Chapter 015

  Knives In

  Ethan exhaled, leaned back against the brick wall, and relaxed his shoulders, once again glad he hadn't reached level three yet.

  After only a minute, he hurried away from the alley, Stalvek's cruel plans still heavy on his mind. His heart pounded a frantic rhythm as his feet splashed in pools of collected rainwater.

  It was just before noon, and the weather wasn't letting up one bit.

  On the way to Samuel's office, he thought about what to tell the man. He'd just learned a bombshell from the other player that had the potential to change everything.

  Ethan needed a new plan, since the original one had been to tell the detective everything he'd seen and discovered about The Bleeker Building. It was what the mission had asked him to do, after all.

  Now that Stalvek had told him The Cortez Family was using The Bleeker Building as a trap, he had a decision to make. Did he want to slip that bit of information to Samuel or conveniently leave it out?

  Weighing the options as he trudged along, he knew either path would lead to complications. That was fine.

  Telling Samuel about the trap might earn him some loyalty within the gang, and it would help secure his protection going into level three. Part of the whole reason he'd joined was so other players might hesitate before attacking him. He'd even managed to talk Jason into joining The Green Fists.

  If the gang knew ahead of time what The Cortez Family was up to, they wouldn't send dozens or hundreds of their people into The Bleeker Building in some stupid attack, just for them to die. All those lives wouldn't be wasted on a doomed scenario, and The Green Fists wouldn't take a huge blow to their numbers.

  Ethan and Jason could still benefit from the protection of being in the gang.

  Not telling Samuel was another option, but also a gamble. What if he already knew or at least had a suspicion, of the trap? By not telling the detective, the man might lose faith in him.

  Then again, if The Green Fists took a severe blow to their numbers, it might put them on an equal playing field with the other two gangs. The Cortez Family and The Borrells might band together and try to make some kind of final move in a turf war that inevitably took over the entire district.

  In such a scenario, he might be able to lay low with Jason for a while as the gangs all killed each other. But honestly, he reasoned with himself, he had no idea what would happen in that power vacuum. The whole place could get worse for him, and on top of that, he wasn't sure what happened if he tried to leave The Green Fists.

  With only a block left before he reached Samuel Donovan's office, he made a choice. Ethan would tell the detective everything required for the mission, that way he could get the reward.

  In addition, he would relay what Stalvek had let slip about The Bleeker Building being nothing but a trap. Everything he'd spied and made note of at the place had been done by the enemy deliberately in a bid to lure a bunch of The Greenies to their deaths.

  He rounded the corner onto Whitaker and saw the office up ahead. Within a minute, he was there, and he didn't hesitate to push the door open.

  Samuel looked up sharply as Ethan burst in, soaking wet, his chest heaving. The old man's brow furrowed at his disheveled, wet appearance.

  "Jones? What in the hell happened to you? You look like a wet noodle that's just seen a ghost!"

  He waved away the man's concern and tried to shake off some of the rain.

  "Stalvek… he cornered me after I left The Bleeker Building," Ethan said as he caught his breath. "I'm fine though, the anti-grieving kicked in before the guy could do anything."

  Samuel's expression darkened at the mention of Stalvek's name. Ethan was waved over to take a seat across from the man, the old battered desk between them still covered in paperwork.

  "Tell me everything. Don't leave out a single detail."

  So he did. He launched into a full account. The patrols he'd mapped out, and the faces he'd memorized coming and going. Samuel listened intently, scribbling notes as Ethan talked about Frick and the other henchmen.

  When he finished relaying The Cortez Family's rotation patterns, he paused, allowing the detective to get everything scribbled down.

  "There's... a couple more things," he said, feeling a bit nervous for some reason. "There was this big black shiny roadster that pulled up. Some thin guy dressed in all black, scars covering his face, got out of the vehicle. I couldn't identify a name. He went in, and then never came back out. Then another guy showed up, a big beefy man named Barristimo."

  Donovan's pen stilled, his expression inscrutable. For a long moment, he said nothing, seemingly lost in thought as he processed the information. Finally, he let out a low sigh, tossing the quill down on the desk.

  "I had a feeling that might be the case," he admitted grimly. "Sounds like The Cortez Family are having a big meetup. It very well could be an excellent time to attack them. If we can take out even half their leadership, then maybe we can convince them to leave The Grims to us."

