“Well, I’m not sure what I expected but wow. It certainly fits the bill.” Nick exclaimed.

Tony had been a grunt working for the last leader of the 72nd floor. There wasn’t much notable about him apart from his choice of class, Assassin. As soon as Lily mentioned his class, Nick knew where this was going. Tony had attempted to take out the leader in a bid for power, but was overpowered by the 3-3 man. After being beaten and humiliated, he managed to escape down to the 71st floor and lick his wounds, even finding a class gem that let him level up his class. Then Tony had waited until the leader left the floor to meet with some traders from the Parklands on the 73rd floor. Tony had surprised the man and stabbed him with a poisoned knife before he could properly react. Tony had then brutally killed the man and used threats to become the new de facto leader.

Reggie hadn’t been happy but didn’t step in personally to do anything, letting the 72nd floor deal with its own problem. The stabilisation hadn’t been easy, but apparently the last leader had been a bit of an ass as well so people weren’t rushing to avenge him. It took Tony two attempts to take over the 72nd floor, hence, Tony Two Times.

The story did raise some very interesting things about the state of the 72nd floor. Firstly, why the leader was so weak, they hadn’t always been but the stronger guy lost to a weaker asshole. Secondly, why they were so poor. Other than Tony clearly impeding the growth of the people below him, it seems that him openly assassinating the last leader in front of the traders had really sullied business relationships. Unsurprising that.

Nick could already identify a major export that the 72nd floor was sitting on. He wasn’t sure about the other floors but alcohol was in abundance here, and people always want alcohol. Now while he wasn’t aware of the production ability of the Parklands, all the alcohol in the hotel was branded. Well-recognisable stuff, there had to be a market for it. Even if the Parklands was producing bootleg moonshine, people would want some of the proper stuff if it was available.

Tony was really squandering here, his team was poor and weak, he was poor and weak, and he wasn’t making any form of profit that Nick could see. This had all the markings of a failing state, he was surprised someone hadn’t already come in and taken over. He could now understand how Tony maintained some semblance of power though, having the ability to assassinate your family at any point was certainly a motivator. Though surely someone had the ability to just take him out before he could.

He turned to Lily and brought his internal discussion to the floor. She thought about it for a moment then spoke up.

“That’s why he’s so desperate for an Explorer. He’s clearly uncomfortable leaving the hotel, the bodyguard formation and his history of assassinating a leader are clear indicators. He probably made all his income from extorting the last Explorer and selling their finds. You mentioned that he takes all the items anyone finds? Considering the lack of items around here it’s possible he was just selling them all.”

She put together some pieces that Nick himself had missed. Now it was obvious to him, Tony was clearly paranoid about someone doing what he did. Though he realised that this doubled down on his potential angle.

“He needs me. He needs what I can do, even more desperately than I first realised.”

“He does, but how do we leverage this effectively…” Lily trailed off into thought.

Nick had his own plan he was cobbling together.

“I think I can bargain myself some freedom, space to operate.” He started.

“Wait. Just play it straight.” Lily interrupted.

“Straight?” Nick asked.

“We’re hostages, Benny, dad and I. Use that, Tony is going to be confident that this is the strongest leverage over you.”

“It’s a pretty bloody strong leverage.” Nick scoffed.

“Yes it is, but if you play into that you’ll make Tony think he has the dominant position.”

“He does have the dominant position Lily.” Nick interrupted.

Lily threw her hands in the air.

“Nick, shut up and listen. If you blind Tony with the idea he’s got you by the balls we can leverage some freedom. If you can pull it off, you can become a free agent while he thinks you’re acting completely in his favour.”

Nick felt like he kinda understood, making Tony think he was the big dog would make him too prideful to notice Nick’s manoeuvring. But what he didn’t get was that Tony was clearly in a better position here. He must have looked rather unconvinced.

“Nick. You tell Tony you want to make sure we’re safe.You tell him you want to gather as much loot as possible for Tony, tell him if he’s stronger then we’re safer. You play into his beliefs, keeping up so far?”

Nick nodded.

“Okay so you go off alone, typical Explorer stuff right? Tony lets you because he thinks all you’re thinking about is us, his hostages. Okay? Now you’re alone and…” She gestured for Nick to continue the line.

“I make contact with Doyle and set up the plan to get you guys out, along with Maddy and her sister!” Nick exclaimed. “Damn, that’s a good plan. Glad I came up with it.” He said with a grin.

Lily just rolled her eyes. Nick had been putting together a similar plan, but he had focused on emphasising the value he brought to Tony and how much Tony needed him. He liked Lily’s plan a whole lot more though, definitely better than threatening his source of income.

Then the door to the room swung open and a little figure came running through, charging right towards Nick. Nick didn’t have much time to respond as he was pulled from his thoughts and into a hug. Nick hugged Benny back.

“Hey champ. Hear you made some friends?”

Benny poked his head up and smiled.

“Yeah, they’re pretty cool bro. How was your trip?”

“I’ll wait until dad gets back until I spill the beans. Tell me whatcha got up to today.”

It didn’t take much prompting for Benny to start rambling about his adventures through the hallways and corridors of the hotel with his new friends. Nick was a little concerned about the kids running around unsupervised but if everyone else was cool with it, it can’t have been too dangerous. It sounded like they were just being mischievous kids, running around causing a ruckus and having fun. Nick was glad to hear that Benny was having a bit of fun, that would certainly help his mental state.

