Metropolis - Goldilocks: Capsule Bay 57 - Unit 4

Tuesday, May 12th, 2089 | 8:05am

Aya’s throat grew dry and no words came to answer the tall man’s question. She was lodged in the small crevice in the dungeon’s wall. Her mouth was hanging open, giving her the look of guilt itself, when his friends joined him. Things were not looking good for her. She briefly considered of her Stealth skill, but she quickly pushed the thought aside.

Instead of hiding and looking suspicious, especially in front of a group of five people she would definitely not be able to escape from, she forced her frozen limbs into movement and went out into the open. Their gear was a lot nicer than she was used to seeing, especially when compared to the players she’d cleared the dungeon with. Having just that morning been around pure metal, quality goods, she recognized that that was exactly what theirs was.

The small imperfections and discolorations of normal-quality equipment were completely missing from their gear and the craftsmanship was detailed. Xavier had been upset when she’d been unable to distinguish good from great. Apparently the connections, where one piece of metal met the other, were what distinguished the good from the truly great craftsmen.

Unlike with most players, she couldn’t just guess at their levels according to their gear. If she did, she would end up guessing too high. Their gear was fitting for players above level 20, but those players wouldn’t have bother with a dungeon of this level. She attributed their nice gear to Serving Time’s monopoly of the weapons market in Durrenheim and that eliminated all doubts about whether or not she was dealing with the guild’s players.

“Hi…” Aya said, trying and failing not to sound suspicious.

“Who are you?” barked the only female of the group. Aya couldn’t understand the woman’s immediate aggression towards her. She was an elf of some sort and her features were beautiful, even exaggeratedly so in some areas. Aya had seen a general penchant towards the beautification of avatars but she’d never seen one so outlandishly overdone.

The woman’s waist was tiny, her ass… wasn’t. Her general physique was slim, her chest… wasn’t. She used her elven physique to her advantage, making her legs and arms exaggeratedly long. Her face was narrow but her lips were full. She looked like every man’s wet dream. It wasn’t surprising she was alone in a group of men, and when Aya saw the glare the woman was directing toward her convict mark, she understood.

Somehow, the woman had registered her as competition. Aya had noticed the overwhelming majority of male convicts in the game. Furia had also had her own entourage, though it was smaller in size. Aya looked down at her flat chest and small stature and couldn’t understand why the woman felt threatened by her; she looked like a little kid!

“I was just clearing the dungeon with some friends, but they all died…” Aya said, jumping into conversation before they started interrogating her. “I’m so glad I came across you guys, I’ve been sneaking around from Slither group to Slither group, but it’s taken me hours just to get this far.”

Aya watched their expressions carefully and was pleasantly surprised when three of the male convicts seemed to buy her story. One was a mage in dark red robes while the other two were clad in chainmail and metal plating, very similar to the first warrior she’d seen. The tall warrior and the elven woman weren’t buying it, though, wearing open expressions of suspicion and distrust.

“Well, I guess I’ll just be on my way now…” Aya said, trying to get away before they found out who she was, if they didn’t already know.

She took one step, then two and three until the elf suddenly grabbed her arm and yanked it back.

“What did you say your name was?” she demanded harshly.

Aya almost blurted out a fake name but decided against it. In her search through the classes, she’d seen skills that let you see a person’s levels and stats, including name. At the lowish level the players were at, they would at most be able to tell if she was lying or not, but it would be enough to arouse unnecessary suspicion.

“Aya,” she replied carefully, watching their expressions.

She still didn’t know if they already knew her name. From what she had heard, they weren’t even sure the person in charge of the Nelson’s operation was a girl. Trying to keep the worry from her face, she smiled and asked, “What about you?”

“Sympatico,” said the shortest of the three warriors. Aya had a strong suspicion he was actually a dwarf but found it hard to judge, being so short herself.

“Snyde,” said the brown haired, clean-shaven human with no distinguishing features other than a random Mohawk.

