CHAPTER 144: The Parties are Over

Randall’s spear, kicked with the force of a missile by Joseph, blasted into the body of the Nest Mother. The power, skills, and previous damage tore through the creature as it straightened out. The tip of the spear opened a hole in the front of the Entugo boss without completely emerging due to its tough hide.

Elias seized the moment. “[Earth Spike]!”

A sharp chunk of the ground entered the hole the spear had made, angled precisely so that it could reach where he assumed the brain was in the bent body. There was a shaking, and then the spike cracked from the weight of the monster insect falling.

Entugo “Nest Mother [74]” slain. 80,215 shared XP gained.

“That took long enough,” whined Joseph as he fell onto its butt in exhaustion and relief.

With the death of the Nest Mother, as Carlos had surmised with his skills, all the surrounding Entugo stopped attacking. They weren’t self-thinking creatures, which is why mind skills like Tom’s hadn’t worked much on them. They used the thoughts of the Nest Mother to know their tasks and what to do. Without her, they were just mannequins, standing there with no purpose or will of their own.

“Actions like that are why you can’t get a girlfriend,” said Alissa to Joseph, plopping onto the ground next to Andrea to give her a bit of healing with [Give Life].

“I can get a girlfriend,” defended Joseph.

“Uh-huh.”

“I have lots of girls interested in me.”

“Right.”

“I just haven’t found that special someone or someones.”

“Of course.”

“You know what? Shut up!” he said, laying back onto the ground. Alissa and Andrea both giggled at him.

The cleanup was no less exhausting, though much easier as the Entugo didn’t respond when people injured them. Thousands of the invaders provided a strong amount of XP, netting each person at least three levels. A few more reached their Tier 3 class evolution.

Unfortunately, without Adam here, they couldn’t add this base to the Rift Network of Jackson. He was the owner of the network and needed to be the one to do it. It also meant they couldn’t transfer the resources and corpses, or portal back to home base directly.

They did find the control crystal and pillar, getting all the humans another Invasion Conquerer title and +2 stats. Every little bit helped. Hopefully, it would be enough.

Some more time was spent as the Leputi skinned the nest mother, and they retrieved the Nest Generals to use for weapon or armor creations. It required them to carry the pieces back to Pickwick Dam.

“That was tiring. Will they all be this tiring without the boss?” asked Tom.

“It doesn’t matter,” responded Lucas. “We’ll go back to Jackson, get some food and two hours to nap, then we need to head back out. There just isn’t enough time.”

“Fair enough,” agreed Tom with a lackluster sigh. They weren’t sure when the attack would come, but they needed to be as strong as possible if there would be any way to survive it and get Adam back.

***

Emily sat on the sofa, stroking two of Fido’s heads. One head was on her lap and the other on the sofa, pressed against the side of her leg. The third head growled menacingly to anyone who approached him, making her frown.

It was bad enough that Adam was overprotective of her, but somehow Fido had picked that up as well. In fact, Fido didn’t like most of her friends that came to Adam’s penthouse to party. Music was blaring, some people were playing Adam’s video games, making sure to erase his save spots just because, and the pool was in use. A few other kids were even making out on a different sofa, with Fido making sure no one was allowed near Emily.

The only person that Fido seemed to accept was William, who stood at a respectful distance, not doing anything but watching. She knew that Adam hadn’t put him up to it, and that William had gone to every public raid the Sentinel Army held, but still he stood in place like a guard. He didn’t look at her, or anyone, just quietly standing there. Fido didn’t growl when he came close.

Fido’s attitude hadn’t mattered much before, when he fit in her hand, but over only two days he had become big. He was large enough to practically ride now.

Something was wrong. That much was obvious. Adam hadn’t been here in those two days. The food still piled in the fridge showed as much. Adam’s friends, including his girlfriends who Emily lived with, would show up for only a few hours, whether day or night. They would eat hastily, shower, and then take a short nap before leaving again. Fido had also been growing since then, which showed Emily there was fighting wherever they went.

Even the cooks that Adam employed hadn’t been here during this time. That brought a lot of complaints to the teens who came for the parties.

When Emily asked her mom what was happening, her mom had been evasive and unable to hide her concern. Her mom was very stressed. The best explanation she had received regarding the chefs was that they were helping prepare the food for the city evacuees that were trapped inside the base due to the human army outside.

Adam was generous enough to volunteer them, but with his appetite it was unlikely he wouldn’t eat any of his own food. All that Emily could fathom was that Adam wasn’t around. But why would he leave them? That was un-Adam like.

