Grinding in-game and out, Thorne thought. Though probably blowing off steam as well. He was still angry about Maximus. Angry Nassus had baited him into such a stupid duel. Angry that he’d damn near gotten himself killed and hurt the whole damn team. Thorne had made sure he was aware of that. Titus had understood and apologized, but the anger was far from gone. Presently, he was working it out through physical exertion, but that didn’t mean he was letting it go. No, if she was a gambler, she’d wager he was set on getting back at Maximus.
As long as he keeps focused on the bigger picture and doesn’t push himself too hard. With how much everyone had been grinding in-game, and how little sleep they’d been getting because of it, it was important they all stayed as sharp as possible. Needed to keep clear minds.
Probably I should take a bit of my own advice.
She’d exhausted herself delivering a physical copy of the database to Dawson. Really, it’d been a simple task, taking the van back to the edge of the city then hiding the database and sending him a message with instructions on where to find it. Nonetheless, she’d been looking over her shoulder the whole time, and the exhaustion of that sort of paranoia didn’t go away quickly. But she had to power through.
Zelda was a good example. An absolute workaholic. Between grinding, eating, and finding time to sleep, she used what little time she had left to scour Bernstein’s database. It seemed her sole focus.
There’s a reason these three have gotten as far as they have, Thorne reminded herself. Zelda’s knowledge. Kaiden’s perseverance. Titus’ strength and connections. And now, my knowledge of the Party, she told herself. It’s enough to be a winning combination. I know it.
“Crackdown’s still on,” Kaiden said from the far side of the room where he was slung across a chair and reading the news from his handheld console. “Curfew’s stricter than ever and arrests are rising.”
Good news. Well, not because more arrests are good, but if the Party is tightening their grip, clamping down on freedoms, it means they’re worried.
“How are the people reacting?” Thorne asked. “If the Party’s putting more pressure on them, they’re doing us a favor. Add pressure to a closed system and it’s only a matter of time before it explodes.”
“Doesn’t say. The only information’s on what the Party’s doing ‘in the interest of preserving a safe and prosperous society.’”
“Makes sense,” Thorne said with a nod. And it did. “Any attention the Party gives to dissidence only encourages more of it. They’ll keep it quiet as long as possible.”
“Or there’s just no dissidence to report on,” Titus said, pausing mid-crunch.
“There’s always been dissidence,” she said, glancing at him. “We were just good at covering it up.”
Titus shrugged, then returned to his workout.
“Something else here,” Kaiden said. “Sources from within NextGen Games leaked that there’s some sort of spat going on between them and the Party?”
“Oh?” Now that’s interesting.
Zelda perked up at that too, still reading something in the database, but turning an ear toward Kaiden nonetheless.
“An anonymous source, allegedly an employee of NextGen, claims that Party officials have been pressuring the company in ways that ‘violate the sovereignty of NextGen digital properties, including our flagship game, Nova Online.’” Kaiden paused after reading the quote, then furrowed his brow. “What’s that about?” But Thorne already knew the answer.
“Moran,” she said. “He’s always hated that NextGen has sole ownership over Nova. Not so much because he cares about the game, but because of what the ownership of it represents: weakness on the Party’s part. Nova was – is – a thorn in their side. With the crackdown, the curfew, and who knows what else, it makes sense he’d push harder on Nova too.”
“Especially considering he’s searching for us in there,” Zelda said, finally looking up from the database. “That run-in with – what was his name? Werner? That run-in with Werner seems evidence enough that Moran realizes we’re hidden well away in the real world, at least for now. Doesn’t mean he’ll stop looking for us – we all know he’ll do nothing of the sort – but probably he realizes his best chance of catching us – or more specifically, capturing the digital copy of the database – is in-game.”
Thorne nodded at all of that.
“Exactly. Moran’s gonna push harder and harder until he gets what he wants. A curfew, more arrests, pressure on NextGen to hand over authority of Nova – they’re all part of the bigger plan. All designed to stop us.” Thorne paused, then frowned. She’d realized all of this before now, but hadn’t put it into so many words. Hadn’t given voice to the thought. Now that she did, though, she knew there was something she’d missed.
“Werner mentioned having multiple accounts,” she said, thinking on that.
“Said he had others power-leveling them for him,” Kaiden said, nodding. “Honestly, it makes sense. If we had more time, I’d suggest we do the same.”
Thorne leaned forward, resting her arms on her knees.
“That’s just it, though. We don’t have time. That’s what concerns me.” She looked around at all of them.
“I... don’t follow,” Kaiden said.
“We don’t have any time to waste, right? So if you were trying to stop us, what would you do?”
Titus sat up from the floor, breathing heavy from working out, and shrugged.
“Waste our time. Delay us.”
Thorne nodded. “And how best to do that?”
“Short of catching us in the real world,” Zelda said slowly, “I’d try to kill us in-game. That buys a week at a time.”
“Exactly. And they’ve tried and will continue to try. But what else can they do? What would delay us even more than killing us in-game?”
When no one responded, Thorne answered her own question.
“Taking our accounts, guys. Remember when
