"How can you not be? Sang, at least you can survive in the real world because you have marketable skills. My skills sound ridiculous to the average person. You're gonna end up in some kind of high-powered security firm and I'm gonna be mopping up at a gas station."
"So?" Sang asked. "Maybe there's something more to life than just your job. Maybe you can go to school, or go looking for a wife or something. I dunno. Do whatever normal people do when they're looking for happiness."
"I don't want to be happy, Sang, I just want to do the thing I love, and unless dragons and orcs suddenly arrive in this world, I won't be able to. I am forever separated from the thing I love."
"So… find a new love," Sang said as she looked up at him. Her face was hard and stern. "You are someone who has a powerful passion, Van. You care and you care deeply. You've made choices I never could have, not because you're stronger than me, but because you have a bigger heart than me. You stood up against the tides of destruction, you resisted the urge to become a god among men, and you chose to put your life in danger to save countless other races that you have never even met. You love deeply, so instead of lamenting the loss of an old love, find something new."
"Like what?"
"Saving the galaxy from the Draco," Sang said. "We're looking at the solution right here." She pointed to the pod that Van was sitting on. "Somehow, we can figure out a way to help Jet out."
"You're crazy," Van said. "There's no way we can pull it off."
"Maybe there is," Sang said. She glanced around the room. "We just need two pods and an operator."
"Two pods?" Van repeated. "Are you saying you're going to come with me?"
"Of course," Sang said. "Van, you gave everything up to save humanity and you have saved my life countless times. I don't think I have it in me to go back to the real world and do the boring thing. I don't know how to foment a revolution in a weird new video game, but I sure as hell would follow someone who can."
"You're saying that you'd be willing to follow me across the galaxy into some foreign land to save people you've never met?" Van asked as he folded his arms, looking relatively skeptical of her.
Sang could feel her heart begin to pound as she realized the possibilities in front of her. Did she really want to go back to some boring job working in an office? Did she really want to give up the adventures that she had lived through already? Did she want to lose her best friend? No. She didn't want any of that, so she chose in her heart to push Van to continue the adventure.
"Yes, Van, in a heartbeat. I want to see you live a meaningful life, and I know you've got what it takes to free the Xevov. Hell, you can probably free race after race if we can figure out how the Xevov transmitted themselves. We can go back for those who have been forgotten. We can save countless worlds. And we've already done it once."
Van's lips began to slowly turn up into a smile, but he suppressed it. "Suppose I said yes – what are we going to do?"
"I don't know," Sang said. "But we'll figure it out. We're gonna need some operators to help us out, but… but I think we can do this. All we need to do is get this pod out of the government's hands and we'll be golden."
"Hmmm," Van said as he climbed fully out of the pod. They both looked at it for a moment in pure silence. Sang could see the life slowly returning to Van's face and she knew that his mind was beginning to stir with all of the possibilities. "I don't want to say this," Van said as he slowly shook his head, "but we're going to need Neil and O'Hara's help."
"Leave it to me," Sang said. "I'll go convince them to join."
"And I know someone who might be able to help us out, too – she was the one who broke me out of the pod for a few minutes," Van said. "They've got her handcuffed to a radiator in one of the other rooms."
"Why?" Sang asked.
"Neil said that she was holding back on some information and that she needed some time to think about whether or not she likes being able to, quote, 'eat without the aid of a tube.'"
"Sounds about right," Sang said. "Let me go find the dynamic duo; you go talk to your lead."
Van walked into the back to where the CIA was holding a variety of prisoners. They were all handcuffed and sitting in the back of the mess hall. They had blank expressions on their faces. The more lively ones had been arrested earlier, and Cindy was the only intelligent one that remained. And while Van certainly did need to meet up with Cindy so that he could have a more thorough conversation with her, there was someone else who he needed to see first.
Van spotted Peter sitting on one of the tables, staring blankly ahead. The man had been responsible for saving Van's life, and now it was time for Van to pay the favor back.
"Hey," Van said as he walked up to the red-head.
Peter didn't respond; he merely stared straight ahead.
"You doing okay?" Van asked as he gently placed a hand on Peter's shoulder.
"I'm handcuffed in a strange invisible bunker after having been in the process of being mentally tortured for what felt like a hundred years," Peter replied. "No, I am not okay."
"Well, you seem to have retained your personality," Van said.
"Of course, I retained my personality," Peter growled. "I just wanted to be a professional gamer. All of this talk about the end of the world, aliens, and whatnot – it's a bunch of crazy rubbish. Now the police or whatever are arresting me for being a terrorist? I just wanted to play a stupid video game and earn my ex-wife's respect by turning my hobby into a real job."
"Yeah," Van said as he looked around. Strangely enough, the CIA hadn't bothered to post any guards in the area. They had walked in and secured the place, but after Van had woken up and talked to Neil, most of the CIA goons had gone home. Maybe they didn't have the clearance to be in a place like this.
"Listen," Van said, "I'm really sorry that things haven't worked out as well as you would have liked, but I have something to say to you."
"Oh yeah?" Peter asked as he turned to look at Van. "Say it, then."
"You were in the tournament a while back, right? And the whole thing went lethal."
"Ugh, don't remind me," Peter said. "That was a terrible decision brought on by drinking and lamenting the anniversary of my wife's departure from my house."
"Yeah, and while it was a terrible decision, you were a pretty noble guy."
Peter cocked his head. "How do you know that?'
"Well… I was Fenwar, the guy who you made a deal with," Van said.
"It is a small world," Peter said as he laughed a little. "How is this even possible? Why aren't you in cuffs?"
"Well, I don't know how much I can share with you, so let me be very quick. This whole Draco thing is bad news, and the CIA is involved. You had multiple chances to kill me when I was weak and unarmed, but you chose the moral path – and for that I'm grateful. You probably don't even know how important your decision was, and you probably never will. But I owe you one."
"Oh, uh, think nothing of it, man," Peter said. "I spare people's lives all the time; it's no big deal."
Van walked over to the handcuffs and examined them. O'Hara had showed him a nifty trick for popping them open and, after a few minutes of his fiddling with a paperclip, the cuffs clicked open.
"There," Van said, "now, getting out of here is going to be tricky, but we're going to be stealing one of the pods in a little bit. Your best bet would be to hide in the pod until we get outside, and then you can hoof it."
"Why are you doing this for me?" Peter asked.
"Because, man, I know you're not a bad guy like the rest of them," Van replied as he walked up to the door and looked outside, checking to see if there was anyone around. "So go on and get out of here while you have a chance. Once we get the pod loaded up and outdoors, you'll be free to go wherever you want. It's far better than ending up in jail for a crime you really didn't commit."