It seemed likely that an attack was expected. The base kept having readiness drills. Crafters were putting out new weapons and armor. An increased number of fighters were on the walls and roaming inside the base. It seemed more than just for drills.

Emily wasn’t stupid. She could read all the signs. Adam had made her so angry with what he did back then, forcing her to kill an elf. That he made her do more for XP when he incapacitated their base had just pushed her anger further.

Pre-[System] Adam never would have made her do that. He wouldn’t even have done it himself. Adam had changed at the arrival of the [System]. Too much and to an extreme.

Emily didn’t hate who he was now. She had seen the news on invasion day, seen the assassination attempt on him. It was easy for her to get some information when she wanted to. Even when it was through uncharacteristic violence, Adam was protecting people.

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No, she didn’t feel hate towards him. She just wanted her old brother back. She wanted the guy who she could pick on and he would smile at her, or boss around and he would choose whether to do it or not based on that moment. The lackadaisical brother who could always calm her down and bring things into perspective when she was upset.

Since the elves, he had ignored her verbal barbs. Ignored her parties and when she messed with his stuff. He never even complained about her eating his food. The lack of response or arguing made her even more furious with him.

Did he think she was some doll that needed to be protected?

He used to always be around. When she needed him, he was there. When she was upset, he would listen and smile at her, or get angry on her behalf, even if he wasn’t going to do anything about it.

Since the [System], he just kept getting hurt. She had watched the videos, even the restricted ones. There had been no way to hold back her tears as she saw the pain and suffering he had to endure to keep people safe. To keep her and his family safe.

She didn’t want to see Adam suffering any more than he wanted her to. She had tried everything she could think to get his attention, to try and get him to talk to her. But he had so much to do.

His girlfriends, the general’s wives, had talked to her and said he loved her. They told him how much he thought of her. Yet that hardly mattered as the brother-sized hole in her life had formed.

Thinking about it made her want to scream. This time, for two days he was gone, and no one would tell her why.

As she scowled, deciding whether or not to scream, a boy approached. He smiled at her.

“What’s wrong, Em?” the boy asked.

He wasn’t exactly a friend. None of the people but William had been. They were using their relationship with Emily to avoid doing anything while living in the base. Looking at him, thinking about them, Emily felt her own voice inside criticizing herself for being the same. She hadn’t been willing to contribute, even as her family worked non-stop to keep the base running.

Was she any better than this boy when she had done such mean things to Adam, taking the best of what he had for herself while refusing to contribute? Her scowl deepened.

Fido, sensing her mood, chose that moment to stand up and turn to the boy. All three of Fido’s heads began growling at him. One even opened its mouth and breathed a single bolt of lightning at him, causing him to jump from the shock.

With a sigh, Emily stood up and walked over to the music control panel on the wall.

“Hey!” a few people shouted as she turned the music off. Most others looked at her too. It wasn’t difficult for them to see the mood she was in.

“Are you ok, girl?” asked someone she vaguely remembered from school. The girl looked genuinely concerned, but Emily just wasn’t in the mood to respond to it.

“The parties are over,” Emily said.

“What?” asked another girl. “What do you mean by over?”

“We won’t be having any more parties. This place is now off limits,” responded Emily.

“Weren’t you doing this to get back at your brother?” asked a boy.

Emily wanted to kick herself at that question. Everyone knew. The people here, her parents, Adam’s girlfriends, and even Adam himself. They had all just allowed it instead of trying to force her to do something else.

“It didn’t work, so we’re done with this.”

A boy came over and put his arm around Emily. He was significantly taller than her, and his arm felt heavy, holding her tightly. She looked up at him, even if it was difficult due to his strength.

“I think you should leave,” she ordered.

“And I think we should stay, and whatever little tantrum you are throwing shouldn’t get in the way of our good time,” he said equally forcefully. “Your brother isn’t ever here, and you are just a weak girl without him. No authority of your own.”

Several people nodded while others voiced their agreement. His other hand began reaching to turn the music back on, but it stopped short of the buttons. Or was made to stop short as another hand grabbed his wrist.

“She said it’s done. Leave!”

With William’s other hand, he lifted the arm that was holding Emily in place. Then, both wrists held in William’s hands, he put a foot on the boy’s chest and kicked him away. The boy slid along the wooden floor right to where Fido stood, all three heads growling at the boy.

His movement to get away, to his feet, couldn’t have been quicker. Fido wasn’t quite as nice, hitting the boy with weak fire and ice breaths at the same time. Then Fido walked over to Emily and growled at the people he could see.

