Nick woke up with a start. He jumped to his feet and looked around. Maddy was sitting on a sofa nearby and quickly came over to him.

“It’s alright Nick. You’re okay. Everything is okay Nick. You’re safe.”

The sensory data flooded his mind, the blood, the bodies, the sounds. He started shaking and fell to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably. Maddy sat next to him and hugged him, not saying anything. Time passed with the two of them in that position, Nick sobbing and shaking, Maddy gently hugging him.

Eventually Nick stopped sobbing, his mind relaxed and he was able to regain control of his breathing.

“Thanks Maddy.” Nick plopped himself back up onto the sofa, Maddy sat next to him.

“It’s okay Nick, that was a very intense situation you were placed in.”

“You’re telling me.”

Maddy didn’t respond to his joke and Nick just sat there in silence for a moment. It had been very intense. He’d never seen real violence to that extent before. He’d been in plenty of pub brawls and fights in dirty car parks, but he hadn’t seen anything so horrific. He’d seen a man get stabbed before and that had shaken Nick, but everyone there had been just as shocked. This fight had been so much larger, so much more gruesome and nobody was shocked. Nick just couldn’t wrap his head around it, why did everyone act as if this was normal? Wait. Was this normal?

“Does that happen often?” His voice was weak.

“No, but it’s probably going to happen more frequently. War is coming and people can be violent at the best of times.” She answered.

“How many people died?” Though he wasn’t sure he really wanted to know.

“13 of our guys, many more injured. The invaders lost nine before they started to run. Tony and the team are chasing them down as we speak, so there could be more.”

Why wasn’t Nick surprised that it was only once the opponent’s backs were turned that Tony himself moved. Nick was disgusted by the man. He’d just stood and watched as the men who worked for him fought and died, he had taken almost no action himself. How did everyone stay so calm? If such events didn’t happen often, why did everyone seem so casual about killing each other?

“How come you’re all so used to it? I’m not sure I could ever face that so calmly.” Nick’s curiosity pressed.

“Many members of the militia are reacting the same way to you now, they’re used to fighting monsters, not people.” Then she sighed. “Us Roamers are certainly more used to it. Teams clash all the time, over access to rooms, loot and even pure ego. It’s not uncommon for two teams to go out and only one return.”

Maddy looked sad, clearly she was speaking from experience. Nick couldn’t help but feel angry.

“So not only was I not told that my class would turn me insane, but I was potentially going to get killed in a mugging while finding loot that Tony would take from me anyway?’ He snapped.

Nick blanked at his own outburst. He was usually good at keeping that stuff internal.

Maddy just sighed again. “I can’t apologise, Nick. What Tony did is terrible and you don’t deserve it. Sadly that’s how things go here. I was forced into Healer. I had no idea how dangerous roaming was until we had an argument with another group over some stickers from a chest. It was just shouting then suddenly blood was drawn and it was a desperate fight for our lives.”

That confirmed it. Maddy really was in the same position as him. Someone pulled from their lives into this hellscape then forced into a role they didn’t even have a say about. She’d been here for a whole year, lost a friend and had a sister who seemed very unstable. Nick couldn’t fathom how bad things really had been for her. She’d been waiting for an opportunity to escape Tony and it had finally come.

Nick took a deep breath and focused. Violence was the culture here. He had to accept that, there was no shying away from what he’d seen earlier. It was likely that he’d be seeing more, and there was a good chance he’d see worse in the conflicts to come. While he really didn’t want to have to face such things, he just had to focus on what he could do. He needed to get his family to a safer location, conflicts be damned.

Nick then turned to Maddy and looked her in the eye. His new found resolve must have surprised her.

“Let’s get our families out of here. It’s time to get things moving.”

Maddy processed it for a moment then met his gaze, her eyes steady.

“Okay.” Her voice was resolute.

Nick looked around and realised that they were alone in the room. It was a small one, with just a couple of sofas in it. It wasn’t the most private of spaces but it could be the only chance he got. Nick explained the plan that Lily had come up with to Maddy, though he realised he’d have to change it a bit now that the invasion had happened.

“Tony would be very resistant to you just going off alone…” Maddy thought aloud. “...But I could definitely see this plan working. Now that this invasion has happened Tony is going to be desperate to get more powerful.”

Then he was struck with concerns about leaving his family alone, would they be safe if another invasion happened? Thankfully Maddy was able to alleviate his worries.

“Innocent people are very rarely injured in invasions. The invaders usually aren’t just barbaric bandits coming in to just cause misery. They want to take over. As long as people don’t fight there are rarely innocent people injured, let alone killed.”

It was an interesting situation that reminded Nick of the wars during feudalism. The nobles and kings might change, but the serfs' lives never really changed. Just one occupying force swapping with another, didn’t affect the serfs’ lives much at all. Though that comparison raised its own questions, were the people living in the hotel serfs?

Nick took a deep breath and focused. He had more pressing things to think about than the similarities between systems of governance and population control. Now that he didn’t have to be as concerned about an outsider killing his family, he could focus on the person actually threatening to kill his family. Tony.

When the man got back from his hunt Nick would seek him out to talk. He could stick to waiting but the recent conflict would leave Tony ruffled and Nick wanted to capitalise on it. It was risky, he knew it, the man could be too ruffled and double down on keeping Nick close to the chest. Nick was going to risk it anyway. After the invasion he just couldn’t make himself sit still, he had to do something, he had to start making moves.

