The man behind the desk begins the conversation with an irritated tone, “It’s so good of you to finally show up.”
The masked man shrugs unconcerned. He knows his worth to the company as a trouble shooter. “There was an unavoidable delay.”
The smoking man harrumphs once and drums his fingers on the desk, obviously still annoyed. “I’ll let it go this time. Now on to our business. That girl and her company are becoming an issue again. Her father was a brilliant User and if she’s half as talented, then we can’t let her company enter the System Games. We have to win 1st place. We need that dungeon seed for our research department.”
“Don’t worry sir. Her latest partner, Anthony Tinoco, is a loser. I’ve scouted him out, there’s no way he can make level 10 in time.”
“Well, he’s already refused our offers to buy him off. We need assurances he won’t be a problem.”
Thinking for a moment, the masked man says, “Well, from what I’ve seen. His weakness is his family. You should send a stronger message to him by threatening them. Nothing forceful yet, just an economic incentive to back away. If that doesn’t work…”
The smoking man cuts him off, “If that doesn’t work we’ll consider him a ‘liability’ and let you resolve the issue. Permanently.”
The man wearing the mask laughs. He enjoys his work so much sometimes.
Chapter 35
I’ve been looking forward to spring break for the last couple of weeks. Jeff invited me to take a road trip with him to Cancun, Mexico. I’ve never traveled out of the country and have heard that the parties down there get pretty wild.
Unfortunately, my plans were derailed with a simple phone call from Lillian. The day before I plan to leave, Lillian calls and asks me to come over to the office. When I arrive, I’m dressed in shorts, a loose Hawaiian shirt, and a shell necklace.
Lillian is sitting at her desk in dress pants and a sleeveless dress shirt. Sitting next to her is John, who looks like he’s sulking.
Tilting her head questioningly at my attire, Lillian waves at me. “Anthony, thanks for coming in. I know you had some time off this next week and wanted to arrange to do some group training for the three of us. I have a lead on a dungeon that’s appeared in Southern California near San Diego.”
“Really? I was leaving tomorrow for a…” before I finish, I realize how it will sound if I tell Lillian that I’d planned to go party for a week in Mexico. Instead, I finish, “… Umm…on a road trip with someone from college.”
Lillian raises an eyebrow at the obvious change. “Well, you’ll have to cancel your vacation plans. The System Games are only in a couple more months, and we need to get you to level 10. Otherwise, you can’t participate.”
Aww man. Jeff is going to have to entertain all those bikini-clad ladies by himself.
I sigh in resignation. Then remember that Lillian said the dungeon is near San Diego. There are beaches there too. I pull out my phone and do a quick search for San Diego + Beach Pictures. I get some scenic photos of the beautiful beaches. When I add the keyword bikini to the search, I get some even more interesting pictures. I mean, woah.
“You ok, Anthony?”
I look up from my phone and see Lillian giving me a knowing smile.
“Uh, yeah. I was just looking up San Diego...for research.”
“Ha. Yeah, I bet you do a lot of ‘research’ on your phone when you’re by yourself.” John chimes in.
I feel my face flush, but try to keep a calm demeanor. “Well, I’m ready to go to San Diego when you guys are.”
Lillian shakes her head at my sudden change of attitude. She likely suspects what I was researching. “We’ll meet here tomorrow.”
Returning to Lillian’s office the next day, I’ve made sure to pack my inventory with stuff I think I’ll need.
Inventory (9 spaces): Laser Pistol, Portable Class B Trap Construction Bench, Flash Grenade (5), Floor Trap II (15), Wall Trap II (15), M-98 Widow Sniper Rifle, Ammunition (150), and Caltrop Grenade (5).
I leave one inventory space open in case I find something cool in the dungeon I want to stash.
I’m wearing my regular street clothes, jeans, and a t-shirt. I also decided to keep my shell necklace on since we’re heading to a beach city and I want to fit in.
Lillian greets me wearing a skin-tight blue bodysuit that covers her from her neck all the way down to her toes. With her blonde hair tied back in a ponytail she kind of looks like Samus when she’s not wearing her Metroid suit. John is wearing an even odder outfit; completely covered in black spandex, with various electronic parts attached to his body. His left eye covered by a holographic lens; takes me a moment, to realize that he’s dressed like a Borg from Star Trek.
“Why are you two dressed like that? Halloween was months ago.”
The two look at me curiously.
“The better question is why aren’t you dressed up?”
“Didn’t you get the memo? You were supposed to come dressed up.”
John has a huge smile on his face. “You don’t know where we’re going do you?”
My nose crinkles as I think about the question. “I know we’re going to San Diego. Should I know something else?”
Lillian giggles, “Uh, nope. Let’s go.”
She then walks over to the office door and pulls up the port interface and establishes a connection to somewhere in San Diego. The three of us walk through the door and exit into the bright sunshine of the golden state. A voluptuous woman in a blue two-piece bikini walks by, and my head follows her bounce as she walks away.
I hear someone next to me cough and turn to see a smirking John and a frowning Lillian.
Putting on my most innocent smile, I quickly ask, “Uh, so where’s the dungeon?”
Lillian shakes her head and walks past me muttering something about ‘boys.' John and I follow her across a busy four-lane highway, and as we walk along the sidewalk, the breeze shifts and the smell of the salty ocean hits me. Man, I can’t wait to finish this dungeon and hit the beach. I bet there are a lot of bikini-clad ladies just hanging out on the beach. My imagination conjures up images of bikini-clad beauties giggling on a sandy beach. Some are sunbathing, while others bounce up and down in slow motion while playing volleyball and the music from Baywatch plays in the background.
My daydream is knocked right out of my mind as I walk face first into someone’s back. I look up and apologize to…Batman? I hear laughter behind me and turn to see Lillian and John covering their mouths as they chuckle. Looking around, I see that we’re in a long line of costumed people. I see people dressed up from every popular comic, movie, anime, and TV show you can think of. A guy dressed up as Spider-Man is standing next to lady dressed up as Nico Robin from One Piece.
Oh, that reminds me, I still need to watch the latest episode of One Piece. I’m sure any episode now, they’ll find Gol D. Roger’s treasure and Luffy will become the pirate king.
Putting my anime list to the side, I ask Lillian, “Ok, what are we doing?”
She smiles and tells me, “We’re here to find that dungeon. It just happens to be located at this convention. I sent you a message to dress up so we’d fit in with the rest of the cosplayers.”
Cosplayers? Convention? Oh my god. Could we be at one of the fabled comic con conventions? I’ve always wanted to go to one but never thought I’d have the money to travel. I look around with fresh eyes and feel myself start to geek out. I feel a grin spread across my face as Steampunk Poison Ivy walks by and I wave, and she waves back. Turning back to my team, I can’t help but sqeee in excitement and hug both of them. They both look surprised by the hug, but I don’t care. I’m finally here, among my nerdy people.