HC:Pacifist | Ch. 26 - Elm Street 73

NOTE FROM CÁSSIO:

Hi there, Patreons! First of all, thank you for your very generous support! Following your feedback, I'm limiting my posts and will make announcements in notes before chapters such as this. This way, you don't get spammed :D

This chapter could fit anywhere in the story, and regardless of where you are, I'm sure you will like it. Eventually, it will become chapter 26, and all the following numbers will be adjusted.

In case you missed it, I have rewritten some chapters:
1) The following chapters have been significantly changed: 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 20, 21
2) These chapters have been slightly tweaked/adjusted: 0, 1, 9, 17.

As you will notice, most chapters that have been rewritten are the ones that refer to how Roth was imprisoned in AstroTerra and the ones with Loki and the IronIre Squad.

I left what I changed in the story down in the comments below.

Happy readings!

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Roth paced as he waited for his guest to arrive. He had seemed like a trustworthy man, but Roth couldn't be sure. Asking for his help was risky, but doing nothing was even more so. He had to try leaving the game again. In a gesture of good faith, he had decided to gift his guest from the get-go with the location of Oscar's home. The forums did not mention this NPC, and knowledge was valuable in AstroTerra. He hoped the olive branch would make his guest feel he meant business and was sincere.

After a few more never-ending minutes of wait, a man appeared in the distance. He wore leather armor and a quarterstaff. His jaw was square, and he had blue eyes. His beard and grays showed he was well into his fifties but still lively. The orderly manner in which the man seemed to march rather than walk was characteristic of a military man. Roth suspected he had received enhancement surgery offered to military personnel. It was the most logical explanation for someone his age to show such vitality.

"Thank you for seeing me here, SargeantSarg."

"No problem, Pax. I have to say I wasn't expecting you to contact me so soon. Why meet out here?"

"Please, call me Roth. It's my real name. Here. If you crouch under here, you will find a hidden NPC. It's a dog named Oscar. Not many people know this. Consider it a token of my sincerity."

"I thought giving one's real name online was bad policy. At least, if things haven't changed much since my glory days."

"You're right. But this is an extraordinary situation, and you'll think me crazy when I finish talking. I might as well be as sincere and truthful as I can. I don't know about you, Sargeant, but I find it easier to trust a man whose name I know." Roth took the man's silence as agreement. He noticed he hadn't given him his name in return nor thanked him for showing him the NPC. He would have to trust before he could be trusted.

"So... why is it that you called me here, son? Is it because of your episodes?"

"Yes, and no, sir." Roth had thought long and hard about how he would say this. He had concluded that the best thing he could do was to lay all his cards on the table.

"Sir, I'm being held captive. I've been put in this game against my will." The man frowned, and his face hardened. "I made some poor decisions years ago, which caused some people a lot of hurt. I also almost beat a powerful man to death. They have found a way to hold me here. I can't log out, and I can't call GMs. When I do, they just say my file says I am mentally ill. But I'm not crazy, sir."

As soon as he said that, he realized that the sergeant's first impression of him would be the opposite of what he was saying. After all, the first time this man had seen him was when Roth had come running, flailing his arms and shouting to everyone who would hear that he was crazy and a damaged human being.

"Except for your episodes, of course," chuckled the Sargeant.

"Except for my episodes," agreed Roth, seriously. Roth felt the Sargeant's eyes studying him.

"Were you in jail?"

"Yes, sir. How did you know?"

"The way you respond to authority. It's something I have seen in prisoners. Plus, you just admitted to aggravated assault." The man sighed. "You do realize that, in principle, AVR pods can't be hacked. You also realize that game files can't be easily fabricated. You realize that 99% of people who hear your story will run away afraid that you're a scammer."

"Sir, have you heard of Pegasus, Inc.?"

"Who hasn't?"

"The man I almost killed... it's their CEO."

"Oh boy... if what you're saying is true, you have barked at a dangerous tree. Ahahaha." The man scratched his beard for a few seconds and, made his decision. "GM! I have a young man here who says that his account has been hacked. Please come and assist." Roth hadn't expected that he would call a GM so soon. He still had things he wanted to say. He had to hurry before someone came in, accusing him of being mental.

"I don't think that's going to work, sir." He gulped.

"We'll see."

It was all or nothing now. He had to try. "I'm from sector 14, sir. Do you live close by?"

"No. I don't."

"Sir, please. You have to listen to me. Regardless of what the GMs say, please send a letter to my mom. Tell her I have left prison and will come home as soon as possible. That's all I ask. Her address is Elm Street 73, Sector 5, District 4. Elm Street 73, Sector 5, District 4."

"OK...?"

"And if you want to do that for me, please call cyber police. Tell them that Roth Tailor was kidnapped after leaving prison." Hopefully, the police receiving the tip wouldn't be on Loki's pay grade.

"I will see what I can do." Roth was disappointed. It wasn't a promise but better than refusing his request outright.

A cheesy celebratory sound of a GM's arrival interrupted the conversation and broke the peace of the secluded place where Roth and the Sergeant met. "Hello, I am Lilly. How can I help you today, gentlemen?" Before Roth could say anything, the Sergeant took the initiative.

"This young man has been hacked. Someone is holding him inside the pod against his will. He can't log out or turn off his pain settings. Where is he being held? Can you force him to log out?"

"Sir, with all due respect, the AVR pods we use are the safest devices on the planet. It's impossible to hack them." Roth noticed that the Sergeant commanded so much respect that Lilly instinctively felt obligated to talk to him as if it were a supervisor.

