"Dani's been shot, do you have a healer?" asked a worried Valkyrie.
"They have lost much from leaving the labyrinth. I will remain here to get them prepared for the move. You should take Danistrae out and get help," suggested Iluria.
Valkyrie slung the elf's arm over her shoulder and helped her on the way back to the surface. Once they got back to the subway station, she called her father since they couldn't bring the elf to a human hospital. He called a private ambulance to pick them up outside the station.
She looked at her phone and saw how late it was. She didn't want to worry Arthur and sat in the ambulance to a special Veiled hospital. The first responder was an orc, and the driver was human.
The green-skinned medic cut open the torn shirt to check on the wounds, then applied antiseptic before using gauze to cover it until they arrived at the medical facility.
Two orderlies were at the door. Another orc and a human woman but she had oversized scrubs that hid something on her back. They helped move Danistrae over to the hospital bed. The bed magically moved to follow the orderlies. Valkyrie followed until they stopped her at the doors to the operating room. The orc brought her friend in but the human stayed outside.
"Aren't you going in?" Valkyrie asked.
"I can't, I can assist outside of the operating room but not in the enclosed space."
"Why? Aren't you supposed to learn how to do things?"
"Um... I'm claustrophobic and I'd rather not end up affecting the survival chances of the patients," she nervously responded and something on her back moved.
"May... may I ask what you are? I don't think I've seen a human looking Veiled with something on their back."
"There are a few of us. We hide in the mountains or very deep in forests. We don't like people seeing us as they tend to put their ideologies on us. We are not some angelic figure. We are just the windfolk. I have wings on my back. We try to stay away from civilization, but I wanted to learn more about medicine and how human society helps their people. This hospital allows for those techniques and works on making them better with a mix of magic and technology."
Valkyrie listened intently, "Your people do not have a labyrinth?"
"We did, but we were chased out a long time ago by humans. They were mean and aggressive. I would guess that after they plundered it, the Guild Ministry probably locked it up."
The braided warrior nodded and asked, "Where's the registration counter? I need to put my friend's info and see how much it will cost. Most adventurers don't have insurance, so I want to make sure she gets the care she needs and take care of the expenses."
"You are a good friend. It's down that hallway, the last door on the right."
After the paperwork was done, she dropped by the cafeteria to grab a cup of coffee before moving to the waiting room. The TV was showing an adventure movie of a guy running away from a giant boulder while local natives were chasing him with spears.
Valkyrie stared into the night sky, trying not to worry about Danistrae in the operating room. She texted Bjorn to inform him about the situation and that things were under control.
The sun was starting to rise when the operating doctor came out to meet her. "Ms. Valkyrie, your friend is out of the woods. The bullets didn't hit anything vital, we were able to remove the bullets. She suffered some internal injury and will need two weeks to recover. Normally we would use magical healing but the attempt we made didn't work. Something was resisting it from working."
"Can she be discharged?"
"She will require bedrest, we can discharge her but bring her back if serious complications occur."
"The human-looking nurse with oversized scrubs, is she one of those that do house calls?"
"Yes, she is. Would you like her to have your friend's case for follow-ups?"
"Yes, please. I registered my number at the front desk with information for my friend. She can call me to schedule."
Valkyrie accompanied the doctor to the front where he signed the discharge papers. She followed the doctor back to the operating room where Danistrae was already helped into a wheelchair.
The red Maserati made their way to the Vanderbilt's estate. John the butler helped the elf to a room. Valkyrie retired to her room.
----------------------------------------
Arthur had just stepped out of the house when his phone rang.
"Arthur, This is Shane. Do you have time to meet?"
"Sure Shane, I don't have a car so I can take an Uber. Where can I meet you?"
"I'll text you the address."
Arthur looked at his messaging app and noticed Amy hadn't responded when he sent a message. The text came in from Shane and he called up the ride,
The car dropped him off in front of a new construction building in a commercial area. The building seemed modern and there was a callbox outside. He tested the door and it buzzed open.
He walked in and saw that while there was some office furniture, there was no company logo or personnel. The elevator dinged open and he walked to it.
The elevator closed and without him pressing a button, it moved down. The elevator numbers didn't show anything under the garage but the display on top showed that it was going past sub-level 1. It felt like several floor levels before he saw sub-level 1 was the same amount of time as sub-level 2. He started to think it was about three levels between levels.
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The elevator opened up on sub-level 5. Shane looked up from a desk at the far end of the room.
"Arthur, take a seat. We have a lot to talk about," she responded in a way that even Arthur could tell that she was beyond exhausted.
He sat down in the chair that was set in front of her desk. "What's going on? Is this building yours?"
Shane sighed, "So after our call, I started to work on the lists that you asked for. An hour later, I got a visit from HR and was told that I was being let go effective immediately. All of my work is being divided up by the other researchers and I was told to take only my personal property. So I asked them if I retained my adventurer rank and classifications, and they told me that I would need to re-apply after a year. A YEAR! I went on my computer took my files and ran my contingency program. It transferred all of my financial assets from the credits in my GM account to my personal bank accounts. They didn't even let me keep my gear."
He watched her rant but saw that she was barely holding on. "Do you know if it was just you or did anyone else canned?"
"I was a little too preoccupied to know if there were others. Once I got to my car, I drove here and started to salvage what I could of my work."
"Is Mr. McClaren ok?"
"I don't think they could do anything to him. He is too high profile. I need you to sign these letters." She said as she slid a folder with a stack of papers.
