Delivery

The Games We Play​

Delivery​

​

Of everyone involved, I think I weathered the crash the best. I slammed forward against my seatbelt, smashed my head hard against the wheel, and then got knocked back into my seat by the airbags. It hurt for a second and probably took a decent chunk of my HP, but it didn't kill me and I felt more or less fine a few seconds later.

Blake, in comparison, nearly went through the window. Would have, really, if my hold on her hadn't delayed things long enough for her to be hit by the airbags, too.

When the pain faded, I realized I was laughing madly. I didn't mean to, it's just…I was alive. I'd survived the crash and nothing was filling me with bullets just this second either. The airbags quickly began to deflate, but I had started trying to move the truck the moment I could and we were in motion a second or so after the crash. I felt bumps in the road that I assumed were the Spider Droids legs as I drove over and past it and a few seconds later I could see it in my mirrors, along with—

Shit.

"Adam, get back on board!" I shouted out the window at the Faunus who hadn't been inside and didn't have anything to hold onto. He must have gone flying when we crashed, but it said something about him that he immediately started getting up and brushing himself off, looking more annoyed than anything else as he placed a hand on his sword and took a ready stance. Or, well, I assumed he was annoyed. It was kind of hard to tell with most of his face covered by his mask. Behind him, the Spider Droid was beginning to recover, turning itself around on the ground with its splayed legs. As it sighted us, its four cannons seemed to merge and it wasn't hard to guess that something big was coming.

"Some warning would be appreciated, next time," Blake said flatly, yellow eyes boring into me. "Or, preferably, never do that again."

"Let's aim for the latter," I said. "Sorry, but I didn't want you to worry about what would have happened if it hadn't worked. Adam! Get on!"

"If it hadn't worked!?" Blake asked, her eyes actually widening incredulously. It was the largest display of emotion I'd seen from her yet. "What do you mean if it hadn't worked!?"

"It's called improvisation," I told her without even looking her way. I was more focused on what was going on behind me—particularly the glow that machine was starting to emit. "Dammit, Adam!"

Blake checked her own mirror and exhaled slowly.

"Keep going," She said. "He'll catch up when he's done."

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing, Blake? Because it looks like that thing has a beam cannon!"

"Just watch," She said.

Not having much choice, I did. The machine's glow brightened even as Adam maintained the stance he'd adopted and then there was a torrent of bright blue light that I was briefly certain would eclipse Adam entirely—but it didn't. Instead, he caught the laser beam on his sword, slammed his blade back into its sheath, and started to laugh. And glow, but really, the laugh was creepier. Had I sounded like that?

And then, it was over in a flash of light, the machine literally disappearing even as Adam began to stumble and fall.

Your level has increased by one! Your level has increased by one! Your level has increased by one! Your level has increased by one!

"Shit," I said, glancing at the map even as I stopped the truck, ignoring the notifications. The other two machines had instantly reacted to their fellow's destruction, but…

"I'll get him," Blake said, disappearing back out the window. Seconds ticked by almost painfully slowly even though I knew logically that Blake reached her partner's side with amazing swiftness. I heard the back of the truck open and then close and moments after, Blake was back in her seat beside me and I drove on.

I kept watching the map, waiting for something else to happen, but nothing did. We drove right past the border into the Agricultural District without even getting stopped by the police and I realized belatedly how little time had passed in all this chaos. From when I reached that ware house to right now…it hadn't even taken half a damn hour. I'd gone up seven levels in half an hour and it wasn't over yet. Speaking of which…

As I pulled up to the place marked on the dot and got out of the car, I reached into my Inventory to retrieve the package I'd originally agreed to deliver. When Blake and I went around to the back to get the wounded, I tossed it too her.

"Here," I said. "This was what Tukson wanted me to deliver to you before…everything."

Blake looked down at the messily wrapped package and cracked a smile.

"Neither rain nor sleet nor giant robots, huh?"

"When I take a job, I finish it," I said tiredly, reaching up to open up the back. The White Fang members looked a fair bit more banged up then they had before they'd gotten into a car with me, but they were alive and they were somewhere safe.

Quest 'White Fang's Need' complete!

Your level has increased by one!

Package Delivered! Return to Tukson to receive your reward!

"We'll need to dispose of the truck," Blake said, nodding towards it. "I have some red Dust—we'll take it somewhere away from here and burn it."

I nodded before looking back into the truck. Adam, down. The three White Fang members I'd met inside the warehouse had collapsed, too. Right now, it was just Blake and I. But then…

"What about the wounded?" I asked. "I'm guessing we can't take them to the hospital, huh?"

"No," She said. "Even ignoring what we are, the hospitals are required to tell the police about wounds like these, and then…"

She shook her head.

"I know first aid. I'll do what I can," She said. What she didn't say, however, was that it wouldn't be enough. Not for most of them. There were too many bullet wounds, too many injured, too much—

Some of them would die in a few hours, even with the care the three guys in back had managed to give them. Maybe even most of them.

"Is there…" I hesitated before giving up and sighing. "Is there anything else I can do?"