"Please check his account, and tell me what you find."

Her eyes became blank as she went to check the player's files. Roth tapped his foot, waiting for the girl to return and hopefully corroborate his story. "Please, sir, at least a letter to my mom. Elm Street 73, Sector 5, District 4. She must be worried sick about me. Please. Just a letter. That's all I ask." The girl's eyes refocused.

"I'm sorry, sir. This young man is a player who has suffered severe mental trauma and developed a delicate condition. His guardians have placed his account under severe restrictions. I have already cleared this up with my supervisor."

"Get your supervisor here, Lilly."

"I'm sorry, sir, I don't have the authority."

"Get your supervisor here, Lilly. Is this a way to treat a war veteran? Why is it, you think, that you get to enjoy a peaceful existence without having to kill someone for a glass of water." She gulped. "Get. your. supervisor. now."

"I... I will see what I can do." Her eyes became blank again. After a few moments, another figure materialized.

"Hello sir, hello young man; I am Marius, a supervisor. How can I help you today?"

"Hello, Mr. Marius. My friend here has been a victim of kidnapping and claims that his pod has been hacked. Do you mind helping him to force his log out?"

"Sir, according to his account records, he has logged out several times during the last few days. There doesn't seem to be any issues with his pod."

"Prove it. Force his log-out."

"Very well."

The GM's hand started glowing, and Roth's figure disappeared before he could say anything.

"Will that be all, sir?"

The Sergeant regarded the man long and hard. "That will be all. I guess I was wrong. I'm sorry about that."

"No worries, sir. Lilly, please fill up your report and tag this account. We can't keep having GMs being bothered by this young man. For all the sympathy we might feel for his condition, we all have much work to do. Have a good day, sir."

Both figures disappeared. The Sergeant stared motionless for a moment. Logically, everything pointed toward the young man lying. But there was this sincerity about him. The Sergeant also got a gut feeling that there was something strange about this supervisor. He checked his friends list and saw that Pax was offline. He had logged out. He stretched his hand toward the unfriend button but then stopped himself. Maybe it was a cry for help. He couldn't in old conscience leave things like this.

Elm Street 73, uh? Sighing, he turned and went to meet his crew. They had a Brawny Badger to hunt, and he had a letter to write before joining them.

*

Roth woke up in a dark space. What was going on? It felt like he had been thrown into the tutorial again. What was happening? He read a notification that explained it.

GM Marius' Curse has afflicted you.

Your avatar will remain in this space for 8 hours before you can return to your gaming experience.

Roth let out all the anger in his heart for the first time in a very long time. He wailed in despair, shouting and clawing away at the air around him with all his strength. Drake would have been disappointed at his outburst. "There is no excuse to lose control, even in private," he always said. But the frustration and injustice were just too much. He was sure of it now. Loki had agents inside Nexus.

After several minutes of screaming angrily, he managed to calm down. He had to think. There was nothing else he could do anyway. A supervisor had been paid to make him look mentally ill. Even after he had reached out to someone who seemed trustworthy, the web they had spun was too strong.

They had seriously undermined the Sergeant's trust in him. He had to try to become even closer friends with someone within the game before he could try again. Only by establishing a solid relationship with them first would they be willing to stick their necks out for Roth.

He went back to reviewing his plan for progressing his avatar. He would continue to develop inside the game for now. With time, he would try to run for it again.

*

It was 6 am. The mail bot left the station and went on its route. Even though emails were the norm, there was still use for paperback correspondence. The divorce from paper would still take a few decades before it came to be, especially now that it didn't require trees to produce it.

The mail bot hovered and silently flew around the neighborhood until it reached Elm Street. It had three letters to deliver out here. It went to number 16. Then number 53. Finally, number 63. The letter was inserted through the door, and the mail bot disappeared.

A man silently walked off the basement as the letter entered the house. Careful not to be seen through the windows, he checked the correspondence. He pulled a monocle, a device a friend of his from the army had gotten him, and he saw through the envelope. It was from a Sergeant Hollingsworth. Seeing an official-sounding name, its heartbeat raced, and he read its contents.

Dear Mrs. Tailor,

My name is Jazzinald Von Hollingsworth. I have recently met a unique young man calling himself Roth Tailor. Our paths crossed in an augmented virtual reality game called AstroTerra.

He made me promise that I would at least send you this letter to let you know he had left prison and that he was coming home as soon as possible. He also seems to be under the delusion that his past has caught up with him and that a group of unsavory individuals is holding him hostage inside this game.

Although good sense judgment dictates that I ignore this young man, he has such sincerity about him that I couldn't in good conscience face him without at least abiding by such a harmless request as this of sending you this letter.

Please let me know if your son has some mental illness or a history of post-traumatic stress disorder so that I can understand his peculiar character. It would help satisfy an old man's curiosity.

Best regards,

Srgt. Jazzinald Von Hollingsworth

It was as he feared. Despite all their contingencies, they were coming for them sooner or later. Loki hadn't even bothered stopping this. He wanted Roth's mom to become desperate and for the police to come looking for him and the squad.

He didn't owe anything to the others in the squad, but if word of the Slayer getting out got to Mrs. Bessie... the heat on him would only rise. He grabbed the letter and took it with him back to the basement. He couldn't let Mrs. Bessie read this.

Ch. 25 - The Baroness

INDEX

Ch. 26 - Badgers