Ultimatum: The Proving Grounds Read online

  Paul ground his teeth. “Miller. It has to be.”

  The small bearded man continued as if Paul had not spoken. “I’ve locked out every account from your building that isn’t currently playing, and brought everyone that was to this room. You’re the only ones in the know, and you’re the only ones in here that are going to be in the know.

  “Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to create an empire from nothing. You need to build an army vast, powerful, and loyal enough to challenge the greatest threat this world will ever know.” He pointed to a distant peak just visible through the glass. “I’ll be waiting there. You have one week to reach me and best me. If you don’t, I’m going to shut you down. All of it. Top to bottom. Game, forums, website, all gone. I have access, so it’s really not a big deal for me.”

  Paul shook his head. “I doubt any of this has merit. But even if you’re telling the truth, we have security experts on hand to counter any such attempts.”

  “Well then, by all means, ignore me. It’s not like I co-opted your entire game, changed the rule set and abducted all the staff members on hand.” He rolled his eyes. “Believe what you want. If you want to keep the fruit of your near decade of effort, then you should be concerned with what I want. And what I want is to see humanity at its best. I want to see men do what they did for so long. Rise up, their strength alone whipping a savage world into order. That doesn’t happen outside anymore. It can’t. It’s all fear and hate and Geneva conventions. Boring. That’s not what we were born to be. We’re conquerers.”

  A blast could be heard on the phone. It was loud enough that the speakers threw static, unable to truly play the sound.

  The small bearded man smiled. “And now you know I’m serious. Good.” He took a few steps toward the end of the room. “All great empires needed a leader. Someone to stand at the head, to take on the risk and share the rewards.” He turned, his eyes moving across the room. “But I don’t think any of you will work. I need someone who will learn and grow. Who will shape this world with deeds, not with insider knowledge or two years of beta tests.” He shook his head then held up a hand and moved it left to right several times.

  Toby watched. “He’s paging through something.”

  Claire nodded. “Account information.”

  The small man smiled. “Ah, here we go… And here is your champion.”

  Tobin Ironblood stood at the end of the room looking terribly confused.

  “Huh. I know this part.”

  “Yeah, but you don’t know the rest.” She fast forwarded the video.

  “-a rain check on that one. Time for work.” Toby’s own voice sounded strange on the recording.

  “Hey, wait, you can’t just… god damn it.” Paul hung his head.

  The image of Tobin Ironblood shimmered for a moment, but it refocused. He stood, unmoving. Unblinking.

  Toby squinted at the screen. “Uhh…”

  Claire stopped the video and put the phone away. “Your character has the only weapon in the game that can hurt Miller, and hurting Miller’s character is what is required. But you’re vulnerable to every other player just as every other player is presently vulnerable to you. And yet your biggest problem is unique. To keep you from simply logging out and not taking part, Miller altered your character. It can’t log out. Whether you’re in control or not, Tobin Ironblood is in the world and people are trying to kill him.”

  3

  Toby blinked a few times.

  “That’s bad.”

  Claire nodded. “Very bad. We’ve kept people out of the church and thankfully it’s one of a handful of safe harbor areas that PVP simply isn’t possible, even with open PVP enabled on the server. But a mannequin that looks like you isn’t going to face Miller, and he knows it. He brought us there because he knew he was changing the PVP rules. He’s setting this up as a long shot… but he didn’t want to kick us while we were down. That would have ended his game.”

  Cliff scoffed from up front. “Egomaniacs, man.”

  Toby stared ahead at the passing headlights. “Right, so… you’re going to help me from my apartment… somehow?”

  She shook her head. “No. I came along to convince you to come. If Cliff had shown up alone you might have run. You’re going to get some things and we’re going to head to the Brave New World headquarters downtown. We’ll be able to help more if you’re there and the police want to keep all of us in one place so they can monitor the situation.”

  The car turned into the parking lot in front of Toby’s apartment building. He stopped the car in a handicapped space and turned to look over his shoulder. “Got to keep the car running. If you’re not back in ten I’m going to go get you, and you’ll be less happy about the next ride.”

  Toby nodded. “Right.” He reached for the door handle only to find there wasn’t one. He glanced back up at Cliff. “I assume the clock starts after you let me out?”

  Cliff opened the door and left them out. “Ten minutes. Starting now, smartass.”

  Toby nodded. With what Miller has claimed, and what had happened downtown… he didn’t feel much like making jokes.

  He made his way upstairs and had the door open swiftly enough. He almost shut it on Claire. He blinked a few times. “Sorry, I’m a bit…”

  “Distracted.” She nodded. “Can I come in?”

  “Are you a vampire?”

  “If I was, I probably wouldn’t tell you.”

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “That’s just what a vampire would say.” He really didn’t have time for this. “Oh well, I’ve lived a good long life. Sure, come on in. It’s not much to look at.”

  She followed him in. “The file the feds worked up says you’re twenty six. Not exactly a long life.”

  Everything was just as he had left it hours before. He flicked on lights as he went without even looking at the switches. “Not gunna lie, that’s a little creepy. How did they find me in the first place? It’s only been a few hours.”

