“Sounds an awful lot like Hell,” Jamie muttered.

“No, it’s the Complex, filled with monsters and living people who might be a little monstrous,” Nick sighed.

“Yeah but if Hell was a real place, it would be pretty similar to this, wouldn’t it?” Jamie queried.

Nick shook his head, this wasn’t how he’d expected this conversation to go. He’d been filling Jamie in on the details of the place he’d found himself in, the groups, the monsters, the classes. The dude had taken it extremely well, so well that Nick was feeling a little confused. When he’d asked him how he was so calm about it all he’d answered in a way that led to the current conversation.

“Why would I be stressing?” He said, “I’m already dead, I didn’t have any expectations so there’s not much to be surprised about.”

That had led to Nick trying to convince the man that they hadn’t died, they were kidnapped through some sort of wormhole or portal. Jamie didn’t budge though, to him it made far more sense that they had all just died rather than being kidnapped by some strange cosmic force with malicious intent. Nick had been partially stumped by that one, it did seem like a far easier explanation than his own take. The duo then finally made it to the hotel and Jamie was finally impressed.

“Now that’s pretty weird right there,” he exclaimed.

Nick rolled his eyes, “Uh-huh, and the rest of this isn’t?”

Nick then warned him about the kind of people they might encounter on the inside, his own paranoia of bandits painting his expectations. Nick wasn’t sure what he’d do if he encountered hostilities, the people down here were going to be far stronger than he could hope to compete with. Jamie wasn’t that bothered though and just confidently strode towards the door, seemingly excited about what he’d find on the other side. Nick went through first and was surprised that he found himself standing on a tiled floor rather than a carpeted one. His puzzlement only grew when he started to inspect the room he’d found himself standing in. It was an expansive room absolutely covered in tiles and mirrors, with random stall doors littering the walls. There were sinks, baths and shower heads just sprouting out of the floor seemingly randomly. The first room on the 64th floor was a giant bathroom of sorts.

“I’m guessing this wasn’t what you expected?” Jamie asked.

“I’ve certainly never come across anything like this, though I’m not even sure why I’m surprised at this point,” Nick laughed.

That’s when Nick could make out some footsteps clacking towards them from a nearby room. Nick readied himself, his paranoia getting the better of him for the moment. Noticing this, Jamie readied his bat. That’s when a man with large ears popped his head through one of the stall doors.

“Hello, welcome to the 64th floor. Want somewhere nicer to sit?”

Nick inspected the man for a second and saw that he had two daggers at his side, but they weren’t drawn. Nick was weighing it up in his head for a moment when Jamie made the decision for him.

“For sure, this place is weird as hell,” he answered with a smile, lowering his bat.

The man simply gestured for them to follow him and walked back the way he came. Jamie took the lead and followed, with Nick being a fair bit more hesitant. The stall door led to a long tiled hallway, which had leaky pipes trailing through it at random points. The pipes went and came from every which angle, emerging through one point of the wall and heading in anything but uniform directions. The pipes were all different shapes and sizes but they all shared one similar trait, somehow every single one of them was leaking.

“So, what’s your name dude?” Jamie asked their guide.

“I’m Bissus. What brings you two down here?” The man said without turning around.

Something tickled the back of Nick’s neck, he wasn’t sure what but there was something distinctly off about the way Bissus was speaking. Jamie either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

“Well, I’m not sure about my raggedy companion here, but I just got here,” Jamie answered.

That certainly seemed to draw the interest of the man calling himself Bissus and he stopped to turn around and look at Jamie for a moment. “You’re a Latecomer?”

“We both are,” Nick stepped in, “though I’ve been here two weeks, and Jamie here is as fresh as they come. I picked him up as I was moving through the car park.”

The man’s large ears literally wiggled for a moment. “Well, what an exciting few days we’ve had. So many Latecomers coming through our humble floor. Clarissa will be ever so delighted to have a talk with you.”

The group then reached the end of the hallway and Bissus held the door open for Nick and Jamie. Heading through Nick was met by a very different scene. The room appeared to be a restaurant of sorts, with booths littering the area. The most interesting part was the conveyor belt snaking its way around to each of the booths, carrying precious cargo.

“Sushi! I haven’t had any in months!” Jamie exclaimed, immediately making his way towards the conveyor belt and grabbing a plate.

“Please make your way down to the booth in the corner of the room,” Bissus gestured towards one corner in particular and Nick saw an area with a much larger booth, clearly some sort of VIP seating.

Jamie happily walked his way towards the booth and Nick took a more measured approach, they were likely about to meet the leader of the floor and first impressions could make or break their stay here. Nick needed to find out any information about Tony, and more importantly his brother, so he wanted to create the best relationship possible. Bissus separated from the group and took a seat in a booth next to the VIP one, sitting across from two men that looked awfully similar to him. One had a very large nose, but normal ears. The other had a normal nose and normal ears, but very large eyes. The man with large eyes looked at Jamie and Nick before whispering something to the other two men.

The man then got up and walked over to the VIP booth, which had high enough walls that Nick couldn’t see into until they got closer. As they approach Nick saw the man whispering into the ear of a young woman. The young woman was wearing a leather jacket and a white top, her hair was tied back with a red bandana. She was sitting against the corner of the booth with her feet up on the seat, playing with a butterfly knife. She was the stereotypical depiction of a greaser, which put Nick on alert. The only person he’d met so far that was similarly styled was Jacob, which didn’t bode well.

“Damn girl, I’m digging the style,” Jamie opened with, still chewing on a piece of sushi.

The girl in question looked up at Jamie and scanned him with her eyes. “You ain’t too bad yourself bub,” she then looked at Nick and her eyes widened slightly, “I think I might know why you’re down here.”

