111 Gaia

[Gaia: QJ] Everyone stays on the platform; Kenzo just wants to ensure the Clan's safety. 

[Gaia: Sato] Wow... this place even feels different. 

QJ nodded in agreement as he stepped off the platform to greet Anya and Kenzo. Gaia felt more like the real world than any of the Exodus games, perhaps because it was given so much time to evolve after its initial failure. 

After greeting them, Kenzo briefed them on the attack and subsequent retreat into the caverns. QJ, Ringo, and Kenzo walked toward one of the sealed-off entrances. 

[Kenzo has been invited to join One Problem.]

[Gaia: Breeze] Welcome Kenzo! 

[Gaia: Kenzo] Thanks. 

[Gaia: Jigsaw] Welcome, handsome. 

[Gaia: Breeze] We agreed not to hit on the new guy.

[Gaia: Jigsaw] I didn't sign anything. 

Kenzo grinned at Ringo, who only sighed loudly. "It's okay; I never get to interact with other players anymore." 

QJ whistled softly at the neat glass seal on the cavern exits. "You did these instantly?"

Kenzo nodded and took out his stylus and pad. "I believe these were initially game developer tools, but I can't be sure. If I can draw it, I can instantly build it. The same goes for disassembly." 

"Perfect, I was supposed to grab the portal key, but if you can disassemble it, that's just as good." QJ held the pad and stylus like it was the Holy Grail. "What can you tell us about the group that attacked you?"

Kenzo pointed at the nearer exit." The woman Anya calls Nora went through this exit with half the team while Michael Benz went through the other with the rest of them."

"You can confirm it's Michael Benz?" QJ asked.

Kenzo shrugged slightly. "Anyone could make the avatar, but the look is certainly his." 

"Unseal this tunnel, and I'll scout one with Sato while Anya and Ringo take the other one." QJ glanced at Ringo for confirmation, and the OP Guild Leader nodded in agreement. 

"I'll have to seal it behind you, but let me know when you return, and I'll open it up," Kenzo replied. 

[Gaia: QJ] We're sending our stealth guys to scout the cavern. Sato is with me while Anya and Ringo take the other passage.

[Gaia: Anya] I'll take good care of her.

[Gaia: Ringo] Thanks.. =) 

Kenzo unsealed the passages, watching as the two groups stealthed up and entered their respective passages. As soon as they entered, he resealed the doors. 

[Gaia: QJ] Short scout only; we'll meet back in two hours. 

[Gaia: Ringo] Got it. 

QJ led Sato through the passage, not wasting time; he broke into a trot while relying on his Spy ring to illuminate the darkness. Sato equipped a similar item just for the trip to Gaia. 

[Group: Sato] Bruh. Kenzo has it made here.

[Group: QJ] Think so? You know the choice he was forced to make. At such a young age, he entered a world that was utterly alien to him.

[Group: Sato] Most people with terminal illnesses aren't offered that choice.

[Group: QJ] True. He has adapted.

[Group: Sato] Did you meet Mika Silverfang? I've never seen anyone so attractive. Unless it's Barti...

QJ grinned but didn't comment. When they saved Barti, she kissed Sato and made a lasting impression on him. "She's a Silverleaf."

[Group: Sato] What does that mean?

[Group: QJ] They can't be trusted.

[Group: Sato] What about Belle? I heard Robin and Ra mention her.

[Group: QJ] Belle is the exception. 

QJ and Sato followed a narrow walkway that weaved deeper into the mountain; it branched off after several minutes, making the pair decide whether to stay together or separate. 

[Group: Sato] What do you think?

[Group: QJ] Let's both take the branch for a few minutes, then we can decide. 

After less than a minute, the branched-off path ended in a circular room with a peculiar metallic object coming out of the rock floor. 

Sato touched the object, trying to ascertain its purpose. "Any idea what this is?"

QJ nodded. "If I saw it without any previous context, I wouldn't know, but I'm guessing this is some sort of data node." 

[Gaia: Ringo] Found something; it looks like an arrowhead coming up out of the floor. 

[Gaia: QJ] We found the same thing. My guess is that it's a data node. Map its position and continue. 

Sato led the way back to their original passage. "When did Ringo get stealth?"

"Same way I did; I assume she went to the Painted Lady to get in amplified." QJ retook the point, and within a few minutes, they reached another branch. 

[Group: QJ] You hear that humming? Be ready. 

QJ drew [Roll Credits] and slowed his step until they reached a second node. This one was glowing and making intermittent humming noises. 

[Group: Sato] We could try to break it.

[Group: QJ] No. I want to avoid forcing our target into hiding by spoiling their play too early. Who knows what kind of resources Benz has in Gaia if he's been planning this long term.