Arthur nodded and picked up a pen, he started to sign the papers then stopped when he saw one of the pages was a bill of sale. He flipped back and noticed that the other three papers were a business bank account, a bill of sale for the building they were in, and the one he was looking at was another bill of sale for another building. "What are all these papers?"
"You asked if I own this building, when you sign, you would. Even if I use all my credits and money, they can't go after it when it is under you."
Arthur hesitated from continuing to sign when there were a bunch more pages, "Why are you giving me your assets?"
"Because I know you would take care of me so that I can focus on using my skills to help you. Do you want a scientist and crafter to work for you?" she grinned.
Arthur flipped through the other pages and they showed stock shares and a bunch of land deeds. "How much are all of these come to?" he asked while he continued to sign the documents.
"I don't know the exact amount, but those land deeds are important. Those land deeds correspond with labyrinths that were closed off by GM."
"When was the last time you slept?"
"What day is it?"
"Saturday."
"Three days. I can go another twenty-four hours before I need to sleep. I've done it before quite a few times."
"Shane, I formally ask you to join Camelot with or without the GM account."
"Arthur, I wouldn't have given you everything I own if I wasn't joining Camelot."
"Did you hire anyone for whatever business you plan above?"
"Now that you have signed the papers, I will send out the email to get everything set up. There are several businesses upstairs that are ours. The rest are rentals for residual income. Our businesses are for investments, job recruitment and training, and an antivirus company."
"I get the others, but antivirus?"
"How else do you think we can snoop with consent?"
Arthur shakes his head, "I think I need to have plausible deniability, especially if I am going to be the front face of the companies."
"Shane, why do you trust me with all of this?"
"Truthfully?"
"Yes please."
"In all my life and research, no one has owned a labyrinth. Let alone two. That and your unknown potential puts you on top of a lot of lists IF they know you exist. So I want to help you and help protect you because I feel that you have a destiny that is bigger than anyone expects or suspects."
Arthur rubbed his temple, "Ok, I'll let the rest of Camelot know we have you."
"You don't just have me. You have my group too."
"What do you mean? I thought you worked for GM."
"I worked as a consultant. I am still the leader of my group."
"What's the name of your group and how trustworthy are they?"
"The group is called Sentinels. The group has around forty active members with another twenty on hiatus. We specialize in information gathering and scouting. We also send some of our people to raid."
"So, you have a spy group. And you need to trust them for them to be long-term and keep everyone safe. Is one of the land deeds the base for Sentinels?"
"Now you get it."
"Ok. Are there any cars in the garage that I can use? I need to go check on Valkyrie."
Shane slides a triangular key with a horse symbol on it. "Take the black Ferarri. It's the fastest car in the garage. And if you see something in there that you want, just let me know. I will pass you the key to the car you want. Besides you own everything now."
Arthur stopped at the elevator, "Make sure the elevator requires some sort of special key or badge or code to be able to get down here. I want you safe. And I want a way to get into the building without needing you to buzz me in all the time. And as your superior, get some sleep today. No arguments. Text me when you wake up tomorrow."
Shane watched him disappear into the elevator, "For someone who keeps resisting leading, you have a knack for it."
John the butler saw the black Ferrari driving up and was ready to reject the random suitor until he saw Arthur step out. The young man still hasn't changed his choice of clothes which shows that having access to large sums of money still hasn't changed him.
"Good morning Arthur, the young miss is still resting and Danistrae is resting. Would you like a tour of the grounds or some refreshments until they wake?"
"Is Mr. or Mrs. Vanderbilt at home?"
"Mrs. Vanderbilt has a meeting but she should be done in about an hour."
"Do they allow drinks in the library?"
"Alcoholic or otherwise?"
"Coffee?"
"I will arrange for that to be brought up. You can go on ahead to the library."
Arthur walked into the house still feeling out of place even though he was greeted and treated as one of the family. He took the steps to the library slower as he looked at the different paintings on the wall. He opened the door of the large library and saw that the curtains of the windows were pulled to the side to allow light to come in. The smell of the paper made the experience something to enjoy. There was a unique experience in holding a book when compared to a tablet to read. He randomly walked down one of the bookshelves just trying to follow how he felt. He lightly touched the covers of the book until he felt a shock that made him stop.
He peered at the book and pulled the old leather cover. There was no title on the cover and he brought it to a table and sat down. He flipped the cover over and saw that it was in a language that wasn't any of the languages he nor Kelrick knew.
John entered and placed a tray with a carafe of coffee with a container of milk and sugar. Arthur thanked him and poured the coffee with milk and sugar. He sipped it and savored the rich coffee taste.
He waited for the butler to leave before he pondered casting a spell to attempt to understand the language. He took another sip and decided to try it. He released the mana and used the magical words. The words glowed for a second but nothing happened.
Did he need to use more mana? He released more and attempted it again. The words glowed again but it didn't change. He took a deep breath and released as much as he normally used for a healing spell similar to the power he needed after the fight with the hobgoblins.
The book glowed brightly and blinded Arthur before he felt gravity and his head hitting the floor.
"John, what happened to him?"
"I had left him after bringing him coffee. He was reading that book but something must have happened. It was in a foreign language. All that's left is the leather cover, the rest of the book is gone."
"Did you see the words in the book?"
"Not clearly, they appeared runic-like but had a more pronounced block-like look."
Amelia quickly walked down the bookshelves and looked at the open space where the book would be. "Call our doctor, we need to get Arthur looked at."
Amelia walked back to Arthur and knelt. She stroked his hair, "No one in the family could read that book. Did you manage to read it? What did you do?"