Nick finally got to see his team in action, in between his own confrontations that was. Nick slammed his fist through the carapace of one of the spider creatures, his fist almost emerging from its mouth. The creatures didn’t have heads, they were just dark bodies with mouths on the bottom, eight long sharp legs giving it it’s mobility. Nick didn’t quite understand their physiology but that didn’t matter right now, dispatching them did.

After shaking his hand free of the spider he turned and watched as Joshua swung his large sword horizontally, cleaving through a group that had leapt at him. He saw that Logan was standing in front of a group of other fighters, using a large kite shield he’d been carrying on his back to crush and deflect a mass of spiders. Nick was almost jealous, these two men looked like Greek heroes. One was bravely fighting his way through the spiders, the other a bulwark, protecting others.

Nick then faced down two more spiders, stomping firmly on one as his right fist met the other, cutting it’s leap short. As the leaping spider was sent tumbling to the ground, Nick finished off the one he had stomped with another kick, cracking it’s carapace open. The other then stumbled towards him and he dropped his fist through it, letting his weight carry him through its body. He got up, wiping the sweat from his brow. He looked around for the other two members of his team.

He found Maddy first, she was using a bow he hadn’t seen her carrying. In between shots she was looking around and raising her glowing palm towards anyone she deemed injured enough to require a heal. It was impressive to see her micromanaging abilities while still landing accurate shoots, finishing off a spider with almost every shot.

All of a sudden Nick felt a slicing against his leg. While he’d been distracted a few more spiders had gotten close to him and managed to leave a nasty gash on his leg. Nick stumbled back, panically thinking about his skill and then the sudden speed boost combined with his lack of coordination sent him tumbling towards the ground. Nick watched as the group of spiders rushed him, fear and panic choking him. He felt their sharp legs crawling over him and he brought his hands up over his to protect himself. He tried curling up into a ball as he felt his limbs get sliced, sharp teeth digging into him. He was incredibly thankful for the chest piece now, as he felt their legs unsuccessfully tried to get through it.

He heard heavy footsteps approaching and felt a few of the spiders get launched from his body. A large hand pulled him up to his feet and Nick opened his eyes to see a large man in scrap armour. The man was carrying a large hammer and swung it into a spider trying to reclaim Nick’s body, the entire creature was crumpled in on itself. There were no words, the man simply patted him on the back and moved back towards an incoming group of spiders.

Nick then heard a snickering, he turned to see that it was Jacob. The man was leering at him.

“Not that good after all.”

The man then threw the knife in his hand towards a spider, piercing deep into its carapace before disappearing. Nick saw it reappear in Jacob’s hand, before the man threw it out again finishing off the spider. Nick then also spotted Tony. He was strolling through the mob, avoiding any combat. He was watching on as the mob worked hard to dispatch the horde of creatures. Nick didn’t respond to Jacob’s taunt and simply forced himself back into the fight.

Nick managed to build up a few more injuries and vanquish a few more spiders before the combat died down, all the spiders finally defeated. Nick was exhausted. The fight must have lasted only ten minutes, but it was surely the most exhausting ten minutes he’d ever experienced. None of the fights, sparring or training he’d been through could even come close to what he was feeling now. He looked around but found that he was the only person suffering that hard. Everyone seemed only slightly puffed at most, shocking Nick. He really did have a long way to go.

“What the fuck!” Maddy yelled, running over to Nick. He suddenly felt the tingling sensation across his body, funnily enough it also relieved some of his fatigue. With most of his injuries closing up, feeling much better, yet covered in his own blood, he went to thank Maddy. He was interrupted by her though.

“Jacob! You were supposed to be looking out for him!” She angrily cried out.

The man smirked. “I was distracted for a second and the kid got trounced. If he was actually worth his salt he would have been fine. And it’s not like I didn’t save him.”

Nick felt indignation rise up inside him. It wasn’t the greasy bastard that helped him, it was a stranger from the mob of poorly geared folks.

“You didn’t-” He started, before Joshua strided over, flicking the black gunk the spiders bled from his sword.

“What happened to Nick?” He asked simply.

“The kid got caught off guard and-” Jacob started.

“He let Nick get pretty fucked up.” Maddy finished, crossing her arms.

Joshua turned his cool gaze on Nick and raised an eyebrow. Nick did his best to not falter.

“He didn’t do anything, one of the other guys saved my ass. He just watched.” Nick managed to say, almost unwilling to admit how badly a state he’d been in.

“Hey wait a-” Jacob tried. He was stopped abruptly as a large gauntleted fist crashed into his face. Joshua had walked right up to Jacob and hit him. Jacob crumpled to the floor, blood running from his clearly broken nose. Nick’s eyes widened in shock. Jacob quickly got back up and pulled out his knives. Joshua moved a hand to his sword's hilt and raised an eyebrow, inviting Jacob to challenge him.

Jacob slumped down and put his knives away.

“That’s what I thought. You were told to look after the kid during the trip and clearly you’re incapable. Pathetic.” Joshua spat.

Jacob didn’t reply and just sulked off towards Tony.

“Nick, stay closer to Logan from now on if a fight breaks out. He’s always got his hands full but he’s reliable as they come.” Joshua said, patting Logan on the shoulder. “So how was your first real fight? We got lucky it was spider-type Horde, the militia do most of their training in the spider challenge room.”

“Exhausting, but exhilarating.” Nick finally settled on those two words.

The remaining members of the team all smiled. “Looks like you’re in the right line of work then. There’s plenty more where that came from.”