They didn’t have to wait too long until Henry came back to the room, then Nick gathered everyone up and they shared some food that Henry brought. Nick began telling the story of his day, editing it so that Henry could infer some of the details and Benny wouldn’t be too stressed by anything. By the end of it Benny was just as excited as Nick had expected him to be. Jumping around and talking about taking a class as a pirate or a spaceman and doing something cool with it. Now Nick could totally understand why people weren’t keen on letting kids take classes.

Henry sat in silence for a bit, clearly thinking some things through.

“Well. Looks like we might have to get moving then.” He eventually said.

Lily responded first. “Nick and I have put together a plan.”

“Which we can discuss after we put Benny to bed.” Nick finished.

“Nawhhh I wanna hear the plan!” Benny complained.

Henry just looked at him cooly for a moment and Benny hung his head.

“Okayy, I’ll go to bed then.”

Benny walked off towards one of the bedrooms. The remaining group waited for a bit and talked about mundane things like food. Until they thought Benny would have gotten bored of listening in, then started the more serious conversation.

Lily explained everything she had found out about from Gareth and Mindy’s group. Then Nick went over the details he’d glossed over for Benny’s sake in the recounting of his day.

“Christ, what have we found ourselves in the middle of? Are you okay Nicky?” Henry ran a hand through his hair, then looked at Lily. “Let’s hear this plan then.”

Lily then explained her plan to him, she had to go over it a few times in detail, just like she had for Nick.

“Hmmmmm.” Henry let out in contemplation. “If only your mother were here, you certainly got this side from her and not me. I’ve never been great with planning, but this sounds like a pretty decent one.”

He then turned to Nick. “Do we have any idea of how long until things kick off?”

“I’m not sure about the business with Tony, whenever someone gets the chance I guess. The plans for guarding start tomorrow so I assume the war can’t be too far off, I must have missed that detail while I was out. I’ll try and ask the other members of the team tomorrow.”

“Time. That’s the most important resource right now. We need as much knowledge about this place as quick as we can get it. Troubles brewing and I don’t want our family bearing the brunt.”

Henry retired to the bedroom after that and left Nick and Lily sitting around. They chewed the fat for a bit and decided that they wouldn’t directly bring up the subject of how Benny was doing yet, leaving him to have some fun seemed like a good idea.

Then Nick headed to the shower and enjoyed the sheer luxury that the facilities offered. Nick couldn’t lie, the bathrooms might just be the best part about this place. The toilet seats even had warming in this suite, the luxury was greatly appreciated. Nick then went to the room he’d picked out and threw himself into the bed. Scratch that, the bathrooms were the second best. Nick entered a deep and comfortable sleep, all plots and schemes drifting away with his consciousness.

Nick must have woken up late in the morning as his family was already up and about when he finally emerged from his cocoon of far too comfortable sheets. Nick checked his phone for the time, which luckily seemed to be somewhat similar to the time in here. It read ten o’clock, geez if that was remotely accurate he’d definitely overslept.

He was handed a plate of pancakes and a glass of water by Benny.

“Any chance of a more healthy first meal?” He asked, his sweet tooth not quite up to it this morning.

“Don’t get him started.” Lily moaned.

“Well! I’d love to serve something a bit better but this place only seems to create junk foods.” Henry complained. “It’s crazy that perfectly cooked food just appears in ovens and stuff, even more crazy that it seems time coded, but I’d kill for a vegetable that hasn’t been deep fried or buried in a sauce.”

Nick could swear he’d eaten a vegetable while he was here. He just couldn’t quite remember where though…

“No wonder everyone here has a few extra kilos! All the food is garbage!” Henry was getting heated. Food was always a touchy subject for the old chef.

Then Nick remembered.

“Tony gave me some grilled vegetables when I first talked to him. There has to be veggies around.”

This is where Lily re-entered the conversation. “They come from the Parklands, the only place that can grow vegetables in the Complex apparently. It’s their major export if I understand correctly.”

“Damn Tony for stuffing up the trade relationships then it seems.” Nick laughed.

Henry clearly wasn’t happy. “We certainly have to leave then. I can’t have my kids living off junk, I’ll whip up something decent as soon as I’m able!” The man declared.

“Do we have to leave? I just made friends!” Benny chimed in.

Lily sighed. “Sorry Benny, I’m sure there will be plenty of kids on the other floors. From what I hear this floor has the least number of people living on it!”

While the statement excited Benny, it sent Nick into thought. Tony had claimed that there were thousands of people on this floor. If this was the smallest floor and if the Parklands were filled with settlements like Jacob’s tales indicated, then just how many people were there in the Complex? The thought baffled him. Just how had people ended up here?

Nick decided to settle with the pancakes and once he was done, searched the closets for some wearable clothes. Nick was now even more annoyed at Tony’s failed running of the floor. If the trade was still happening then surely he’d have some clothing options other than these damned jeans! He was forced to settle on another pair of jeans and another top slightly too large for him. He definitely had to visit the Parklands, their pants looked somewhat closer to chinos and he was getting desperate. His own pair of chinos still needed cleaning but he hadn’t managed to find anything washing machine related yet, he was holding out on hope.

Everyone seemed to just dump their dirty clothes in empty rooms and they’d just vanish eventually. Must be the cleaners he’d been hearing about, he guessed. He certainly wasn’t leaving his beloved pants to such a fate.

Nick let out a sigh and accepted his own fate. He was stuck with jeans for the time being, though he wouldn’t be happy about it.