United Once Again

Shortly after Alex and Jasmine arrived and took their seats at the large round table positioned at the center of the upstairs War Room Devin arrived.

"Morning everyone, I'm sure everyone is just about ready with their preparations for the 3v3 fights with Shockwave tomorrow?" asked Mark, he was the group's Strategic Leader.

Before anyone could give their preparation status Alex interrupted the group. "I will not be partaking in the event."

Everyone turned to Alex with wide eyes, he was their carry. Paired with John and Jasmine they were unbeatable. Their group was the Guild's final gambit in case Shockwave pulled off a comeback or the other groups lost their matches.

"Don't look at me like that, for days now I have not only shown my disinterest in the continuation of my time in Mayhem but also was very vocal about it. The game will die out once Into the Mist launches." Alex continued to show his determination to quit Mayhem.

Devin instantly stood up and hammered the table with his fist in anger. "Damn it Alex! We have been over this! Our income comes directly from Mayhem. The last of our sponsors are in the game and one of them was very clear that we would lose them if we moved to another game. We cannot afford it!"

The others, excluding John and Jasmine, were nodding their heads in agreement. They simply couldn't afford to lose any more sponsors.

Mark also stood up, "I agree." he said with some major conflict in his eyes. He too was tired of the game, it has been 5 long years that Mayhem rained supreme but the premise behind Into the Mist was almost too tempting.

Everyone saw that Alex took a deep breath and signed. They all thought that he conceded but instead took a folder out of his briefcase and passed them out.

"Here are several documents, feel free to read them in your free time. For now I will go over them and give the tldr (too long didn't read)." responded Alex.

He proceeded to explain, "We really need to move on, in the papers you will find some of my research that both my father's company and myself conducted. By looking at the projected number Mayhem will see nearly a 100% decrease in active players and investments in 6 months time. The only reason for the long, but in reality short time period, is the limit of game hardware that will be available at release. Half a billion units at release will be nothing compared to the number released in the upcoming months."

He paused to let the group look over the paperwork. In the last few days he had been trying to convince the guild to swap games but failed to do so without giving them his research. To further help him he asked his father to do an in depth analysis of Into the Mist. He absolutely knew that it would be worth the time.

After giving them a few minutes to read over that portion of the documents Alex continued. "On the following pages you will find a mix of confirmed and unconfirmed investments of large companies that plan on investing in Into the Mist. Among them is my father's company who plans on investing more than 25 billion over the next year. Between all the companies listed that is a 22% increase over the first 2 years of Mayhem. The company behind Into the Mist just released information about having the ability to convert in-game money to real money from the get-go instead of waiting."

His guild members were shocked about the figures they were seeing. They all have been far too busy with Mayhem to even bother looking this deep into the upcoming release of Into the Mist. Hell, they haven't even looked into the playable classes. The most they have done is watch the game teasers.

"I'm not going to bore you all with any further information on the statistics, investments, ect. I will now get into the meat and potatoes of the paperwork. The last packet is from Realms Inc. They are willing to continue their sponsorship if we move onto Into the Mist. On top of that they are willing to double their current payments and in the future, backed on performance, they are willing to triple it." Alex of course was half lying and half telling the truth. Realms Inc was the company that he fabricated so that the guild would continue to survive after he caused them to lose many of their sponsors.

If he couldn't convince them with his words, why not bribe them.

"D-double it?" Tina exclaimed. She almost didn't believe it.

"Double? Hell, they are willing to triple their support." Seven was also surprised.

Devin's frowned, "They have the condition that our relationship switches from a sponsorship to a business partnership. They will continue to support us financially but in return they want 10% of our guild shares.

He then looked to Alex, "Did you agree to this?"

"They originally wanted 25%. I talked them down to 10% which was their bottom line. If we all give 1% of our shares that covers 9% and I'll make up the last percent since I failed to get a better deal."

The group was silent. Alex knew that they would be hesitant but still wanted to add this condition. It was not that he was greedy. The guild has refused to use their money to buy in-game goods until now. He would need the funds to secretly buy up items that they wouldn't normally be able to get. He needed to be prepared this time around.

"I say we agree to their terms."

Everyone looked towards John.

"Both you and Jasmine have known Alex the longest. You especially have never taken sides unless absolutely necessary. Why the change?" questioned Devin.

"Simple, I don't see any downsides. In Mayhem we were the most sponsored guild for years. Occasional product plugs racked in more money than we knew what to do with. We also learned the harsh reality of the fickleness of traditional sponsors. A partnership were we still own the majority of shares is only beneficial to us. So what if we need to turn in 10% of our gold semi-quarterly. We always had a surplus of it anyway." explained John.

Alex was internally signing, if only John knew.

After a few hours of debate they guild came to a decision. They would move their operations to Into the Mist. The prospects were too high. If only they had listened to Alex sooner. They only had a few hours to prepare and do their research. They knew roughly what classes they wanted to play but needed to dive deeper for specifics.

As it turned out, Alex had already purchased the required hardware to play as well had purchased copies of the game for everyone. Everyone went their separate ways for the time being.

John came running out of the house just as Alex got to his car. "Hey!"

"What's up?" replied Alex.

"You didn't forget did you? You said that you'd buy dinner!"

Alex waved for John to jump into the car. "Where to, your choice."

John had Alex take him to the most expensive steak restaurant in town. The bill came out to 5,200 dollars.

'Damn John, who the hell orders a gold covered steak?' Alex was swearing in his mind.

"Are you playing from home today?" John asked.

Alex didn't say anything but John could tell that he was in deep thought. They proceeded to return to the Guild Headquarters.

Seeing that Alex was following him, John knew that his friend was going to stay.

Everyone was happy to see Alex return. They had missed him being in the building during their gaming sessions. They all knew that Alex only moved out as self-punishment but didn't say anything. They awaited his return as it would mark a serious change.

Everyone entered their game capsules and waited the final 60 seconds for the launch of Into the Mist.

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Welcome to Into the Mist!