Maxi woke up on her chair with her cubemates surrounding her. She gasped as air filled her empty lungs, and Patti rubbed her back until her breathing and pulse became normal.
Daisuke was the first to speak. “I may have misjudged you.”
“What happened?” Maxi asked.
“See for yourself.” He gestured to the computer.
Maxi scrolled through the messages until she got to the result of her battlelog. Every single Mind Shard attack on the back of its skull was a critical hit, with a few that were even rolling criticals. While the overall damage wasn’t near a single strike of some of the more powerful players, she did manage to distract it, and the Purple Team had 10x the total damage over any others for the encounter.
In one crazy maneuver, she had not only found its weakness, but also delayed the inevitable demise of the collective attack force, thus allowing everyone to do more damage overall. Her finger had tipped the scale so much that the entire schedule was redone, and even though all of them had regenerated at this point, Purple wasn’t scheduled to go again for another half an hour.
Word must have gotten out about her stunt because even though all communications were down, she noticed that a few hours following her battle, other teams started reporting 10 to 30x more damage than the previous teams.
Since they had thirty minutes until their next raid, the group decided to get some buffs in the cafeteria. To Maxi’s surprise, when their Office Pool entered the room, they were greeted with a standing ovation. Not only were the other players clamoring to get her food, but people had cleared a space for them to sit.
When Daisuke attempted to recuse himself from the winner’s table, Maxi told him to stay. While the guy had been an ass to her, there was no reason why she should do the same for him. Maxi didn’t hold grudges, and saw no reason to humiliate the guy. She had realized early in life that the easiest way to ensure that someone would always be mean to her was by being an asshole to them.
She could at least be cordial to the guy, considering they likely wouldn’t be officemates much longer. People kept asking her to recount the story about how she not only went head-to-head with a boss but did more damage than anyone at her level had ever done during a single encounter in Company history.
There were already offers from some of the players anticipating a loss in their Office Pool to join them at the end of the month. Their eyes would dart back and forth, and they'd say things like, “Frankie’s numbers are really bad, I don’t think he’ll last the month, so maybe if there’s an opening.” Or “You know, if there’s an opening at the end of the month.”
One militant person even flat out said, “We are a Tier 5 Office Pool who still hasn’t found a suitable. We have the best equip and PVP rank in our Tier. Contact me when coms are back online.”
Maxi mostly replied with noncommittal answers like, “I’ll think about it,” or, “Sounds like a good offer.”
Meanwhile, Farhad and Yancy were getting their fair share of attention too for being integral to the plan. An attractive brunette way out of his league kept slapping Yancy’s arm and laughing at his jokes like he had his own Netflix special. Farhad had tried to avoid the attention at first, but eventually was deep into some intellectual conversation with what Maxi could only describe as groupies.
Eventually, her team had eaten their fill and were buffed in every stat by at least ten points, with a healthy amount of extra Life and Armor Rating. Maxi even got some psy boost that would increase her damage and restored her psy back to pre-mission levels. They were also given Pudding of Accuracy for dessert that boosted her attack roll by at least 5%.
Feeling good about themselves, they were allowed to cut to the front of their door’s line for their Tier when the announcement for the Purple Team to ready themselves cut through the cafeteria chatter. Daisuke called for their Office Pool, and Maxi felt a buzz in her pocket.
It was a message from HR Terry: DON’T GET ON THAT ELEVATOR.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“I got to use the bathroom. I’ll see you back at the Pool,” Maxi said, and slipped her phone back before anyone saw.
“Don’t be late,” Daisuke said, and the crew piled into their ride.
She summoned the next one and called for the restroom. Once she was in the bathroom, she could hear the voice of HR Terry muffled from inside her pocket. She pulled her phone out and caught the last half of what he had said. “– so you’ll need to do exactly as I say–”
Maxi cut him off. “You have a few minutes till I’m up, so explain.”
“There is no time,” HR Terry said. “You’ll have to trust me. There are a pair of Bluetooth headphones in the towel dispenser. You can unlock it on the side by–”
“No offense, but you're a Company AI, and I don’t much trust the Company.”
