CHAPTER 542: PATRON ALERT

Mason woke once or twice with his girls in his arms. Or at least Demi. Becky had rolled sideways and put her feet in his face. Then dangled half off the bed. Then lay on her stomach. Then mounted a pillow.

By the time she was twisting said pillow between her legs, he’d been ready to wake them both up for another round. Then the warning hit.

[Patron Alert: Bonded civilian (Haley) affected intentionally by a player. Source(s): Alchemical. Arcane. Harm potential: low. Initiating Patronage Event.]

[Temporary Patron Event: Option One: Immediately teleport to your contracted civilian. Option Two: Decline teleport.]

[Special Patron Event Notice: Patron events will not return you to your initial location. Dungeon groups will continue. Experience will be awarded based on your current contribution. You have three minutes before event teleportation is automatically rejected.]

Mason’s usually steady heart picked up its pace. He read the messages again and again, leaping to his feet. Three minutes? Jesus Christ. He watched the seconds tick as he tried to see past the red mist filling his vision, filling his brain.

He wanted to just click yes—to vanish and kill whatever person caused that message. He wanted to find them and rip them apart, leaving a limb in each corner of the world as a message.

Two minutes and thirty seconds.

But he had to think. To be rational. Alchemical? Arcane? Maybe it was Rosa. Except it couldn’t be Rosa because she was a civilian and the message said player. Except there were no players in Nassau!

Except Seul-ki. But she was a support, she was…a support could still hurt a civilian, kill a civilian. Easily, screamed his paranoid mind. But why would Seul-ki do anything to Haley? She was with Blake, and yes hard to read, but not crazy.

Unless Nassau was under attack. But this made no sense and he felt like he’d get ‘alerts’ for that, too. So maybe they took someone in? Someone through the teleporter? They’d taken a group of civilians—maybe somehow one had been a player in disguise. Some kind of spy or assassin that had avoided all the inspection powers.

It was the only thing that made sense, other than some stupid scheme of Blake’s using Seul-ki as an agent. Mason actually hoped it was that. Because Blake might do something absurdly foolish, but he’d never hurt Haley.

Two minutes.

Mason yanked at his hair. He crossed the room and gripped the table, breaking it in half before he’d realized. The girls woke up in a panic, calling to him in surprise and confusion.

He couldn’t just leave his people in the middle of a God damn demon raid!

“It’s Haley,” he said, lost for words.

But the alert said ‘low danger’. What did that mean? What the fuck did it mean?

“Just tell me if she’s alright God damn you!” he roared at his synthetic overlord, tossing a piece of broken wood across the room.

He watched the timer count, standing there useless and helpless with his all strength. All he had to do was push the button and he’d know for sure. He’d be next to Haley and she’d be safe. It was just a click away.

“Mason? You gotta calm down, honey.”

‘Becky the Mason Shield’ came first, just like she had in the Neutral Zone. He knew how he must look, how he must sound. He felt like a wild animal. The ‘great leader’ of Nassau flying off the handle again, terrifying everyone. His players could probably hear him, he realized. Becky was right. He had to stay in control.

He took slow, deep breaths until it counted down to a minute. He’d already decided. He knew that. He couldn’t leave eleven people in certain

danger for one person who was maybe in danger. Even if it was Haley. He’d brought all his players into this raid. He was the reason they were here, and at risk, and he couldn’t leave them.

But then they could leave, couldn’t they? It wasn’t ‘mortal’. He could tell them all to turn around and head out. It wasn’t repeatable, so there’d be consequences. What consequences?

All the goblins dead or enslaved, said his rational side, doomed to lives of misery. No more allies. No more moving to the demon-controlled portal. Not to mention the lost player morale, loss of possible rewards, loss of…

Fuck. Fuck!

Thirty seconds.

Mason couldn’t stand the counting. The facts weren’t changing and the decision was made. He clicked decline.

The window vanished with a little pop, just like that, as if the warning never happened. He stood there with his eyes closed as Carl came warping in with his dagger out, bare chested and covered in sweat and some kind of red marks.

“What? What the fuck? I heard…I don’t know what I heard. Is everything?”

Becky and Demi, who were both stark naked, grabbed pillow and bedsheets and tried to cover themselves. Carl cleared his throat and turned his back, still looking at Mason.