"Not unless you know a way to heal the wounded," Blake said frankly, but not cruelly.

I looked down helplessly—and then glanced back up as a blue window appeared.

A quest has been created!

One after another…

But I guess I wouldn't complain. Just this once.

"Maybe," I said, eyes scrolling over the information as it appeared. "But we'll have to hurry."

XxXXxX​

Once we'd burned the truck, Blake and I took the White Fang's boat across Wilhelm before rushing to the train and riding it up to the Commercial District. It might have been quicker to steal a car—and it was an emergency—but Blake and I agreed that we couldn't risk someone noticing, calling it in, and getting us wrapped up in another fiasco—especially when we didn't have time to spare. Depending on how long things took, we might just have to risk it, but I didn't want to chance that until after we got what we needed.

Even so, we were going to be hard-pressed to make it within the time-limit of 'White Fang's Hope,' the new quest I'd gotten. I was running the moment the doors opened and pushed myself as hard as I could to get to Tukson's Book Trade. Blake kept pace with me easily, eyes sharp and alert just in case someone had somehow connected us to the mess that was now preoccupying most of the city—but no one seemed to notice a young boy and girl running, either going about their normal lives or focusing their attention on holographic screens that couldn't seem to decide whether to blame the incident on the Schnee Dust Company or on the White Fang. That wasn't my concern, though, so I just pushed my body as hard as I could, following the route on my map and barreling through the door to Tukson's place.

Repeated struggles caused your VIT to increase by 1!

"Tukson!" I shouted even as I struggled to breath, Blake slipping in quietly after me and shutting the door behind us.

I heard a sudden rattling sound from the back room before Tukson swept up front, the light of the hologram shining briefly before the veil fell back into place.

"Boy?" Tukson asked, expression seemingly unable to settle on a particular emotion. I could guess why, given he probably didn't know what had happened—he'd been worrying about his friends, worrying about me, wondering if he'd gotten me killed, wondering if I'd been the cause of all this. When his eyes settled on Blake, however, he took a deep breath and his features settled. He paused for a moment, before apparently deciding on something and nodding to himself. "It's good to see you both made it out okay. The others?"

I guess it wasn't too hard to figure out that I knew what was going on when a powerful White Fang member was looming in my shadow and following my lead. I wasn't sure what that must have looked like to Tukson, but I was happy to exploit it now.

"Alive but most of them are hurt pretty bad," I said, looking left and right with a frown. "I'm gonna need everything you have on medicine and healing."

I paused for an instant and when no windows appeared before me I spoke again.

"I delivered your package, by the way, so I'm taking my book, too," I said.

Your level has increased by one! Your level has increased by one! Your level has increased by one!

The skill book 'Meditation: The Soul of the World' is now yours for the taking!

Brushing past them, I went to the shelf and grabbed the book I could blame at least part of this mess on and then crouched down to glance over the others. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Blake moving quickly to one of the other shelves and gathering a few books herself.

"Hey, Tukson, is it possible to heal with Aura?" I asked, lifting my voice.

"It's possible, but it won't help you much," Tukson said. "There are a number of ways to do it, but they all take a lot of training. Up in Vacuo—where I'm from—there are a few monasteries and schools that train people to use their Aura to do stuff like that but it takes years to master it. It's a lot easier to heal yourself than others."

"I'm a fast learner," I said. "Do you have any books on it?"

Tukson opened his mouth again before closing it and shaking his head, apparently deciding against whatever he'd been about to say.

"Yeah," He said. "In the back, just let me get it."

Tukson popped into to the back of the shop and just as quickly returned, carrying what looked more like a notebook then a book. I looked down at the cover as he held it out to me and could honestly say I didn't understand a word of it. Hell, I didn't even recognize what language it was on, and though the book itself only seemed a tad worn, the script seemed old, somehow.

"This is an old, old Vacuo manuscript—or, well, it's a transcription, at least. Back in the War, a few of the monasteries got raided and had their tablets and texts stolen. Afterwards, most of them got returned or put in museums, but a few ended up in some expensive collections. This is a transcription of one of the latter that my friend managed to get for me after the guy got raided himself."

As he spoke, he cast a sidelong glance at Blake before focusing back on me.

"I don't know how much help it'll be to you, though. The original tablet was something like three thousand years old and the monks kept the transcriptions under lock and key. It took me a month to hunt down enough books to even try translating it and it wasn't very helpful. It's the third tablet of a set of eight and it builds off principles in the first, so I couldn't make any sense of it. I don't even know if I translated the name right…"

I took the book.

You obtained the skill book 'The Forge of Souls Creates Life.' Would you like to learn this skill?

"Did you translate it as 'The Forge of Souls Creates Life'?" I asked. "Because that's what I'm getting."

I saw both Blake and Tukson turn and just…stare at me. I made a show of flipping through the book quickly and nodding to myself as if I could actually understand it.

"It's not a problem," I said. "Blake, let's go. Sorry Tukson, but I might not be able to return your books. Thanks for the help."

I put my new skill books under one arm and turned to go before pausing.

"Actually…you have a car, right?"

XxXXxX