  “You gave us information about yourself when you created your account. Name, billing location. Under certain circumstances we can share that information with law enforcement. And in other circumstances, like those we find ourselves in, we don’t even really have a choice in the matter. Name and address was plenty for them to figure out where you work.”

  “Huh. Tax dollars at work. Great.” He shook his head. None of that was Claire’s fault and he didn’t have much of a choice but to go along unless he fancied a night in lockup. No wonder they had sent Cliff. “Should be stuff to drink in the fridge. Help yourself. Be just a minute.”

  He wandered into the single bedroom and dumped the contents of his backpack out on his bed. He didn’t exactly have a set of matched luggage on hand. The backpack allowed him to carry his lunch and / or dinner while getting around on his bike. It fit clothes well enough now. Not a weeks worth, certainly, but a couple days. He’d heard you weren’t supposed to wash jeans after only wearing them once anyway. That was good, they took up a lot of room.

  After a quick stop in the bathroom for his toothbrush and toothpaste, he wandered back out into the main living area and headed for the kitchen.

  Claire was holding up his headset and looking around the storaging room. He wandered by while she seemed distracted. He needed a plastic bag for the toothbrush and toothpaste. “Pretty standard setup. I think I got the sensors right. Watched a video online about it.”

  She nodded as she looked around. “It’s just a little odd seeing one of these in the wild. I’m used to the pit.”

  “The pit?”

  “That’s what we affectionately call QA’s room downstairs. I don’t think their spaces are much bigger. Maybe even a bit smaller. Some people have a setup in their office.”

  “You don’t?”

  She shook her head. “I have one I use in the pit but I don’t have that kind of space upstairs. And I try to leave my work at work, ya know? I spend too much time there as it is.”

  He shoved a few t
hings from the pantry into the front pouches of the backpack. Granola bars, breakfast of lazy champions. “And how much time is that?”

  “Too much. The ‘last’ push to launch has gone on for the last year or so. I have an apartment I rent where I sleep, but I also have a couch in my office that just works better sometimes.”

  He paused and glanced out from the kitchen. She was still holding the headset. “Damn. Sounds harsh.”

  She shrugged and set the headset back down. “Part of the job. Salary isn’t all it’s cracked up to be when there’s no such thing as overtime. On the plus side, I never have time to really spend money aside from automatic utility payments, so that kinda piles up. On the other hand, I never thought I would get tired of pizza but…” She shrugged and stuffed her hands into her coat pockets. “You ready?”

  He nodded and glanced around the storaging room. “Do I need any of this stuff?”

  She shook her head. “Got plenty of them at work. You just need your login credentials and your eyes.”

  He unplugged his phone cable from his computer and stuffed it into his pocket. “Darn, I was going to bring my other side of eyes.” He sighed.

  She gave him a blank stare.

  “No? Well, okay cool. Lets get back down there before we have to ride in the trunk.”

  Cliff got out of his car when he saw them approaching. “Eight minutes fifty four seconds.”

  “See? No worries.”

  “A couple less than an hour ago, sure. But worries we got.”

  “Well, just to be on the up and up…” Toby pointed at his eyes, and then at the patrol car. “Shotgun.”

  Cliff nodded. “Sure. But she called it first, so you have to share.”

  “Say what?”

  “I reported in while you were packing. Joy of joys, there’s feds now, and they want you there ASAP. I got clearance to get you there ASAP. It would be a bumpy ride in the back.” He opened the door and waited.

  “Uh-huh…”

  Claire shrugged and climbed in first. She wasn’t that much smaller than Toby. There was room for both of them… barely.

  As soon as the wheels hit the street Cliff picked up the radio. “Package inbound.”

  Toby leaned forward a bit to look across the cab. “ ‘Package?’ I can’t be ‘The Eagle’ or something badass?”

  Cliff ignored him.

  Toby sat back. “ASAP, huh? We going to run some red lights?”

  “Probably.” Cliff flipped on the lights and siren.

  It was much quieter inside than Toby would have thought.

  The trip downtown might have taken an hour or two based on the traffic, but Cliff had them there in twenty six minutes. He had a stopwatch.

  “I don’t think I have ever had motion sickness before.” Toby had a death grip on the door handle and the “Oh shit” handle over his head.

  Cliff scoffed.

  The building Brave New World Entertainment was set up in wasn’t strictly their space. It was an office building amongst a number of identical buildings, but this building did seem to be for their sole use. Theirs was the only name on the outside.

  Good thing, too. The parking lot was crammed with vehicles. In addition to all the random cars that would belong to employees, there were cop cars, a cop van, nondescript black vans, and a few unmarked cars that had portable law enforcement lights stuck to the top.

  Cliff pulled up to the entryway and stopped the car. “Damn. Don’t think I’ve had this much trouble in a parking lot on duty before. Take him inside, would you?” He nodded to the door. “I’ll be behind you… eventually.”

  Claire nodded to the door handle. “Of course. Thanks, Cliff.”

  “Hey, no big deal. Nice to spend the evening with people that aren’t drunk and disorderly now and then.”

  Toby pulled the door handle. “I resent that, I am quite disorderly.”