Jamie slid into the seat across from the girl and Nick followed suit, his heart racing. Nick tried to play it cool, though he was sure he was doing a terrible job of hiding his anxiety.

“Two men and three children. I know they were here, I’d be very grateful if you could tell me anything you have.”

The woman pulled out a file and took to her nails. “Yeah, I remember the kiddos, they weren’t in the best way. I do remember one that looked a lot like you, that’s for sure.”

Nick grabbed the table, his knuckles going white. The man with big eyes looked at Nick, but the woman didn’t move her gaze from her nails. Jamie grabbed Nick’s shoulder and pulled him in. He looked at the woman across from them and smiled, “group chat, give us a moment.”

He then turned to Nick, “what’s the rundown, give it to me real quick.”

Nick’s eyebrows creased, but he spoke anyway, making sure to be loud enough that the people across from them would have no problem hearing what he said. “You know how I told you my family and I got here together? Well, we found ourselves on the 72nd floor that was run by this asshole named Tony. He was running his own little dictatorship, he forced me into a class and threatened my family to keep me in line. When his time finally came he kidnapped a couple of kids, my brother included, and made a break for it. We tracked him down to this floor.”

Jamie’s eyebrows creased, “shit man, you think they’re still here?”

Nick then turned to look at the woman across from them, “well that’s the question, isn’t it? I’ve heard they moved on but I’d like to confirm that myself.”

The woman was still filing her nails and Nick saw that the woman had some bandages wrapping around her wrist. “Yeah, that is the question. I’ll give you the same answer I gave them curr that came down here asking. They ain’t here no more. Now fuck off,” she turned her glare towards Nick. “You can stay bubs, I’m sure we could have a lovely chat,” she fluttered her eyes at Jamie.

Nick’s gut soured. “I’m not running with the Exes, I was working with them to get my brother back. That went south and now I’m here myself.”

“Sure kiddo. That ain’t changing much, get your ass out of here. I’ve got no time for those affiliated with infected mutts. I ain’t asking nicely next time,” Nick felt an aura press down on him. This aura was heavy, but that was it, he didn’t feel much control over it. Instead of retaliating he simply put his own aura on the defensive and looked the woman in the eye.

“This isn’t about me. My brother was kidnapped and I want to make sure he’s okay. I might have made a few dodgy decisions myself, but I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get my brother back. My brother, Benny, is a sweet kid, he doesn’t deserve anything that’s happened. He found himself here in the Complex, under the rule of a complete asshole. Then he was ripped away from his family and is now being dragged around and put in harm's way,” Nick saw the woman’s eyes soften slightly, “he’s just a kid. He doesn’t deserve any of this, I just want to get him back. My sister and dad are heartbroken, I can’t imagine how terrible lil Benny must feel. Please, if you have anything that could help me get to him, I’ll do whatever I can for that information.”

The woman sighed and put her file down. “You can’t be telling me a sob story like that,” She signalled one of the men over and Bissus got up and came over, “Bissus here heard a lot, have a chat with him. He’ll tell you what he can. Get out of here, I’ve got a more important conversation to have.” Nick was waved away and Jamie just gave him a thumbs up. Nick sighed and walked over to a free both with Bissus.

“So,” Nick started, grabbing himself some sushi, “what have you got for me?”

Bissus pulled out a notebook and started talking, “three days ago two men came running into the lobby with three children. One of the children was badly injured, really bad. We panicked and came out to help. The men asked to see the button, they could get one of the kids to take Healer and save the other. We obliged as we don’t have a Healer down here ourselves. The female child, Camile, took the class and the other boy, Connor, survived. Ben, your brother, was quiet, very quiet. Tony then met with Clarissa, Jacob, the Scout was incredibly vulgar and Clarissa had him leave. Tony tried to trade for some class gems, but he had nothing to offer. He was cursing someone named Nick a lot, and eventually started taking out his frustrations on your brother,” Nick’s jaw clenched, and Bissus looked at him, “You’re Nick?”

Nick simply nodded and Bissus nodded back at him. “That explains a lot then. Clarissa wasn’t happy with how Tony was treating the kids, Tony retreated deep into the floor for two days, emerging late on the second with some significant changes to the group. All three of the children had some form of support class. Clarissa, Healer. Connor, Bard. Ben, Explorer.”

Nick’s heart dropped. Bissus continued, “the children were exhausted. Particularly Ben. Cissus confirmed that Tony had moved to 3-3, Jacob 3-2 and each of the children 2-0.”

Nick frowned, “How is that possible? That’s over seven class gems in the span of two days. Explorer or not, that’s surely ridiculous.”

Bissus raised an eyebrow at him, “you don’t know much about the lower floors do you?” When Nick shook his head Bissus sighed. “Lower level class gems become more common drops on the lower floors. They get mixed into the loot table with the same rarity as items. Level one to three gems aren’t too hard to come across on the 60s, especially not if there’s an Explorer involved.”

“Why isn’t even higher levelled then? I thought class gems were rare, surely everyone could easily get to at least level three then?” Nick questioned. If all it took was someone clearing the 60s floor for a while to amass class gems then surely they could sell them back to the people on the 70s?

“It is common?” Bissus sounded confused, “Back in the Parklands most people are at least level two.”I’m not sure about the situation in the hotel groups, they’ve always been rather insular.”

Now they were both confused. Why was everyone in the 70s so weak? Nick put it to the back of his mind, he now had some information about Benny to process. It wasn’t great news, but Benny was still alive, that's what was important.

“So where are they now?” Nick asked.

Bissus frowned.