The female elf glared at the two before turning to Aya and saying, “You with Jailbait? I haven’t seen you around…” She looked her up and down through slitted eyes, as if squinting at her would reveal her innermost motivations.

“No… I haven’t been around long,” Aya said.

“No? You’re what? Level sixteen, seventeen?”

“… Fourteen.”

The woman arched a surprised eyebrow before her scowl deepened even further.

“Fourteen… That’s gotta be what?” she asked the tall warrior. “Ninety? A hundred Era hours?”

“At the very least,” the baritone replied.

“And that’s what? Twenty real world hours?”

The tall warrior nodded, responding like a puppet to all of the elf woman’s words.

“So… Ten days…”

“At the very least,” the baritone added again.

The elf looked Aya up and down before adding. “But let’s just say fifteen in your case.”

Aya felt insulted, but there wasn’t much she could say. It had actually taken her over forty-three real-world hours to get where she was. If she had been in any other prison, it would have taken her over twenty days, two hours of Era a day, to get her where she was. Not to mention that normal prison convicts didn’t usually play on weekends. She’d seen exceptions to the rule, but they were usually prison-budget affiliated. Even as subsidized as they were, gaming capsules were expensive.

“That’s three weeks…” the elf continued. “How is it that I haven’t come across you yet? Durrenheim is not so big… unless of course…”

“I don’t go into town much…” Aya said, trying to stop whatever train of thought the woman was pursuing.

An uncomfortable silence followed where the mage, the dwarf and the two warriors just looked at the elf uncertainly. The tall human warrior was the only one that acted the convict part and rolled his eyes at the whole situation. Aya figured most of the criminals in the game were actually in for white collar crimes, which was why so many of them sucked up to other convict players.

Feeling the animosity and suspicion towards her grow, Aya watched her mana bar closely. It was unlikely that the Stealth Skill would put her in the clear, but it might buy her enough time for them to at consider her not worth the effort. Unfortunately, it chose that precise moment to go into another lull in recovery and the mana trickled in with painful slowness.

“If you’re not with Jailbait, and you’re not with Serving Time,” the elf finally said, “who are you with?”

“… No one,” Aya replied uncertainly.

“Perfect, then you can come with us,” the elf said flatly, without an ounce of doubt in her voice. It wasn’t a request, it was an order. Aya wasn’t the only one to notice; the tall human warrior looked with interest, for the first time, between Aya and the elf. “We were short a scout anyway…”

“But I’m—” Snyde began.

“A great warrior,” the elf interrupted.

“Yeah, man,” said the unnamed mage. “I’m sorry to break it to you, but you should’a worn something else, like leather, if you wanted to take point.”

The dwarf nodded emphatically, but the tall warrior and the elf just shook their heads in resignation.

“Let’s move,” the tall warrior said.

Aya hesitated for a second as the group seemed to suddenly take her participation for granted. She got a party invite a second later.

“I’m Aethelgrey,” said the tall warrior over his shoulder, already walking ahead of her in the same direction she’d just come from. “That’s Endoin,” he nodded to the elf. “That’s Fueller,” he nodded to the mage, “And Sympatico and Snyde you already know.”

Taken in by the group flow, Aya took a couple steps in their direction and was about to accept the invite when she stopped and said, “I really appreciate the invite and all, but I have to get back…”

“Why?” Endoin asked.

“Well, because I need to get back up to the surface…”

“Why, though? Your friends died,” Endoin said, still walking behind Aethelgrey. “And if you’ve been trying to get out for hours, like you said, then your time has got to be about over…”

“But I…” Aya almost told them she was in Goldilocks, with many more hours to go, but decided not to. She remembered Furia’s reaction all too vividly. There was definite resentment towards convicts who could play more than the two government-allotted hours.

Seeing Endoin’s expectant gaze, Aya held back a sigh and answered, “I guess you’re right.” The woman was eager for Aya to contradict her, but she decided it wasn’t the time or place.