He and Maddy made their way back to the bar, it was mostly empty and Maddy quickly ran off into the Quarters. Nick followed her and found that stretchers and makeshift beds now littered the open area of the Quarters. Injured people were sprawled out in the beds with people keeping close by and tending to them occasionally. Maddy made herself helpful and went around giving each of the injured a heal. She looked exhausted by the end of it but there was a clear sense of pride in her eyes.

Nick had quietly waited for her to finish and walked with her back to the bar, where they crashed into comfy chairs in a corner. Nick and Maddy talked for a bit about the state of the people in the other rooms before Nick noticed Maddy was falling asleep. In no time she was just that, curled up asleep in the arms of a comfy chair. Now that he was alone Nick began to think through and rehearse what he was going to say to Tony when he came back. It worked for a bit but then Nick had to concede a point. He wasn’t great at planning, let alone rehearsing. He was more of a ‘on the day’ kinda guy. That’s why he left all the planning to people like Lily, who were really good at that stuff. He could get the basics of a plan down but always ended up filling in the gaps in the moment. That moment was coming up now.

People started to come back through the door from the lobby. Militia men that looked haggard, though uninjured. They simply found spaces around the room and crashed. Then the other members of the team and Tony came through. Tony looked pristine, pristine and pissed. While his armour had absolutely no blemishes on it, his face told another story. It was twisted into a vicious caricature of anger, he certainly was in a foul mood. Perfect.

As he stood up he saw that the other members of his team were certainly worse for wear, injuries littering their bodies. Logan had the worst of it, every bit of exposed flesh he had was dyed a deep red. Nick wasn’t sure how much of the blood was his own. Joshua had a comparable amount of injuries, there were even deep gouges and cuts through his armour. These were injuries that certainly would have killed him if not for the armour. Jacob had a few injuries but nothing major, it seemed the ranged fighter was proficient at keeping distance. That, or Logan was very good at his job. Nick knew which of the two he’d bet on.

The most important factor was the armour that everyone was wearing. It was trashed. Joshua’s was the worst, Nick doubted it could be used again after today. Trashed armour meant they’d need new armour, Nick had to hide a smile. It was the perfect time to strike.

Nick approached Tony, who everyone else was keeping a distance from. Nick could tell why as soon as he got close enough. The man was cursing up a storm. The harsh language that was flowing from his mouth would make a sailor blush. Most of it wasn’t sensical, clearly just a way for the man to vent his frustration. From what he could decipher, the invaders they’d been chasing had gotten away.

“Tony, I want to talk.”

The man’s eyes snapped to him. “About?”

This was it. “The value I can bring to the 72nd floor.”

The comment made the man pause, a lot of the anger seemingly to clear from his eyes. Not good, Nick wanted to keep that anger stoked.

“Okay. Let’s talk.” Tony gestured and everyone cleared away from the bar. Giving the two quite the space.

“The 72nd floor is too weak.”

There it was. Anger reignited in Tony’s eyes. Of course he knew how weak he was, they’d just been invaded. He held his tongue for the moment though. Nick continued.

“I need to keep my family safe, I need their guardian to be as strong as possible.”

That got the gears turning in Tony’s head, got the questions bubbling. Then Tony took the bait.

“Their guardian?”

Nick had to suppress a smile. This was the first important step. Pride and ego.

“You. I need to help you get strong enough to protect them, like you said you would.”

Nick saw suspicion flash through his eyes. Of course, he knew that Nick knew the real status of his family, why would Nick call him a guardian? This is where it got tricky. Nick almost regretted not planning this better.

“I know my family is being held hostage. I know you’re using me.” Nick just came right out with it.

Tony bristled, went to give whatever weak rebuttal he’d likely had prepared. Nick raised a hand and interrupted him. This was the important part.

“It is what it is. Importantly, right now you’re also the person keeping them safe. As I see it, as long as I scratch your back, you scratch mine.”

This was the redirection. No doubt Tony saw himself as the good guy here, the guy was simply doing what he had to do to make everything work. Nobody actually thought themselves to be the bad guy. Nick just had to play into it and lay it on as thick as he could. So he continued before Tony could set the pace.

“I know the war is coming.” Bring up a bigger concern. “I need to make sure the 72nd floor is strong enough to survive it.”

Now this problem wasn’t about just Nick and his family. He had to make Tony think of the bigger picture, so that he could control the little details.

“What do you have in mind?” Tony asked, tentatively.

Success. The second step was done, he’d gotten his foot in the door. He had to keep it rolling though.

“I’m not cut out for open violence. Not yet at least.” Nick highlighted his poor performance during the invasion, hopefully giving Tony a more depreciated value of Nick’s skills. “But I know I can help in other ways.”

Tony looked interested. Nick had hope, this could be working.

“I’m getting more confident in my Explorer skills. You saw what I could do on day one, I know I can bring more back.” Blind Tony’s eyes with the shiny glimmer of treasure.

“What are you asking for?” He had him.

“I can move quicker alone. I’ll hit as many places as I can as quickly as I can. I’ll bring back more treasure than we can equip our men with.”

This was it. Nick could try and justify and support his statement with as many points as possible but he didn’t. He kept it short and simple. Any more and it would appear unconfident. Nick had to project pure confidence here. Make Tony think of the treasure, not of Nick.

Nick could see the cogs turning in Tony’s head.

This was it, make or break.

“I’ll get you to 3-3 quicker than you believe.”

A completely baseless claim. One that Nick knew Tony wanted to believe more than anything else.