“Fine then,” spat the boy, trying to cover the hole in his pants that the breaths had opened. “We’ll just find somewhere else to hang out. We don’t need you or your stupid brother to have a good time.”

“Whatever,” said Emily dismissively.

With Fido rushing everyone along, and William staying near Emily, the other kids filed out of the condo.

Once the room was empty, Emily turned to William, feeling a bit embarrassed.

“Thanks,” she said.

“You’re welcome,” he responded with a gentle smile. “It’s been rather difficult holding back all this time. I’m glad you finally came to your senses.”

Emily didn’t know what to say to that. Realizing that everyone had known what she had been doing, of course, William would know too.

“If the parties are over, then what should we do now?” he asked.

“I guess it’s time to grow up. I know Adam will forgive me, but even the thought of apologizing to him makes me want to punch him in the face.” Emily’s words made William chuckle. Adam probably wouldn’t even feel it with her low strength. “I guess the first thing we need to do is figure out what happened to my brother.”

***

After a short nap, Alissa and Rahsha came to pick up Fido. She was surprised that there was no party, Emily and her friends nowhere to be found. She just shrugged, got the three-headed dog to follow her and then headed for the elevator.

On the ground floor she followed a few hallways, into a security room that no one else used, through a hidden door in the wall, and then underground to an unoccupied warehouse they gathered at for their excursions.

“Ready to go?” she asked as the last to arrive.

For some odd reason everyone was staring at her except Tom, who was staring at an invisible screen.

“Not quite,” he said. “There is one more thing we need to deal with first.”

They all watched the secret entrance until it quietly opened. Emily stepped through, wearing a robe made from feral behemoth leather that she had found in her closet before invasion day. Behind her was William, metal chest armor, leg armor, and a shield. All his gear was scuffed, nicked, and dinged from previous fights.

Emily walked over brazenly, then placed her hands on her hips as she addressed Adam’s friends.

“Where is my brother?”

No one answered as they stared at her. William gave them an apologetic look.

“Tell me where my brother is,” she ordered with a foot stomp for emphasis.

“Can’t do that,” said Tom, with his typical troublemaking smile. “Now please go back and don’t mention this to anyone.”

“He’s gone, isn’t he?” she asked quietly, though kept eye contact with Tom. “You’re expecting an attack from the other general’s army, aren’t you?”

Tom started back, clearly unsure what to do. “Of course not. We aren’t scared of that army.”

“Then it’s the invaders that’re going to attack us?”

The smile fell from Tom and his expression became harsh. After a few more moments of staring Lucas stepped forward.

“Yes. They are going to attack,” he told her, meeting her gaze. “Adam was taken, and we expect them to attack. Very few people know this.”

Emily stiffened and felt fear sprout inside her. Adam, her brother, who had kept everyone safe was gone? Taken? He hadn’t chosen to leave? That was much worse than she thought. She had figured he was off chasing monsters by himself, tired of protecting everyone or being held back. To think he had been forcefully abducted scared her more than she could have admitted previously. It also made sense why her mom had been so stressed.

“Where is he? We have to get him!” she blurted out, the panic taking control.

“No,” said Lucas.

“No?”

“There is something more important we have to do,” he answered.

“What could be more important than my brother?!” she screamed.

“This place. Jackson. This is where everything that matters to him is. We need to protect it. We need to weather whatever is coming before we try to face what took Adam.”

Lucas was calm as he spoke. Definitive. There was no room within him to shift from his statement.

She glared at him. Emily wanted to attack him, shoot some fireballs or something to make him take her seriously. To make any of these people watching her to take her seriously. Somewhere inside she knew this was what she had earned with her behavior. She had acted like a spoiled brat. She probably still was, but she couldn’t leave her brother to whatever had happened to him.

Steeling her emotions, she took a breath. “You guys are leveling then. I’m coming too.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” started Tom, but Lucas overrode him.

“Fine,” agreed Lucas

“Fine?” asked Tom hesitantly.

“Adam never forced her to sit out. He did the opposite, trying to get her levels. Why shouldn’t we encourage that? The best way to protect her is to make her strong enough to fight the monsters against us.” Lucas then addressed Emily. “You can come but just like everyone else you follow directions. No more entitled princess.”

Emily winced at being called entitled, but she couldn’t argue with it. Instead, she just nodded.

Tom shrugged and walked over to William. After patting his metal shoulder plate, Tom said, “Guess you have your work cut out for you once again, Meat Shield.”

William smiled remembering the fear when Adam had called him that the first time. With determination he nodded. He would keep Emily safe or die trying.

“Well then, let’s get to it,” said Lucas as a portal opened up behind everyone, surprising Emily.