Not having another choice, she accepted the invite and went dungeon crawling one more time. Working with a new group always revealed a different dynamic to the fighting, and having to fight without the use of her Stealth skill kept her busy for the next couple of Slither encounters. She was keeping a close eye on her mana bar. It was only half full, but when it completely recovered, she was already planning to run away.

She could slink away and leave the party while the others collected loot, and weren’t paying her any mind. Aya used her unusual loot collecting habits to set precedent, always lagging a little behind to collect the venom. She didn’t get to skin the Slithers herself - apparently their skins were becoming popular - but the venom kept her occupied enough at the rear that she didn’t raise suspicion. At first, she raised confusion, but she soon made up a story about a quest for Curina that seemed to settle them.

They continued in the same manner, killing Slither after Slither while Aya kept a close eye on her mana recovery. Her mana bar must have been a little over three quarters full when she noticed a significant increase in its recovery speed. Invigorated by the discovery, she went a little overboard in the next Slither fight. She took point, stalking the closest beast with as much stealth and precision that she could without actually using her Stealth skill. Her work must have been paying off because the snake didn’t even turn when she jumped on a rock and used it to propel herself towards the back of the Slither.

She tried pulling off the same move she had earlier, latching onto its back to sink the two mismatched blades into its ear holes before tearing its flesh open. She got a critical hit with Xavier’s blade, but the other lodged inside the Slither’s neck and the hilt broke off.

“Damn goblin blades,” she muttered under her breath as she finished slicing a Bleed with the other blade.

Solitary blade in hand, she jumped back and watched as her hit took over half of the Slither’s health. Aya was basking in the moment when she heard a low whistle. Bristling, she clenched her fists and turned around to see Aethelgrey unsheathe his sword for the fight against the other four Slithers.

“So that’s what happens when little mouse takes out her fangs…” he said with a crooked smile before finishing the kill with one blow.

The EXP from the Slither’s death leveled her to 15. She was only at 98% of the possible stat points for level 14, but she didn’t intend to explain her leveling method to the party. They thought she took the fast route to leveling and if she revealed the truth, she’d basically be divulging the fact that she played more than two hours a day. She wasn’t doing great progress in Goldilocks terms, but it was spectacular compared to convicts who could only play a fraction of what she did.

“Ah, I was wondering when you would level up…” Endoin said.

Their levels were all visible to each other because of the party system. Endoin had the highest level of all of them at a surprising 19, Fueller was at 18 and the other three were at 17. Aya thought Aethelgrey was the best of all of them. He wasn’t a full-out tank, but he had an interesting skill that let him make up for the fact. Instead of taking damage all at once, it was distributed throughout the next five minutes. It could be costly in long, drawn-out fights, but he used it to his advantage by using a quick slashing skill of some sort. His sword glowed slightly with mana each time he used it and Aya could tell it cut a lot deeper than his normal blows.

They were busy looting once more when Aya noticed her mana quickly approaching 100%. She crouched down near the furthest Slither, the first one she’d killed with the help of Aethelgrey and started the procedure of taking the venom out. Pretending to take out her waterskin, she fussed with her things while keeping an eye on the group. The moment they all looked away and she was about to activate her Stealth skill, Aethelgrey spoke up.

“You’re pretty good for your level, Mouse…” he said, looking directly at her.

Aya’s chance of escape was gone, she sighed and settled down for another wait. Her mana was full, though, and she’d be able to leave whenever the opportunity popped up.

“She obviously had an account before her stint…” Endoin said acidly.

Aya suspected the woman’s anger stemmed from Aethelgrey’s praise. The man was the only one of the party that wasn’t at the woman’s beck and call. In fact, he seemed almost dismissive of her, which made the elf that much more tenacious in her pursuit of his adoration.

“What you in for anyway?” Endoin continued spitefully. “You’re probably in juvie. Pocket-lifting? Maybe vandalism? Oh wait. Let me guess, you’re the badass selling pot in the schoolyard.”

Resigned to the fact she would have to wait, Aya went about her looting business, not paying the woman any mind. It would probably infuriate the elf more, but she already had a battalion of convicts gunning for her anyway; what was one more?