“How come everyone else is so damn fit? I thought I was pretty well conditioned.” Nick asked.

“You’ve done well considering you have no class buffs or Stickers.” Joshua raised a hand, stopping Nick from asking his question. “Stickers are loot, they give you increased attributes. Like endurance or agility.”

Nick’s mind exploded. He could find items to increase his stats? No wonder everyone was so unfazed by the exertion, he was surrounded by superhumans! He wondered if it was the basic DnD five stats? How much did one of these items increase your stats by? Why were they called stickers? He took a deep breath, once again forcing all his questions from his head. Though one stuck through it all.

“How can I get some?”

This earned a laugh from everyone.

“Well, we’re all hoping that your skills lead us to a couple of lucky finds. It’s not rare loot, just uncommon and your skills will give us a huge advantage.” Joshua grinned.

He really was a cash cow. No wonder they were so aggressively protective of his Class. Nick was a gateway to superhuman status. Suddenly Tony was approaching the group with a scowling Jacob in tow.

“Nick, good to see you’re putting my loans to good use already.” Tony said with a smile.

Nick managed to not open his mouth and only smile. He was too tired to pretend to like the guy.

“Now, why on earth are you beating the valued members of my team Joshua?”

Joshua’s stony facade returned. “You’ve never questioned how I discipline the members of my team before.”

“Well we’re about to meet with the other leaders and I don’t want the members of MY team looking so unruly.” Tony stressed.

Nick could see Joshua’s facade almost crack, a frown threatening to come through.

“He let one of the members of the team get injured, while he was supposed to be protecting him.” The tall man visibly slumped. “I was too heavy handed in my punishment.”

“Good. Admitting is the first step. While Jacob may have made a mistake, I don’t want anyone seeing my team this disorganised. Maddy, heal him.”

Maddy looked incredibly reluctant but her palm started glowing and she raised it towards Jacob. Once his nose was healed he grinned.

“Thank you Maddy!” He said with a little too much enthusiasm.

Maddy deadpanned, turned around and walked off.

“Well, let's follow her lead and get moving again.” Tony said.

The large group of people started their march deeper into the darkness, their crystals forcing the shadows to retreat. Nick grouped up with his team, staying near Maddy.

“I’m sorry Nick, we thought he’d be able to at least protect you.” She apologised.

“I survived. It was terrifying but thankfully someone was there to help.” He smiled back at her, which seemed to relieve some of her tension.

“Bah you were fine kid.” Jacob sauntered over.

“Fuck off Jacob.” Maddy spat.

“Don’t be like that Mads. It was an honest mistake.” He shrugged.

Fury filled Maddy’s eyes. “Don’t call me that. I’d call you a rat, but at least they can be cute.”

Jacob’s eyes gleamed. “You know how much the ladies love me. I’m a hot commodity.”

Maddy was about to retort before Joshua pushed his way in. The man looked sullen, clearly very unhappy with his interaction with Tony.

“Both of you. Shut the fuck up.”

Maddy’s face stilled but Jacob just grinned, patting Joshua on the shoulder before walking ahead of the group.

“We should kill the bastard.” Maddy grumbled.

Nick wanted to laugh but he wasn’t sure if she was joking or not. Was that something that actually happened here? Tony had threatened to cripple him but he was sure if it was just a threat or not. There was just too much happening in this new place.

“U-CSHT culture man.” Nick muttered to himself.

The team continued on in silence. Nick watched as the mob took care of a few more of the viney Trickers or similar ambush styled creatures. There were a few that hung from the ceiling that the ranged fighters had to take care of when they were discovered. There were a few people using bows or throwing weapons of some sort, but Maddy and Jacob were clearly the most proficient. The realisation that the creatures could also be hidden in the shadows of the ceiling made Nick a lot more cautious.

Nick had taken out the other wrap and fastened it around his left hand. He had to say, he’d used plenty of wraps and a couple of different styles of wrapping in his time, but nothing felt as good as these ones. His hands felt miles more solid than he’d ever experienced. He had barely felt any discomfort in his right hand while punching through the spiders. Now that he had both on he had thrown some punches at the concrete walls they passed by and it was just a world of difference.

Eventually the group made their way to the fort. People quickly began setting up a crystal in the centre of the fort on a stand he’d missed on his way through. This crystal illuminated the entire fort and a small radius around their makeshift walls. People began dusting off chairs and plopping themselves down. It was then that Nick noticed something, nothing was wet.

“How is everything so dry if there was just a flood?” He asked Maddy.

“The water doesn’t rise past the 69th floor. We still hunker down in the hotels though, the shadows get worse and the monsters emerge from them while the Flood is happening.” Maddy explained, answering his next question before he could ask it.

It made sense to Nick, it seems that the Flood was more of a wider event than just water rising through the car park. From what he had gathered from the man that Tony referred to as a Shaman, which was incredibly cool to Nick, the Flood was going to have large repercussions. Gareth had confirmed as much.

“And now we wait.” Maddy said, finding herself a seat.

Nick sent her a questioning gaze.

“I’d get tired of the questions but I know I was exactly like you when I got here. Now I know why people started avoiding me.” She laughed. “We’re waiting for the team from the 71st floor, we’ll travel up with them then meet with the 73rd floor’s team. We all travel together when meetings like this are called.”

Nick appreciated the explanation and realised that it must be a little annoying, how often he was asking questions. He decided to forgo his plan of grilling her for answers and just pulled up a chair next to her, enjoying the moment of calmness.