“The Company is not what it seems.”
“No shit,” Maxi said. “I could have told you that.”
“It’s also not what you think.”
“And what do I think?”
“I know you are just testing me,” Terry said. “You are a lot like your father.”
“Wait? My father? What does he have to do with it?”
“Remember when you were with your father in Vegas as a girl, and he told you that if you gamble long enough, the house always wins? That’s what’s happening here. Each moment we waste is a gamble that no one will notice what we are doing. The moment they do, they will come for us, and there will be nothing I can do about it.”
Maxi grimaced. She hadn’t told anyone that story, not even her mother. She had always thought the day in the airport when her father gave her gambling advice was a lot like an alcoholic taking a drink despite knowing that it would take them one step closer to death. She assumed that he was spiraling out of control with no way to stop himself, yet watching it all happen.
Now, an odd thought crossed her mind. She couldn't remember ever getting on a plane, not even once. She had been to Vegas, and on family vacations as a girl, at least when she was very young, before her father’s problems had gotten in the way of her parents' marriage, but in all that time, she didn’t remember flying on a plane.
At first, she figured it was just the way memories fade – she remembered being at the location, but not the travel part. But then it all started coming back to her. Her father, the casino. It was a casino, and not an airport. She had traveled to get there, but it wasn’t by plane. It was by elevator…
“I need to get you off grid before the Purple Team heads into the next raid. Your life depends on it,” Terry pleaded.
“Okay,” Maxi said. “Tell me what I need to do.”
“You run.”
“What about the raid? I’m going to die if we lose.”
“The math checks out. The last few teams have done more than enough damage to defeat the boss in a few days if you factor in that everyone is going to be using your technique now.”
“Okay, fine, so I’ll hide out here, wait for the raid to be done.”
“No good. They will find you and force you to participate. It’s mandatory, you heard the speech. While I can’t assure your safety if you come with me, I can say without a doubt that if you step into that arena, you will die, and not the kind of death that can be regenerated.”
Maxi cursed, and then said, “Okay, let’s do this.”
She followed Terry’s instructions to retrieve the Bluetooth headphones stashed into the paper towel holder. After she connected the device, she let her hair down so it would cover her ears. Terry instructed her to exit the bathroom and go back into the cafeteria.
Curious onlookers glanced her way, and a few came to help her, but she gave them the cold shoulder with a look of grim determination on her face. Sensing that she was on a time crunch, considering there were only a few minutes on the clock until her Team had to enter the arena, she hurried to a station with Sticky Rice Balls of Dedication with a nonstackable effect that would raise her Dedication by a factor equivalent to her level.
She learned the nonstackable effects the hard way, by eating more than one and failing to increase her bonus. The station was located in an alcove that wasn’t visible to the rest of the cafeteria, so unless someone came looking for the rice balls, they wouldn’t see her pushing the cart away from the wall.
Sure enough, just as Terry had explained, there was a panel on the wall. She grabbed one of the large two-pronged serving utensils, pried the grate off, and climbed inside. She pulled the cart back to cover her escape, and realized she still had the utensil in her hand, but it was too late. A couple of employees rounded the corner and grabbed the balls directly from the tray. She clipped the fork to her utility belt.
She climbed through the guts of the building, mostly pipes, wires, and other utilities, until she came to the elevator shaft. The seconds were counting down to the battle. There was less than a minute on the clock before they would know she was missing.
One of the lifts rushed by at breakneck speed, blowing her hair back. Her AI companion instructed her not to hesitate. She climbed into the shaft on a ladder and had to slide down several floors until she got to a door that was sparking and cracked open.
Beyond the door was what Terry referred to as “off grid”. It was the last few seconds, and she heard the distant rumble of another elevator heading her way. There wasn’t any time to lose. She jumped from the ladder to the door and barely caught the edge. She pulled herself up while pushing the door open enough for her to get inside.
She barely made it before the countdown hit zero and another elevator whooshed past her.