Five minutes later, as they were wrapping up the loot, Endoin was still going on, guessing at the possible crimes that could have led Aya to prison. Ignoring it, she tried to keep her head low, but the more time went by, the more Aya realized the woman wasn’t going to drop it. Eventually, she couldn’t take it anymore and did a quick search in the Forum. She copied the link and sent it to Endoin.

“Juvies don’t do Era,” Aya said flatly. “I’m in for murder.”

Shock registered briefly in the woman’s eyes and Aya realized Endoin was a softcore criminal herself. After a week of Doris, Tiny, Yaz and other Goldilocks convicts, the woman just seemed downright dumb and childish. The woman had evidently done worse than Aya in her life, but she found herself completely unafraid, merely pissed off.

She marched off to the soundtrack of Aethelgrey’s laugh in the background, knowing her chances of getting away had probably just evaporated.

“Oh Mouse, I like you,” Aethelgrey said as he walked up to her, leaving the others to follow. “You remind me of my…”

His eyes went blank and he stopped. Aya opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it. They walked in silence side by side until Endoin screeched, “OH MY GOD!”

Ahead of the elf, Aya and Aethelgrey stopped and turned around to look at her. The woman’s voice was probably the only real thing about the woman and it was the most irritating and grating voice in the universe. Aya almost wanted to hack the system and shove the woman back into character creation for her to modulate that as well.

“IT’S HER!” Endoin screeched, pointing a finger at Aya.

Aya stilled, holding her breath. The cat was out of the bag, of that she was nearly certain, but she waited another second to be completely sure she wasn’t misinterpreting the situation.

“Look at this!”

Aya received a viewshot through the party channel, meaning the other four members were also seeing the picture of Aya and Xavier at Nelson’s that morning.

“I was just buying this dagger,” Aya said unsheathing her dagger and loosening her knees without being obvious about it.

“I was wondering about how you’d afforded that,” Aethelgrey said. “It’s a nice blade—”

Whatever chance Aya had of getting away, along with whatever Aethelgrey was going to say, was cut short with Endoin’s angry voice.

“Oh yeah!?” she said, “Explain this then.”

Another file was sent, this time a video of the same scene. It made it obvious that Aya was helping in the setup of the shop, not just a passing customer.

“I—”

Aya’s attempt at an explanation was interrupted by Endoin’s, now gloating, voice.

“What’s more?” the elf said. “The guild just sent out an announcement about her. They said her name was Aya and that she was a midget.”

Part of instinctual wanted to contest the fact, but the other more logical one forced Aya into movement while Endoin was stealing the spotlight. With one move she left the party and entered Stealth mode. She had thirty seconds and unfortunately, she’d just positioned herself at the head of the pack. Unable to flee in the direction she wanted to, she took off in the opposite direction.

“Sh-she’s gone!” yelled Sympatico.

“No, she’s not, you dunce!” Endoin retorted. “She’s right there!” the elf yelled.

Aya looked back just long enough to see the elf pointing at her.

She wanted to slap herself; she should have known that Endoin, at least, would be able to see her. The woman was four levels above her. If Aya’s Stealth Skill had been better, of if her level had just been one higher... If, if, if, if. There was no point crying about it now.

The others couldn’t see her, and she used it to her advantage by zig-zagging randomly through the room. When she noticed that even Endoin was having a hard time keeping track of her, she began going behind boulders for a second or two before continuing. It threw the elf off sometimes; Aya just hoped it was often enough that it would give her the chance to hide during one of her feints.

She searched and searched, allowing the party to slowly gain on her. Aya’s lung were burning and her vision was getting blurry from the exertion. With only five seconds left on her Skill and a group of Slithers right in front of her, she darted behind two grouped boulders, picked up a pebble and threw it a little ways ahead of her to the left.

The area was riddled with what looked to have been partitions of some kind. It gave excellent cover, but Aya chose one of the least covered areas in the region. She wanted to have them looking for her where she wasn’t and just hoped they didn’t think her stupid enough to hide in the worst spot. Holding her breath, Aya waited for the party to run by. Her Stealth expired and she slowly moved around the bolder as they passed. She forced her lungs to hold the air in until she couldn’t take it anymore.

