Grey scrawled on a blank sheet of paper, glancing up at the screen of the laptop every few seconds. The ARA had established a private network, and on there, many Returnees had already started to list their Evolution combinations. He was looking for a possible Rank up for his Minor Telekinesis.
He had found a few so far, but many did not fit him. One he had written down was Heat Wave. It was a result of combining Minor Telekinesis and Heating, and while it looked impressive on its own, it didn’t fit with his style. Minor Telekinesis was useful because it aided his melee combat. When he took it forward, he wanted it to retain that purpose.
The problem was that other Returnees couldn’t pick and choose Evolutions like he did. Though the process was not random and grew from their Primary, they had little control over their Evolutions, so their combinations were made with whatever they had. Grey had a harder job, however. He had to build the most optimal character.
For the past week, he had patrolled the streets of District Twenty-four during the day and snuck out to conquer Dungeons at night. At the moment, he had three Gold Keys, which put him at one-fourth. Even if the leader of the Hunters had started gathering Keys from the start, his amateur forces could not have scored more than six at this point. Grey was still behind, however.
He believed the ARA had many, but they were spread out amongst the various teams. The central authority of the agency was not present, and though none of them besides maybe Wells realized the Keys’ importance, they all seemed loath to share. That would have to change. Grey wanted them all in one place when he stole them.
The Hunters would also have to be brought to a heel. That was a plan that had yet to be crafted, however. There was a piece missing, and he believed that today it would be slotted into place. Today, Agent Wells was bringing him to meet with the other leaders of the ARA task forces. Another force had arrived in District Twenty-four, a group of Returnees known as the Delvers’ Guild. They were a mercenary company, supposedly one of many that popped up around the country.
He shut the laptop and closed his eyes. The ARA, the Hunters, and now the Delvers’ Guild. He imagined them as chess pieces, ones he had to maneuver in such a way that left only himself standing. He was a force of a single piece, a knight and king combined, but such would always be the odds. Grey was the Single Player.
“What are you up to?” Wells said. She slid a steaming cup of coffee in front of him, and he breathed the smell in. The electricity was down in the city, but Rose had an Evolution related to electricity which allowed her to power certain appliances. In spurts, of course.
“Research.” He was still uncomfortable around her, but it felt as though they had made a sort of tacit agreement to play as friends until the Keys were up for grabs.
“About what?”
“An Evolution.”
She raised an eyebrow, taking a sip from her own mug. “Oh, yeah?”
He took a drink of his own and looked around the small coffee shop. The coffee shop had a bar and a small kitchen attached, and the seating room was a modern, book-themed place with small paper decorations scattered across the tables. Chocolate colored shelves lined the walls, with small tables like his own looking out at the street. Or what had been the street. Now, most of the windows were boarded up and reinforced. Only a few sat clear to let sunlight in, but at night, they reinforced them with metal bars they had recovered from a nearby construction store.
They had taken over the condo that sat on the floor above as well, and Lazarus slept up there at the moment, having taken the latest watch. Wells- or Jessica, as she had told him to call her- had made sure to keep the man and Grey far apart from each other.
“Yes, I was seeing what happens to one of my Evolutions when it combines with others.” This was their game, answering questions without offering too much.
“Anything I could help with?” She sipped, smiling slightly over her cup.
“It depends on your Evolutions.”
She laughed, moving to place her hand on his own. “Oh, I’d be no help, then. Our Evolutions are probably nothing alike.”
He placed his hands under the table, keeping the frown from his face. Grey allowed the conversations to continue for two reasons: they helped him hone his conversation skills and they let him get a greater sense of Jessica. The more he revealed, the more she gave him, and so they played their little game everyday. It was a game of small smiles and winks, of witticisms and sarcasm, of truths and threats.
“When do we leave for the meeting?” he asked, reaching for his coffee. Her constant attempts at physical contact were… interesting.
“Soon. To tell you the truth, I’m sort of dreading it.” She sighed. “Not exactly the most loose people, government agents. It was that way even before the Tutorial. And now… It just seems like it’ll be more of a pissing match than anything, especially with the Guild’s arrival.”
“Were they really hired by the government?”
“Yes,” she said. “And can you blame them? The nation is falling. We’ll be lucky to make it out of this with a third of the country we started with. Monsters will kill most. Dictators will rise and fall on the power of their Evolutions,” she rubbed her temples, “It’s a mess.”
He savored the bitter taste of the coffee. Had she put peppermint creamer in this? She knew him too well. His mind shouted danger. “And the major cities? How are they?”
“New York has fallen. Los Angeles has fallen. Parts of Washington are down, and Congress has fled to a fort on some island or another. Houston, Austin, Chicago, San Francisco… All fallen.”
It was expected. Dense populations drew the strongest Dungeons, and even in District Twenty-four, the Gold Dungeons had killed most of the city at E-Rank. New York had F-Ranks. They had never stood a chance. He could only imagine how nations like China and India fared.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
He shrugged. “We’ll figure something out.” He already had. Governments, nations, democracies. Those things were no more. The strong would not allow themselves to be ruled by the weak. No, the only way to do much of anything was to become the strongest. But then, Jessica already knew that.
To their left, Rose and Kamaru played cards, talking in hushed whispers and bouts of laughter. Grey glanced over at them. They were both dependable and strong enough. Not worth recruiting, however, though he appreciated the haircut Rose had given him a few days prior.
“Do you play?” Jessica’s eyes followed his own.
“Cards? No.”
“What did you play then? Video games?”
His eye twitched, but he grinned anyways. “Sometimes. I was more of a fan of chess, however.”