“Sorry. We’re fine. I got some kind of patron warning. It said Haley’s…” he shrugged helplessly. “She’s in some kind of ‘mild’ danger. Affected by a player. That’s all I know. I could have warped, but…I couldn’t just…leave. So I didn’t do anything…I…I fucking just…” he shook his head. Carl vanished his dagger.

“Shit. I’m glad you stayed, kid. I’m sure she’s…” he trailed off. “I mean if it was bad it would say it’s bad, right? And…” he probably went through the same mental calculations as Mason and looked equally confused. “Could Seul-ki be doing something? Maybe it was an accident.”

“I hope so. I really do.” Mason walked out to find Phuong and a few others. He assured them all and sent them back to bed. He also noticed half the men had the same kind of red marks Carl had. He examined them a bit closer, and if it wasn’t for the situation with Haley he would have found it hilarious.

He went back to his room, unsurprised when Carl tried to escape at all possible speed.

“Well, uh. If everything’s good.” The older man smiled with obvious embarrassment, running a hand over his head as he inched off. “I’ll just…uh. See you in a few hours, yeah?”

“Sure.” Mason let him almost make it to the door. “Oh and Carl. Tell whatever goblin girl you’ve got in there we could use food. I’m hungry.”

Carl froze and turned such a bright red color he almost glowed. Becky’s concern transformed as she perked up, looking between Mason and Carl with wide eyes.

“You sneaky old rascal.” She looked like she wanted to come punch him but then remembered all she had was a pillow-kini. “And what about all that ‘they tried to kill us’. Oh I’mma use this. Next time I say I wanna be minister of farms or whatever the hell I’ll just say ‘hey Carl, remember when you stuck yer dick in a tiny, green…”

“A man has his needs!” Carl shouted, eyes wild. “Mind your business!”

Then he shriveled and closed the door in a rush, looking physically in pain. Demi covered her mouth to hide a laugh, and Becky looked like she was about to explode as she fought it.

Mason breathed, and tried to stay calm. Pretty soon his girls noticed and came back, asking a thousand questions he didn’t have any answers to. He sat in the chair and acted like he wasn’t that worried. But when they realized he was just getting agitated they stopped and hugged him, standing on either side of the chair.

He let himself wallow one last moment, then forced it out. There was nothing he could do right now, not unless it warned him again. He’d cross that bridge if he came to it. But his girls and his players needed him here. Now. And here and now there was plenty he could do.

“You’re both still naked,” he said, stroking skin and trying not to get too worked up. Images and feelings from their time together came flashing back, and until Haley’s message it had been one of the greatest nights of his life. He said as much.

Demi smiled and kissed his forehead. Becky winked and sat in his lap.

“Wasn’t so bad for me, either.” She sighed and looked at Demi, arms draped around Mason’s neck as the pillow fell. “Guess I don’t mind sharin.’ Sometimes. And it was the best game of cowboys and Indians I ever played.”

Mason blinked because he couldn’t believe what he’d heard. He stared, then glanced up at Demi, who looked equally in disbelief. Her face cracked into a smile, and she closed her eyes and laughed like someone who finds a thing funny but knows they probably shouldn’t.

Mason shook his head and pulled Demi in to settle on his other knee, feeling like the world’s luckiest Santa Clause. Somehow he’d convinced two of the most beautiful, powerful female players not just to join his ‘house’, but his bed. And now they were making racial jokes as they cuddled up to him naked. The robo-apocalypse was a very strange place.

“We did tell the others we’d seen ‘em in a couple hours,” Becky said, her lips moving to his ear.

“There’s food coming,” Mason said, not giving a shit that there was food coming.

Becky pouted her lips and took Demi’s hand, putting it somewhere very naughty. By his reaction they all knew what was happening next. The thought of whatever naked bits of flesh exactly were moving against his thighs was doing most of it.

“I really am hungry,” he complained, shifting the girls. “I’m stopping if there’s meat. I’m serious.”

“Uh huh,” Becky said, pressing into him as she nibbled his ear.

He took a deep breath and tried to keep his mind on the present, knowing now he’d be skipping the other ‘optional’ wing of the raid. It was time to finish this place and do what he came for. To get the rewards and take the first step in dealing with the eastern players.

No matter how very good the present might be, he had to get home and check on Haley and Nassau. He could Wyrdwalk and come back fast enough. If everything was OK, he had to test and maybe even end Jeong with the opening salvo.

Who said he couldn’t be optimistic?

----------------------------------------