  The man's steely gaze bore into Ethan as he said the words, confirming what he'd been thinking. The Green Fists had been thinking about attacking. Before he could move on to that next important bit of information, Samuel continued with a smirk.

  "Sounds like Hugo, based on your description. Hadn't seen that guy in a while."

  He asked, "is that normal? All the scars I mean?"

  The detective nodded, "yeah. It's a thing, but I don't want to get into that right now. Hugo… he's a bit of an animal. Most of their high ranking members are. Don't think too much about it."

  Ethan nodded, allowing Samuel to make a few more notes above and around all the scribbling he'd already done.

  "Well, anyway kid, it looks like you did good with all this. We have a lot more intel now and maybe we can start planning our…"

  He cut the man off with the wave of his hand. "There's something else."

  "Yeah? Well, spit it out then!"

  Ethan smirked, but jumped right in, telling him what Stalvek had let slip. Trying to keep it verbatim, he repeated it word for word to the best of his memory.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "Stalvek likes to hear his own voice, and he said this to me by accident. He said, 'We've been running in and out of that place for weeks, building up the image that it's our new headquarters. In reality, it's nothing but a trap. As soon as a bunch of Green Fists walk in, BOOM! The whole thing's gonna blow! They'll never know what hit them!'"

  Samuel's eyes were wide, his mouth hanging open in surprise. It was the first time Ethan had seen the man stunned before.

  "So…" Ethan stammered awkwardly, "I guess if I were you, I wouldn't plan on attacking unless you work all that into your plan."

  The detective still didn't say much, but he had at least closed his mouth and picked the quill back up. He started writing even as he talked.

  "Damn… We'll have to be extra cautious from here on out. Can't take any chances until we have more intel, but you did good kid. That's some really good stuff. I don't know how trustworthy this Stalvek guy's words can be, but we definitely can't discount it!"

  Ethan nodded, glad that he'd passed along the information.

  After writing for a bit, Samuel looked up, his face void of any humor. "Well, I guess I owe you what's rightfully yours now, don't I, kid?"

  "I hope so," he said.

  The detective smirked, then reached into his desk and pulled out some cash. He counted out a bunch of bills and then plopped them down on the desk. The man didn't remove his hand at first, and instead just eyed him.

  "Don't say I was never honest 'bout payouts, kid. You get my drift?"

  Ethan nodded, the weight of the situation settling over him like a heavy blanket. He'd accomplished the mission and then provided even more than the detective had expected.

  "Thank you, sir."

  The detective gave him a grunt as he picked up the money and counted it while leaving. At the front door, he paused for a second before exiting.

  Samuel had given given him fifty dollars in cash. It still sounded cheap, but then he remembered how cheap everything was in the game. Part of that may have been due to the Fair Pricing modifier he might soon learn the details of, but still, Ethan suddenly felt rich.

  He pocketed the cash, his wallet now reflecting fifty two dollars and sixty five cents.

  Standing outside in the rain, he let out a deep breath as notifications started rolling in.

  Mission Complete: The Bleeker Building - You completed all parts of a mission for Samuel Donovan.

  Current Progress: 100%

  +800 XP

  You have 2,600 XP total

  !! You have leveled up !!

  Congratulations! You are now level 2

  You need 1,050 more XP to reach level 3

  A small thrill of accomplishment ran through him. He had just filled up his wallet and leveled up in the same moment.

  Tons of talking and pointless wandering around the city suddenly felt worth it. He had a small high, despite the wet weather.

  Another notification popped up.

  Unlocked Socials - You can now view all your connections in a new screen that combines details from your own profile, your affiliations, and your known lore. You can now send and receive postage and team up with others to accomplish tasks.

  +200 XP

  You have 2,800 XP total

  You need 850 more XP to reach level 3

  He didn't waste any time in pulling up the new screen. It looked like a basic friends and enemies list, including all his known NPCs and players. Beside each name was a color indicating his status with that individual, and below each name was their level, title, rank and affiliation, status, and last known whereabouts.

  Quickly skimming through it, he found over a dozen names already listed there. Knowing he had a new talent list incoming on his notifications, he didn't waste too much time, but he did want to look at three names right away.

  Jason McArthur

  Level 3, no title, Associate in The Green Fists, Healthy, Last seen in The Green Yards at Ms. Harmon's residence before going to speak with Samuel Donovan.

  Mia Haoyu

  Level 2, no title, no affiliation chosen, Healthy, Last seen outside Samuel Donovan's before going to find Lantern's Pharmacy.

