“You know what’s weird?” Lilli said suddenly, sitting up in bed. “It’s been bugging me all day.”
“What?”
“Admiral Appleby. He didn’t seem like a bad guy. I mean, certainly not the type of bad guy you’d find in a movie. If anything, he seemed nice. Like a regular old grandpa. A little weird, maybe—but certainly not the type who would kidnap someone and hold them in his game.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not like this is a Marvel movie or something,” I reasoned. “I mean, no one just goes and acts like a supervillain in real life. Otherwise you’d never get away with your evil plan, right?”
“I suppose,” Lilli said, though she didn’t sound totally convinced. “Anyway,” she added. “It was fun to play today. It’s been way too long since we played anything.”
I nodded. “Yeah,” I agreed. “It was fun…”
Suddenly my mind flashed to a particular moment on the street that hadn’t been so fun. Atreus looming in front of me. Teeth bared. Stomach warming with fire. Had he really been there, in the game? Or was it just my freaked-out imagination again? I honestly couldn’t tell. Which made it even more terrifying.
I thought about mentioning it to Lilli, then decided against it. If it was all in my head, which, let’s face it, it probably was, it’d be way too embarrassing. I mean, the two of us had gone through the exact same experience in Dragon Ops, and she came out completely fine.
While I was still seeing dragons everywhere I went.
I let out a small moan. Stop thinking about it, Ian! I scolded myself. But that was easier said than done. What if Atreus had truly tracked me down in Mech Ops? What if he was there, even now, waiting for me to log back in? After months of avoiding him, was I about to willingly step into his line of fire?
Do you want to play again?
But in the end, I knew I had no choice. Ikumi was in there, trapped. And we were her only hope of getting free. And that meant I had to go forward. I had to play this game. And if Atreus did find us inside? Well, I’d have to deal with him, too. We’d fought him once and won. We could do it again.
Maybe…
At least we weren’t totally alone. Yano was going to meet us in-game. When I’d first gotten back from Mech Ops, I’d sent the account information we’d been given directly to Ikumi’s message account on Fields of Fantasy, as the dragon guide had instructed. This would allow him to log in and meet up with us in-game. So we’d have one dragon on our side, at the very least.
Though could Yano take Atreus in a fight?
Hopefully we wouldn’t have to find out.
“You ready?” Lilli asked, peering at me expectantly.
I sighed. “As I’ll ever be,” I replied.
I pressed the On button on my helmet. It whirred to life, locked and loaded. I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed the Sync button.
And entered another world.
“Greetings, Mech Heads. And welcome to the end of the world.”
I opened my eyes. Lilli’s bedroom was gone. So were the headset and all the equipment. The real world altogether. Instead, I found myself standing in the middle of an abandoned warehouse that looked similar to—but definitely not the same as—the capture the orb event one.
It was a large, open two-story building, sunlight streaming through its half-collapsed roof. On the far wall were a number of windows, most of them smashed. And the cement ground was stained with crusty browns and suspicious-looking reds. Plopped down in the center of the room was a huge shipping crate about the size of a train car with rusted edges, surrounded by a trash heap of rotted-out cardboard boxes, muddy piles of cloth, and rusty parts that could have come from a car or a tractor—maybe a man-eating robot? Let’s just say it was a depressing scene.
But, hey! There was no killer AI dragon in sight, so that was a bonus.
There was, however, a robot. Rocky the Robot, to be precise. He was trotting toward Lilli and me, a big grin on his goofy mechanical face.
“Welcome, beta testers!” he greeted us enthusiastically. “We are so happy to have you join our little team! We’ve taken every detail into consideration to make this game the best you’ve ever played. So if there’s anything I can do to make your experience more fun—please don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Maybe some maid service to start?” Lilli suggested breezily, nodding to the piles of trash. “I mean, just saying.”
“Ha ha ha!” Rocky laughed loudly. His laugh was hollow and forceful and, well, a little unsettling, to be honest. “That’s a joke!” he exclaimed. “I love jokes! Especially apocalyptic jokes. I make apocalyptic jokes like there’s no tomorrow!” He paused, looking at us expectantly. “Get it? Apocalypse? No tomorrow? ’Cause it’s the end of the world, and there’s—”
“No tomorrow,” I finished for him. “Good one. Hilarious.”
Wow. If I really was beta testing this game, I’d have to make a note on this guy. Not funny at all.
“Anyway.” Rocky cleared his throat and straightened his shoulders. “Before I let you out into the game, I just want to update you on a few simple rules. Are you ready to hear them?”
“Go for it, dude.”
“Very well. Rule number one: Mech Ops is a fully immersive VR experience. Which means you will feel as if you’re really here—in the flesh, in your real body. Everything you do will seem real. And all five senses will be engaged. If you eat an irradiated rat, it will taste bad. If you breathe in toxic fumes, you will pass out. If you impale yourself on a sharp spike, you will bleed. If you are blasted by a laser-wielding robot, you will die. But through it all, your body—your real-life body—will remain safe and sound back wherever you left it. Assuming you left it somewhere safe and sound and not in
