gang diner, a grungy Cyberpunk-style bar and set of shops, and an open access to a massive mechanic bay that looked like a hybrid between something from a sci-fi guerilla base’s vehicle bay and a modern body shop, but much, much larger.

To someone like Axton, that last bit alone was like a slice of heaven had made itself present on the fabric of mortal reality, though this was a game and not reality. Although, despite that being the case, he did not care at all about that. No, he was more interested in looking around and seeing the sights.

After taking a handful of steps inside, he could already see what looked like a small army of War Suits of various makes, models, shapes, and sizes, and each and every one of them were kitted out differently from the others. Well, okay, maybe they were not all different from each other, but the number of duplicates among the collection of War Suits was fewer than he had expected, and even then they were usually at least painted differently from each other.

He could make out a couple of models that he recognized, though there were many that he didn’t. Actually, he could see a few War Suits that he was damn near positive had been part of his little curb-stomp of Donovan’s gank-squad. It seemed that he wasn’t the only person from the victorious side to be in the Battle Royale that was to come, though he could also swear that he saw Suits that were built ad painted identically to some of the ones that he and his allies had crushed.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

However, as much as he would have loved to play nice with them, he had already put himself and Thomas into a team, and they had likely done the same or had decided to work on their own. Despite his desire to avoid crushing his former allies, the fact that they were here and had signed up meant that he had no choice in the matter.

Well, there was always a choice to be had in everything, but in this case, he was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t, so the only remotely agreeable option was to say a silent prayer for the former allies that he would have to face and prepare to fight them later down the line. He made a mental note as he looked over the Suits there in the bay, making sure to pay close attention to which ones were former allies and which ones were not.

He would, at least, give them the benefit of time. He wouldn’t avoid taking them out if he had no other option, but he would try to avoid fighting them until there was no other option. Given the performance of some of them in the previous battle, though, he wasn’t sure that they would last very long, if even long enough to have the chance to face him

If they did, they would likely be forced to work together to try and take him down, but he still wasn’t entirely sure that they would even endure to that point. Regardless, there was more to explore here than just the engineering bay, and he could really use a place to sit down and unwind.

Diverting his gaze from that lovely place, he looked over to where he had thought that Thomas would be standing. However, his friend had already wandered off towards a counter where a thick barrier of highly resistant glass (or at least something similar, prevented the rather rowdy people outside the booth from harming or threatening those within it.

Axton walked up to his friend and tapped him on the shoulder.

“What’s up?”

“Just looking over some side objectives we could deal with during the next few weeks of fighting. You were right to assume that there even would be such things.”

“Not much of a piece of entertainment if you set people down on a landmass the size of a former American state and expect them to do nothing but find and fight each other until there is only one person or group left.” Axton shrugged and replied matter-of-factly. “Besides, it would be annoying to us as well, and would make for poor gameplay. I had assumed that they would put PvE in this PvP zone, and after hearing from Daxter about the bullshit these games get up to, I was convinced that we’d have to deal with Dungeons eventually.”

Thomas nodded as he handed the tablet to Axton, who looked over the side objectives that they could go after to increase their payout and loot.

“At least we don’t have to deal with any true threats, right?”

Axton looked up at his friend’s grinning face.

“You just had to raise that damn flag, didn’t you?”