Daamin greets me with a high five that leaves my hand stinging. Kai gives me a big hug, burying his face in my shoulder, which has become a habit for him. Honestly, I think he’s doing it to stay standing right now. We all took a beating and pushed ourselves to the limits but he got the worst of it for sure.

“I’m ready to get out of here and rest,” Daamin says as we start walking.

“What happened to all that talk about being manly men and the power of manhood,” Kay asks sarcastically. “Now you’re all tired.”

“I don’t have the energy to argue with you,” Kai says. “Dre, shoot her,” everyone laughs except Kay.

The guide leads us through various locations in the jail as Kay points out small details she worked on. Daamin is interest but Kai and I are just glad to be one step closer to being done with this. I’m hoping I can go back to my apartment and rest tonight, but I haven’t figured out how to bring up the topic yet. The sound of metal skipping across the floor causes me to look down. It’s a small data drive that I seem to have kicked. Everyone pauses, expecting me to pick it up. Peer pressure still works on adults. I grab the drive and prepare to read it but stop when I spot Kay’s smile.

“Well what does it say,” Daamin asks.

“I can only imagine,” Kay giggles to herself.

“Is this going to kill me,” I ask.

“No, that wouldn’t give me joy. An asshole like you deserves to suffer,” Kay bats her eyes.

“Fine, I’ll read it,” a quest gets added to my journal.

This drive belongs to Phil The Perfectionist, creator of Astro City. It was stolen by an assistant and hidden. Each drive contains important information about Astro City.

This is the first of 300. Collect all 300 scattered throughout the city to learn its secrets.

Send the data to Phil to receive a reward.

“Fuck no baby,” I close the drive.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“What,” Kai laughs as if I just told the funniest joke ever.

“Do you have a concussion,” Daamin asks.

“You can’t get a concussion in the game. Something else must be wrong,” Kay seems confused.

“What did I do,” I didn’t say anything funny.

“It’s just, that was unexpected,” Daamin smiles. “You might have some unpredictability in you after all Alexandre.”

“Whatever,” I roll my eyes. “Kai, can you use the debug remote to tell me what the reward is?”

“Yeah, give me just a second,” Kai gets to work.

“That’s not what the debug remote is for,” Kay stomps her foot.

“VR headsets aren’t to trap people in games either, but that didn’t stop you,” I didn’t forget.

“The reward is a prototype of an advanced combat drone. I want it, can you get it for me Dre, pretty please,” Kai asks as if he were a little kid.

“Well you know I’ll do anything for my little Kai,” I try to sound like a parent. “Yeah, can you mark the quest as complete.”

“No, but I can give you 299 drives in your inventory. You’ll still have to read them.”

“Go for it.”

“No, this is against the spirit of the game,” Kay shouts.

“Oops, that’s 150 drives,” Kai mocks her.

“Show me the respect I deserve as the creator of this game,” Kay takes a swing at Kai causing Daamin to pick her up and carry her away.

“There you go, 299 drives.”

I take a seat on the ground as I read through 299 drives. Kai takes a seat next to me, reading along and pretending to be interested. Each is filled with trivia facts that are meaningless at this stage. Astro City’s financial district is based on the map of San Francisco. A nuclear fusion plant below the city gives it cheap power allowing it to remain independent from close cities. There are bomb shelters hidden throughout the city in the event of nuclear war. The last drive contains Phil’s email address. I send off the data to Phil and in an instant the drone is added to my inventory. It seems to have great stats but I don’t know anything about drones. I transfer it to Kai’s inventory.

“This is actually going to be great with some tweaks,” Kai smiles. “Thanks Dre.”

“You’re welcome, now let’s go turn in these keys and get that last piece of data.”

We finally come to the evidence lockup room which is home to a giant old bank vault with holes for four keys. The fact that there’s a bank vault in the evidence room makes me wonder if Kay has ever seen a bank vault or an evidence room. It honestly makes no sense but I’m tired, I’m beat up and I’m ready to get out of here, so I don’t question it. I insert my first key into the lock and turn. A few locks shift and fall into place. My second key brings a louder clang. Daamin is next, his key brings a clang louder than the last. Finally, Kai steps up to insert his key. There’s no clang when he inserts his key, just a small click as the door begins to open towards us. Inside there’s plenty of guns and shell casing along the walls but in the center on a pedestal is a single data drive. Kai rushes over and grabs it. The familiar light shines down on him signifying an end to the quest and collection of the last drive.

“So, we’re taking the day off to recover right,” Kai asks as the light vanishes.

“I’m so glad you ask,” I sigh. “I didn’t want to be the guy who suggested it.”

“I need it,” Daamin practically falls to his knees.