  “No arguments here. Get out of my car.”

  Claire rolled her eyes as she followed Toby out. “Thanks again.” She waved.

  Cliff gave her a nod. His car rolled away as soon as they shut the door.

  Toby rubbed at his left arm. He had been crammed up against Claire the entire ride over. “Closer than I usually try to get on a first date.” He grumbled under his breath.

  “Tell me about it.” Claire shook her head and started for the door. She was digging around in her pockets. “Was afraid you’d cracked my phone a few times there.” Her hand came out of the pocket holding her badge. “Besides, you’re not my type.”

  He blinked a few times. He had meant it as a joke. “I mean, I could change. What’s your type?”

  She waved the badge past a sensor outside the door. It beeped and the door made an audible click. “Not smartasses.”

  He sighed and hung his head. “That’s the one thing I can never be.”

  She pulled the door open and pointed. “Inside now. Continue chewing on your foot later.”

  The interior was downright boring. Off white walls. A tile floor of nearly the same drab color. Paintings of flowers and an old barn. Boring. The only interesting detail was the cop standing just inside that nodded when Claire showed him her badge.

  “This him?”

  “That’s him.”

  The cop grabbed the radio hooked to his shoulder. “He’s here.” He didn’t move to follow them. His eyes swung back to the parking lot outside.

  Toby lifted his chin. “I think you mean, ‘The Eagle had landed.’ “

  The cop raised an eyebrow.

  Claire started walking and Toby followed her in. She didn’t lead him very far. They stopped at the first elevator bank and she pressed the button. One of the doors behind them opened. She pressed the button for the fourth floor once they were inside.

  Toby stood against the back wall. “Gotta admit, getting a bit… antsy about all the fuzz.”

  “Fuzz? Really? Nobody says that.”

  “I says that.” He shrugged. “Okay, that’s the first time I’ve said it. Still applies. It’s… weird.”

  She turned her eyes to the elevator doors. “It’s nothing personal. They aren’t here for you. In fact they’re here to keep you, and us, safe.”

  Toby frowned. “This is really that big of a deal?”

  The door opened on the forth floor. Claire stepped out and nodded to the left as she started walking.

  “Miller said he had dangerous friends. There was an explosion a few moments later to punctuate his claim. So we contacted the police and it turns out he’s gotten himself quite the list of things they want to question him about. His willingness to set off explosives in the city upped the situation from a potential threat to a standing one. Hence the ‘Fuzz’ presence.”

  “So they’re on this then. They’ve got it covered, right?”

  “Somewhat. They’re getting people involved in the search for Miller all over the country now, but the focus here is on us.”

  “Because we’re team distraction.”

  She nodded a she waved her badge at a nondescript door with another sensor. “More or less. Keep him occupied and not doing anything crazy. Not to mention… we do have our own angle, here.”

  “Right.”

  The door beeped and opened slightly. “Oh, one other thing. When all of this is over you’ll need to sign an NDA.”

  “NDA?”

  “Non disclosure agreement. We are still a tech company and industrial espionage is a thing. You might be an elaborate plant.”

  “Wow. I’m relived that you’re unconcerned enough about the situation for that to still be a priority.”

  She shrugged. “Just business. We have to look beyond today.”

  The room on the other side was crawling with people. People in uniforms, people in suits, people very specifically not in suits. The ones that stood out were in t-shirts and sandals.

  Claire waved across the room. A few of the more slacker looking types waved back or nodded.

  Toby was lead through the crowd of very official and v
ery intentionally not official looking people to the back where the other people had congregated.

  She inclined her head in his direction. “Tobin Ironblood.”

  The man standing at the head of the group looked familiar… Toby’s eyes eidened. He was the armored man from the game. He looked the same, sans the armor of course. His face, hair, and beard were all but identical. He gave a nod.

  “Paul Stiles. CEO of Brave New World. Sorry to disrupt your day like this.”

  Toby stared ahead and blinked a few times. He’d been short with this man in the game earlier. He’d even refused a command. From the CEO. From a guy that probably made more so far this year than he would make in his lifetime.

  He held up a hand in a weak wave. “Toby Morant. How’s it going?”

  “Not great.” Paul looked around the room. “All this nonsense with Miller… and now this.” He raised his chin, pointing it at the clusters of people in the room. “And you’re only a part of this because it amused Miller to make you a part of it.” He shook his head. “Again, my apologies.”

  “Hey, no big. Happy to help, if I can.”

  Paul nodded. “Good. Because you will. We’ve got a station set up for you in the pit. These people have their job to do, but right now we have ours as well.” He started walking and waved for them to follow. The others dressed like it was laundry day starting moving, so Toby moved with them.

  Claire moved up to walk beside Paul. “How are things going here?”

  “We managed to get the websites and forums down. Miller had access and we couldn’t lock him out, so the next best thing was to call the service provider. Then we set all the members on staff who were not logged in to working on a grassroots campaign to get support for our side. Fan site forums, social media outlets, the works. Places we can talk to the fan base without Miller getting a word in. We couldn’t point out what he did without risking his finger on some damned doomsday button… but we made a case for supporting the empire we need to build.”