All of the Lus3rs screens lit up with a countdown and an alert that read, “Please close all projects and save all work for a very important message from Upper Management.” With a little over two minutes on the clock, and no real impending tasks that couldn’t wait till after it was done, she leaned over to Farhad’s cube, where he had just taken down his privacy barrier.
“Was this what happened last time?” she asked.
“Yeah, kinda. Let me spend my points,” Farhad dismissed her and turned back to his computer screen.
“Just do it after the announcement,” Maxi said.
“All company assets will be locked after the announcement,” Farhad said.
“What? That’s absurd. How do they expect us to do any better in the raid if we can’t level our characters?”
“I don’t make the rules! Now, please, let me concentrate.”
Maxi glanced at the timer – over two minutes left. She opened her character sheet and dumped everything in Luck. She supposed she should start leveling Creativity, but she had to also spend the skill points and probably could purchase a new one. She pulled up the Psychics skill tree. The best one she could afford was an Area of Effect skill called Psychic Darts. The base level could wipe out the bat minions she had fought, and maybe even the Antitrust Lawyer’s minions with some leveling.
However, it required a three-day training retreat to activate. Not knowing what Farhad meant by Company assets being locked, she didn’t want to risk dumping all her points into something she wouldn’t be able to use. She looked at the next level of Melee Weapons, which was Specialization: Swords. It would add bonus to her attack and damage without the law of diminishing returns that made pumping skills beyond ten more costly, at least for the ten more levels' worth. Her Ambition was a few points shy of meeting the prerequisites, but she figured she could reconfigure her points. There was a training requirement there as well to activate and level the skill, but she figured she might be able to convince her office mates to do the training between raids.
She flipped back to her stats to find out that once she confirmed, it was too late to take it back. She cursed and couldn’t believe that she had made such a newbie mistake. Maxi also never had to level a character a couple minutes before learning that they were all going to die if this boss didn’t get its ass handed to it by the collective power of the Company.
She glanced at the timer. Less than a minute to spend her skill points. She was about to dump them all into her current repertoire of skills when one from the Exploration skill tree caught her eye that was a Janitorial class skill. Not only had she met all prerequisites, but there was something about it that called to her much in the same way Luck seemed to bring her one step closer to reaching her potential.
The skill was called What is Lost is Now Found. Not only was it boosted by her Luck attribute, but the description said, Grants the user the ability to find objects that have gone missing. Considering the company used the Janitors to clean up their messes, if she wanted to be one step ahead of the Janitors, she was going to need this skill. For all she knew, the Janitors were hiding the Printer of Never Jamming away to keep themselves in business. There were seconds left on the clock. She purchased and dumped the rest into leveling it.
Her screen went blank and then a message appeared, “Please wait for a special announcement from Upper Management.”
She glanced around at the others, and saw their eyes fixed on the same message on their screens. The mood was somber to say the least. With about a week left in the month, there wasn’t much time to save themselves. Maxi hadn’t checked the boss raid stats in a while and couldn’t quite remember what the life point total was on the thing.
She remembered that it wasn’t where she thought it would be, but Farhad had assured her that the higher-level players just hadn’t used their one per month abilities yet, and the villains were always at about two-thirds health near the end of the month.
Yancy had figured that it was all just showboating from the power players to hype up the tension. Even Daisuke, who didn’t seem to believe or trust anyone, thought that the life total would start dropping very quickly any day now. Now they all looked like they were anywhere from restraining tears to about to vomit. Not that Maxi could blame them. It wasn’t every day when everyone learned that they were about to die.
The screen shifted and a man sat at an oak desk in front of a gray background. He wore an expensive tailored suit and had piercing blue eyes and immaculate golden hair. He was probably her mom’s age and exuded power. There was something about his gaze that made Maxi want to listen. She might even go so far as to obey.
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However, she resisted the urge to be under his thrall. As far as she was concerned, he was the enemy. He was Upper Management. He was the reason this entire macabre enterprise was churning through the world’s needy souls destitute, lonely, or desperate enough to consider working for a place that would not just discard workers when they were no longer useful but kill them.
It made a twisted sense – laying people off required paying out benefits. Killing them handed the cost over to the government and insurance companies, all something that the people were paying for in one way or another. Maxi just couldn’t understand why the other people weren’t seeing it. The Company didn’t care about anyone. They cared only about money, and as soon as everyone realized it, maybe they would wake up and do something about it.