[Gaia: Ringo] We found a second node; this one is active. 

[Gaia: QJ] Same here. Leave it be for now and continue scouting. 

Within a few minutes, QJ and Sato found a third node; this one was also active. After taking screenshots of the object, they continued scouting. 

[Group: Sato] Heat that? Footsteps...

[Group: QJ] It's Ringo and Anya; check your mini-map.

[Gaia: Ringo] Looks like the nodes are set up in a large circle; there's a door here.

[Gaia: QJ] We're almost there. 

QJ spotted Ringo first, his eyes automatically glancing upward where Anya was hanging from the ceiling. "Nice try."

Anya lowered herself upside down until her warm green eyes aligned with QJ. "The son of the Nemesis is never fooled." 

"Not often," QJ admitted. He was used to Anya and her antics since she'd been doing the same things since he was five. 

[Gaia: Ringo] Sending you our mapping report. 

QJ waited a moment for the report to compile with his data. He used his hud to display a map of the six nodes. "What do you think?"

Ringo smiled at her Vice Leader. "The shape looks familiar. The brief you gave me said that Nora Salo was a premier Neurologist. With that in mind, this looks like a neural network."

QJ nodded in agreement. "Nora invented the transferrence procedure and would have received all sorts of intellectual awards and accolades if her work wasn't a direct result of illegal human trials. With that being said, she's brilliant."

[Gaia: QJ] Let's head back and talk to Kenzo. Four of the nodes were active, which could mean just about anything, but I'm guessing the inactive nodes are ready to complete their routine.

**********

Back at the settlement, Nina sat between Mika and Kenzo. The purple-haired fiend was all smiles while dealing with the pair. "I expected to see Red here. Aren't the two of you an item?"

"It's complicated," Kenzo admitted. "She's in Jela at the moment." 

"Why do you have two names?" Mika found the young woman facinating. Her tag displayed her name as Jigsaw, but the girl introduced herself as Nina.

"I'm just a visitor. Unlike Kenzo, we are anchored to another place and only visit worlds like Gaia and Exodus temporarily." Nina didn't ask anything else about their relationship; she asked out of curiosity, but she had watched Kenzo's stream in the past and knew a little about his life and interactions. "When we visit other worlds, we sometimes use different names and personas." 

Mika nodded. "You are tethered to your home, but Kenzo has been detached from his."

"Yes," Nina replied. "Entering a new world and cutting the tether is a process we call transference. It's becoming more common in Exodus." 

"Gaia has been disconnected from this process," Kenzo explained. 

[Gaia: QJ] We're on our way back; it's time to make some plans. 

[Gaia: Kenzo] I'll meet you at the sealed entrances. 

Nearly an hour later, QJ sat around the lodge fire with Kenzo and Ringo. A split-screen stream featured Anna Li and the Roxy/Bai duo. From experience, he knew that both his parents would be watching and listening in. 

QJ pointed to the map. "This door is the only one we didn't investigate. It's where we rejoined Anya and Ringo, and it seems likely that our target is there."

Kenzo nodded. "Did you try opening it? Perhaps it's locked."

"Nora has some sort of advanced detection," Anya replied. "We felt it unnecessary to pursue beyond this point." 

"Doesn't matter," Kenzo admitted. "I can harvest the door." 

Roxy watched the interaction; she had met QJ several months earlier during her first interaction with Anna Li. "In hindsight, Michael Benz may possess the same abilities as Kenzo. When we transferred Kenzo to Gaia, the engineering template was placed in the character generation files, even though it wasn't an original occupation. Michael Benz had removed everything else before he placed Gaia in evolution mode." 

"Makes sense," QJ agreed. "If Michael were prepping for a permanent move to Gaia, he would have set himself up as OP as possible. Do we know when Nora and Michael first made contact?"

Roxy nodded. "Michael Benz's server had several emails from a person called Ingrid. Most of these are encrypted, and we have yet to be able to decipher them. The first contact between the two of them was three years ago. From what Anya says, Ingrid is Nora Salo." 

"On that point," Anna Li stepped in. "Nora Salo died in prison from an undisclosed illness. If we line the pieces up, we can ascertain that she was able to go through the transference process secretly and has been in Exodus for several years." 

"I'm not letting her survive, no matter what," Anya spoke quietly, her voice chilled like deep winter. "I don't care about Michael, but if he's involved in planning against my family, he doesn't walk away either."

QJ exchanged glances with Ringo but didn't comment. Nora was acting against the Riley family in the real world; she needed to be dealt with once and for all. "Kenzo can disable all the nodes in the morning, and OP will storm the closed door." 

Kenzo nodded in agreement. "Works for me. We'll hit them at first light."