  Stalvek Dyomin

  Level 4, Shadowman, D-class Goon in The Cortez Family, Healthy, Last seen in an alleyway between Whitaker and Broadmore.

  The new screen also showed him a faded, nearly invisible postage letter. Next to it was a small zero, indicating he currently had no postage waiting for him anywhere.

  "Interesting," he said, noting that the system broke its own fourth wall by notifying players they had postage they couldn't possibly know about without checking manually. "Everything can't be realistic, I guess."

  Next to each of the player names he also found a few options. All of Stalvek's were faded out, apparently indicating that he couldn't interact with enemies.

  Jason's name had an open invitation to join him. Ethan selected the option, but received a prompt telling him he had to be near the other player in order to accept.

  Moving on to Mia's options, he clicked on an option to invite Mia to join him. Once again, he received a prompt informing him he had to be near the other player.

  All that, he discovered, was useful information, but he had other things to do. He closed out the new social screen he'd just received, and in came the new talent notification.

  Opening up the talent screen, he was greeted by his existing points.

  Awareness: [ 1 ]

  Handy: [ 2 ]

  Negotiator: [ 2 ] [ +1 ]

  Below the points he already had, the screen displayed his new generated options, each with their own descriptions:

  Occult

  Unlock dark secrets as you delve deep. Peer beyond the veil of reality to glimpse the unseen forces lurking in the city's darkest areas. Discover more about the underworld and the forces of darkness with each point invested.

  Knives

  Wield knives like a professional, able to identify, and otherwise master the art of knife-fighting and knife-throwing. This includes all shurikens and ninja stars, kunai blades, and any handled daggers or knives with blades under 12". Mastery over knives increases with each point.

  Driving

  Develop vehicle operation and evasion skills. From high-speed chases to controlled getaways, mastery over various vehicles increases with each point.

  Ethan frowned, considering the three choices as he weighed their usefulness. Once again, he was presented with three options he liked.

  He wondered if every single talent point would require such a focused decision, or if he was just nervous about making a wrong choice. He still didn't see any way to undo any points if he felt like he made a mistake down the line.

  His instinct told him to go with Knives, but both of the other options seemed just as useful, with Occult being right up there.

  Based only on his experiences so far, Ethan had been unable to read the stats on any item he'd picked up or looked at. The description of the Knives talent said that it would allow him to identify them.

  He could only guess that this meant it provided him with the necessary knowledge to innately understand small blades. Probably in the same way he knew how to fix things, but still not be a walking talking expert, or at least not at first.

  Thinking along those lines, he figured there had to be a talent in the system named something like Tools or Hardware, that would grant something similar to Knives. Following on from that logic, he then wondered why the system had given him the Negotiator talent instead of Tools.

  Shrugging, he chalked it up to the system recognizing how indecisive and contemplative his mind typically worked. In a game like this, that way of thinking had already hindered his ability to start off strong like some of the other players.

  Ethan also considered the ramifications of not choosing the Knives talent right now. It was the first one he'd seen that directly applied to any type of fighting or defense. That alone should have answered any question whether he needed to pick it or not.

  Going with Occult or Driving would leave him talented, but ultimately unable to defend himself once level three came around. There was no guarantee he would get another fighting option then.

  Knowing he would ultimately pick Knives he relaxed a bit, but still briefly studied the other two.

  He definitely wanted and needed Occult at some point if he truly wanted to fight vampires and whatever other horrors existed in the shadows.

  All the painted graffiti and symbols he'd seen tagged on various walls seemed like gibberish, but he knew there was meaning behind them. He'd also passed by several book stores and shops trading in items that looked like they were used in combination with the Occult talent.

  Driving sounded cool, but of the three options, it had always been the least likely for him to pick. Even with a fresh stack of cash, he assumed he couldn't afford a vehicle, and had no need to drive long distances yet. It probably also started off by restricting the player to bicycles and scooters, just based on the wording of it.

  Ethan knew he would have plenty of time to learn about all the evils that existed and also how to drive, so he held his breath for some reason and selected Knives.

  New Talent: Knives - You now have the ability to wield knives with skill. You can identify, and master the art of knife-fighting and knife-throwing. This includes all shurikens and ninja stars, kunai blades, and any handled daggers or knives with blades under 12". Mastery over knives increases with each point.

  +100 XP

  You have 2,900 XP total

  You need 750 more XP to reach level 3