It seemed like it took an eternity for all five members to go by, but when they did, Aya let herself breathe again. Her lungs wanted to vacuum the entire air of the dungeon in loud gasps, but she forced the urge down while the party kept looking for her.

“She’s… I can’t see her…” Endoin said, irritation dripping off her voice.

“You lost her?” Snyde asked plainly.

“Shut up and look for her!” Endoin screamed, loud enough to get the attention of the Slithers.

The three mobs advanced on the group, snake tongues slithering menacingly out of their mouths.

“Damnit!!” Endoin screamed loudly as she lunged in for an attack.

“You’re the one who got their attention,” Aethelgrey said flatly, completely nonchalantly hacking away at his own beast.

“Oh… Ugh!!! Whatever!” She shouted.

The beautiful and composed elven woman Aya had first met was nowhere to be seen. In her place was this scowling, angry, loud and irritated person, but Aya didn’t stay to watch the woman come apart. Instead, she took off the moment she got a chance. Her Stealth still needed twenty seconds of cooldown, but she couldn’t miss the opportunity created by their distraction.

Aya moved slowly out of her hiding spot and backed up, away from the fight and towards the way they’d come from. Keeping her eye on the players for any sign of detection, she backed up until she was free and clear. The twenty seconds of cooldown were almost up when the fight started winding down. Aya slowed her movements to a halt, in case it would get their attention and waited for the seconds to slowly tick by.

The moment they did, she heaved a sigh of relief, turned around and fell flat on her face. Panicked, she activated her Stealth, but it was too late.

“Did you hear that!?” Endoin’s screechy voice echoed through the dungeon.

Luckily, the others shrugged and shook their heads, but the woman was an elf and her damn pointy ears made Endoin turn back and look directly at Aya.

“There she is!” the elf screamed and took off in Aya’s direction, completely abandoning the fight. The Slither the elf was fighting tried to follow, but couldn’t keep up with the woman’s long legs.

Aya stumbled to her feet, but she knew it was too late. Tripping over her own feet had just cost Aya her life. She ran anyway, completely abandoning any hope of Stealth. The Skill was still activated, but with twenty seconds to go and a player who could see her anyway on her tail, there was no point to try and hide.

Before she’d had the advantage of the woman trying to explain to the others where Aya was, but the moment Endoin took the hunt into her own hands, Aya’s fate was sealed. Unwilling to just keel over and die, she kept running as fast as she could.

There was a corner just ahead and if she could get to it, just maybe, she’d be able to find a place to hide. That thought kept Aya going after her Stealth expired and her legs were on fire. She could feel the stitch on her side, and she couldn’t remember ever having run so hard. Her throat felt raw from trying to get too much air in at once. All of the combined aches and cramps were getting to her, but the moment she felt a large gash of pain flare up on her back, they went out of focus.

All she could think of was the feeling of steel as it cut through her flesh, but she kept her legs running anyway. It all seemed lost, she was going to die anyway, but she just couldn’t bring herself to give up so easily. Rin’s face flashed across her mind and then she heard it.

“BOQUAAAAAAAAAK!”

Aya knew that sound, she stumbled mid-run, making her miss most of the elf’s next blow. The tip of Endoin’s sword caught her in the shoulder, but Aya had just avoided a death-blow. Confused, hopeful, curious and scared shitless at the same time, Aya bent the corner to see the most unexpected sight ever.

Henry, yes, but next to him were two players.

One she knew, Foot, the other she had never seen before. He was a gargantuan man, both wider and taller than any orc she’d ever seen. He moved with unexpected grace for his size and while she ogled him, he sidestepped her, raised his massive sword slightly and stuck it all the way through Endoin in one go.

Aya’s eyes nearly jumped out of her head when she saw the woman spit blood as the rest of it drained out of her punctured abdomen. Shock was the prevalent expression on the elf’s face, like Aya’s, but there was a flash of pure hatred right before the woman died.

