“He makes the monsters run obstacle courses?”
“He makes players run the obstacle courses... while trying not to get eaten by the monsters.”
Huh. Kind of like Marty’s arena, maybe a bit more sadistic. Does sound kind of cool, though…
“Really, I don’t know who would tune in to watch it,” Zelda said. “People are weird.”
“Oh, yeah. Totally.” Kaiden nodded profusely. “I don’t know who would want to watch that.”
“Anyway,” Zelda said. “Bernstein seems to think the guy is important. Says here: ‘Odditor lives up to his name. An odd fellow, to be sure, but one with numerous connections. On top of the guilds he runs (link), I believe he’s also a member of The Syndicate (link), and a highly ranking one at that. Perhaps even a founding member.’” Zelda cut Titus off as he tried to speak. “I know what you’re going to ask, but the links are broken. There’s been a few like that throughout the database. Stuff Bernstein didn’t finish, I guess. It’s possible he hadn’t finished this database before he got caught. Probably, it was never meant to be totally completed, but was continuously growing as he learned more.”
“What’s ‘The Syndicate?’” Titus asked.
“More folklore, but this time it’s nonsense,” Thorne said. “We always heard rumors about ‘The Syndicate’ in the Corps. They’re supposed to be some secret group of powerful players. Puppet masters, pulling strings behind the scenes.” She laughed. “They’re just a myth the criminal NPCs prattle on about when they get caught, which has got the players thinking they’re real. There’s no evidence to support any of it.”
“Maybe they’re just really good at staying quiet,” Titus said with a shrug. “That’s the smart way to run an operation.”
“If there was a secret group of powerful players running things behind the scenes, the Warden Corps would know about it.”
“Well, you’re not going to like the last name on this list, then,” Zelda said, frowning at Thorne.
Having seen the database on the flight over, Kaiden knew what came next.
“The Syndicate,” he said.
Titus laughed and Thorne rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, okay. Well go ahead and strike that one off the list,” she said. “We’ll brainstorm a different faction to replace them. Maybe even to replace all of these, if necessary. There’s still a chance none of these people are crazy enough to join us.”
“Bernstein said these were the best options,” Zelda said. “We need to listen to him. He’s gotten us this far.”
“We’ve gotten us this far,” Titus said.
Zelda looked offended. “With essential help from Bernstein.”
“I’m sure that’s the case,” Thorne said, focusing on Zelda. “But all I’m saying is everyone is fallible. Everyone makes mistakes. We can’t just take Bernstein at his word during every step of the process. There needs to be room to adapt, to change as circumstances dictate.”
“That sounds like a whole lot of uncertainty to me,” Zelda fired back. “Bernstein knew what he was doing.”
“Bernstein’s dead,” Thorne snapped, then winced. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
But Zelda was red in the face, nostrils flared.
“He’s dead because of the Party. Because of your Party.”
“We’ve all made mistakes. I’m owning up to mine and doing something about them.” Thorne spoke calmly, precisely, but there was clearly a restrained anger beneath the surface. “And I’m not about to let this plan fail because of some blind devotion to the memory of a man. A smart man, undoubtedly, but we have to trust ourselves to make the right decisions going forward.”
“You sure bring up ‘trust’ a lot for someone who still worked for the Party less than a week ago.”
Thorne clenched one hand into a fist, then exhaled a long breath through her nose.
“Guys!” Kaiden shouted before she could stoke the fire anymore. “Calm down.” He gave Thorne a long look, then a similar one to Zelda. “This is stressful. Believe me, I know. This plan is damn near impossible. But it is a plan. A way forward. With the Party crackdown going on outside and the manhunt for us all not slowing down anytime soon, we don’t have time to spend here bickering.” He tried to soften his tone. “There’s a ton of stuff up in the air still. I get it. But the framework Bernstein set up is our best place to start,” he said, nodding toward Zelda. “Even if we need to adjust on the fly.” He turned to Thorne. “But we’ll discuss and agree on those decisions as they arise.”
Thorne gave a stiff nod at that.
“Good,” Kaiden said. He took a deep breath, then tried to shake the tension from his mind. “Guys, we can do this. I know we can. It’s not going to be easy, but when has it ever? We’ve made it this far, right?” He gave a small smile, hoping someone would join him. Titus, at least, gave a small nod. The big man had been locked out of the game for a week and was eager to jump back it, despite the daunting task ahead.
“Then let’s get to work. We need to log back in, group up, and get this plan going.” He clapped his hands together, trying to get them excited. “So, who’s ready? Let’s go kick some ass!”
Thorne held up a finger.
“That’s all well and good – and I’m all for it. There’s just one small complication.”
Kaiden frowned as she spoke.
“The last time I logged off was on the Anakoni, surrounded by wardens. When I get back in-game, there’s a good chance there’s going to be a welcoming party waiting for me – and not the happy sort.”
Chapter Six
“Remember, if you don’t hear from me within an hour, I’ve likely been Shackled. One of you will need to log out and disconnect my headset, otherwise I’ll be stuck in