“Hmm.” Her golden eyes measured him up, seeing past his false smile. “I’ll have to look for a board next time. I always enjoyed video games myself, first person shooters actually.” She pointed a finger gun at him and fired, miming a silent pow with her mouth. “But to each their own. We should go, though, or I’ll talk myself out of it.” She stood with a sigh and a stretch. As always, she wore a tight business suit, a handgun on one of her hips.
He had never seen her fight. Not once. She merely watched calmly, a knowing smile on her lips at all times. Instead, she was good at this game of words and information gathering. Better than him, even. That was fine, though. She could learn everything she wanted, and his plans would not change.
---
They sat in a conference room on the fourth floor of a tech company. Well, a prior tech company. If Grey remembered correctly, it was a competitor to his own former employer. They had even offered him a job once.
A long wooden table ran the length of the room, and around it sat men and women in suits. Many of them wore badges on their chest, ones that proudly brandished the letters ARA. On the street below, a few Returnees in similar outfits picked off curious monsters.
“We’re starting,” Jessica whispered, nudging his arm. He turned away from the window and back to the table. At its head, a woman with dark, graying hair stood, lines of age marking her face.
Her name was Agent Rodriguez. She had the most Keys of anyone present, besides perhaps himself. She also had the most seniority of any ARA agent in the city, which was why she was leading this meeting.
“As many of you know, Congress has approved the budget for the hire and payment of the group known as the Delvers’ Guild, along with several other mercenary groups across the country. While the ARA consists almost primarily of government and military personnel, these mercenaries are former civilians. The Tutorial will not have changed that. They will act like civilians.
“Our orders at the moment are to shut down the Anomalies.” She held up a Silver Key. “But as far as we can tell, this is nearly impossible. What we can do is enter these spaces, execute whatever is inside, and win these. If you hold one of these and will it so.” The Key flashed for a moment. “We can slow down the rate at which the monsters can exit these spaces. We will do this no matter what this Guild does. Do not obstruct or fight them, but do not aid them, either. They are a dangerous and unknown entity, one who has no qualms with taking advantage of the government in the midst of a national crisis. Agent Jones, please show them the map.”
A bald, dark-skinned man nodded and pinned a map of the city on the far wall. Red marker had been drawn over it, dividing it into four. He tapped a part of it. “We have agreed with the Guild to split the city into sectors. They are simply the cardinal directions: north, south, east, and west. We will focus our operations here and here.” He pointed at the west and south. “They will operate in the other two. This is only temporary, however. We can expect to keep our attention on the whole city, and when these two sectors are secure, we will make sure the others are as well. Until then, understaffed squads will slowly transition to special assignments in these areas.”
Grey examined the map and made mental notes of her words. The north included the Gilded Casino, the base of the Hunters. Good. The pieces were falling into place. He had only to ready the board. Preparation, after all, was success.
“What about these… These Hunters,” a bald said, staring at the map. “A few of my men have run into them venturing into these Anomalies. There’s even one that can... “ He waved his hands. “Manipulate steel. Rapidly.”
Grey made special note of this last comment.
“The Hunters are a rogue, unofficial organization. Their goals are unclear and unknown. We can’t afford to have them as enemies, but be very clear. They are not allies.” This was Agent Rodriguez once more.
“When can we expect reinforcements?” This was another of the agents at the table.
“That is… Listen, we have to make sure the evacuated arrive safely at the protected zones, and then we have to secure food, the roads, and any number of objectives.” She sighed. “It may be weeks or months before any reinforcements arrive. Our projections say those who did not go to the Tutorial may begin developing Evolutions within a month. That will free up some personnel, at least.”
When the meeting was over, they all shook hands, and Agent Rodriguez walked over to Grey and Jessica, a slight smile on her face. “Wells, it’s good seeing you.” She held out a hand.
“And you,” Jessica said, grasping the other woman’s hand. Something tingled at Grey’s senses, and he looked out the window. Someone had activated a powerful Evolution below, no doubt killing off approaching monsters.
“And who is this? I haven’t seen your face around before.” The agent held out a hand to him.
“This is Agent Shor, a man I recruited to be on my team.”
“A pleasure,” Grey said, his mind running down a dozen possible timelines. He knew what he needed to do, but escaping Jessica’s gaze might prove a problem. It was still too early to kill her, though.
Start from the bottom, he told himself. When he was young, his mother had told him that a big problem was simply a series of minor obstacles towered atop one another until a person could no longer see the solution on the other side. Like any tower, however, Grey had only to pull on a single crucial brick to bring the others to the ground, leaving him with a solution in sight. So he started from the bottom, as he had been told long ago.
The major problem was that he was falling behind in the race for the Keys. He imagined the tower and pulled on a single brick, one that was critical to the structure. The forces were hoarding the Keys. They had not realized their true importance, so they were not fighting over them, meaning the Keys were not exposed or in the open yet. The solution? Tell them the truth. Part of it, anyways. How to get the information out, however...
He envisioned his imaginary chess board once more. The pieces of the ARA had become more clear, but for the time being, his gaze landed on the other two. Yes, that could work.
His attention turned back to the conversation. Agent Rodriguez suddenly suppressed a yawn, rubbing her temples. “It seems I’ve taxed myself a bit more than I’d originally thought,” she said. Then she smiled. “It was nice talking to you again, Agent Wells. Give your uncle my regards. And nice meeting you, Agent Shor.”
He said some platitude and watched Jessica closely. Uncle. It slid into place. The reason she knew so much and had so much power was because of her uncle’s position. Her death might bring the wrath of the ARA upon him sooner than he’d thought.