“You’re dea—” the elf gurgled through the blood, before her character suddenly pixelated into nothing, along with all the blood that had been splattered everywhere.

“That’s one thing I wish we had in the real world,” the mountain of a man said casually as a red Player Killer symbol appeared above him.

“What?” Foot asked happily, as if they were out for a stroll and a picnic.

Aya panted as large man responded, “Clean deaths.”

“Ooooooh! Yeah, you’re righ—” before the little blonde angel of a kid could finish his sentence, the four remaining convicts rounded the corner.

They all stopped and looked around in confusion.

“She really—” said Snyde.

“Friend of yours?” the large man asked.

His massive muscles overshadowed any other feature he might have had as he cleaved into Snyde. He was similarly dead with one shot before the man moved to the next target. The others caught on quickly and tried to flee, but Foot was already behind them.

“Wai—”

Too late, the kid had already killed Aethelgrey with one mana-infused kick. Pixels were flying all around and not even ten seconds later, Serving Time’s guild players were exterminated. Aya couldn’t believe it, she was still recovering her breath when the large man turned to Foot.

“Is this your friend?”

“Yeah!” the kid said enthusiastically before turning around to face Aya. “Hey, I found your chicken outside!” Foot had a perma-grin on his face that was incredibly infectious and she found herself smiling, not minutes after nearly dying.

“Yeah, I…”

“Oh, don’t worry. I saw you teleport, but you left this poor little guy outside. He was getting shocked…” the kid bent down and ruffled Henry’s feathers.

Aya stepped forward to stop him, but then she saw the bird croon in delight.

“Weren’t you little buddy?” he asked in a sing-song voice reserved for babies and puppies, not, in Aya’s mind, sadistic beasts of the Netherworld.

“But now you’re reunited!” the kid announced proudly, beaming with innocence, as the PK sign hovered above his head.

“Yeah…” Aya said uncertainly, really not understanding the situation.

“Hey Kid… I mean, Foot…”

“Awwww man! You’re not a kid like me!?” the kid asked, joy instantly replaced by disapointment.

“No…”

“Yea, only grownups say Kid…”

“Alright, Foot—”

“No, it’s okay. You can call me Kid,” he said, explaining seriously, disappointment quickly, and luckily, dissipating from his voice. “Frank does, and he’s my friend.”

Aya nodded at the man, sensing the kid had just given most of the introduction he planned on giving.

“But anyway,” Foot said impatiently. “What was it you wanted to ask me?”

Aya looked back at him, but before she could open her mouth he was already saying, “You did want to ask me something right?”

“Yeah, I did…” she said uncertainly, looking between the large man and the little kid.

“Well, shoot already!” the kid said.

“Just what level are you?

“One-two-three!” he announced proudly. “And you’re level fifteen! I can see it because I am stronger than you,” he added seriously, as if he was explaining something very important.

“Let’s go,” Frank said without intonation.

“You got it!” Foot said taking up all the emotion that was missing from the large man’s voice. “You coming?”

“Yeah…” Aya said, lamely following the duo.

Aya and Frank gave monosyllabic responses as Foot continued to blabber on, sometimes with her, sometimes with Frank, sometimes with Henry and even sometimes with himself. They cleared four dungeon floors in the time it took to walk them at a sedate pace, killing every Slither in sight. Aya hung back and watched the over-powered spectacle in awe, still not understanding why the kid had chosen to save her.

Another two floors passed and eventually her curiosity got the better of her.

“Say, Kid,” Aya said.

“Yeah?” Foot looked down at her, eyes brimming with curiosity.

“Why did you come save me?”

“Because you’re my friend, silly!” he said, smile wide. A moment passed before a slight frown creased his brow and he added, “Well, you’re actually old… But we can still be friends like me and Frank right?”

The boy looked at her with worried hope, innocent blue eyes imploring angelically down at her.

“…Definitely,” Aya said.

As if she’d say no to a level 123.