Her thoughts were interrupted when the man spoke.
“As many of you know, we make a lot of enemies in our line of business. Government overreach being one of them. Normally, we partner with governments to do what is best for our employees and their citizens. However, this Antitrust lawsuit will cripple operations, and reduce our capacity to operate effectively. The fate of all that is decent will be in the balance.
“We all must do our part to defeat this threat. No contribution is too small, so it is with a heavy heart I announce that leave is suspended immediately. Those currently on leave have 24 hours to report to their stations or be subject to termination. All quests and other activities are suspended until this threat is resolved. Effective immediately, Janitorial will no longer charge for body removal and all limits to raid participation have been lifted. Raid participation is mandatory for all employees. Speed regen has been activated at no charge for all Chairs of Regeneration. Buff meals will be available in the cafeteria at no charge. Raid XP and credit bonuses are tripled.
“Defend the Company. Defend humanity. Godspeed.”
The man blinked out and was replaced by a five-minute timer and instructions to prepare for the next raid. A profile picture of the bulbous Antitrust Lawyer appeared on the screen with a health bar that read: 7360762421/12000000000.
Their Office Pool was listed as the Purple Team, and there was a schedule button in the corner. Maxi clicked on it, and it looked as if she and her compatriots were going to the raid five times a day with short windows for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
She checked her phone, and the WiFi was shut down. All she could do was interact with the raid screen. A minute after the broadcast, there was a message on the live feed: Blue Team has entered the raid. Then, a few seconds later, more messages appeared: JaxS3S criticaled for 12,056. Suzy Terminator Q’s lightning did 56,467 damage. It didn’t take long for death messages to appear – Lucitica477 has died. RonSmoSix has died. Soon, even JaxS3S and Suzy Terminator Q bit it, and shortly after, the Blue Team raid was listed as complete. Yellow Team was up next, then Purple Team.
Her cubemates were scrambling to get ready. Most hadn’t even put up their privacy screen for their cubes and were getting dressed in front of everyone. Yancy and Farhad were putting back on their gear from the mission. Patti was collecting herbs, potions, and other equipment from her desk. Flav was clipping on his full plate armor. Daisuke seemed to be the only one who wasn’t getting ready, other than sheathing his katana and wakizashi.
Since Maxi hadn’t unequipped anything from her last quest, she strolled over to Daisuke and said, “You don’t have any armor or items you’re gonna bring?”
“I always wear my armor,” Daisuke said, and thumped on something below his shirt. “Besides, I get class penalties if my armor, weapons or gear is showing, and bonuses for wearing a suit.”
“What class are you?” Maxi asked. While she couldn’t remember the characteristics of all the classes, she couldn’t recall anyone that had penalties for armor. Most armor penalties came from the classification of the armor itself. Even Paranormal Investigators could wear light armor without their abilities being affected.
“Considering we are all going to die by the end of the week, no thanks to you, I might as well tell you. Sales Associate. Most of my bonuses come from not knowing when or where I’m going to strike.”
“No offense, but you're a little rough around the edges for sales.”
“I don’t like you, either.”
“I said no offense.”
“Spoken by someone who’s about to offend someone.”
“Point taken.”
“In sales, we don’t have any friends, only close acquaintances. Forming friendships only hinders your ability to close the deal. You’re only friendly to someone when you want something out of them.”
“What a dismal view.”
“An honest one.”
“I think you’re mistaking callousness for honesty.”
“I don’t care about or need your approval. But if we have any prayer of surviving the week, we must work together, so unless you want to talk about tactics for the battle ahead, leave me out of it.”
“Whatever,” Maxi said, then added under her breath, “Prick.”
Farhad was finished by the time Maxi strolled back to her cube.
“Don’t let him get to you,” Farhad said. “He doesn’t like anybody.”
“He likes you,” she retorted.
“Tolerates me. So, up for more of those antics? Janitorial service can’t charge to bring our bodies back, and nothing is worse than sitting on the healing chair and watching the messages come in, waiting for your next raid.”
“You’re suggesting a suicide mission?”
“No risk, no reward.”
“Let’s do it.”
A buzzer erupted from their computers, followed by a voice giving them a thirty second warning. She did one last check to make sure all her stuff was still on her person, then lined up with the rest by the elevator.
Another buzzer sounded, followed by instructions to enter the elevator, and they all piled in to what seemed likely to be their demise.