CHAPTER 45: XLV - THE GAMER

Etienne, Alex and Nairobi walked shoulder to shoulder in the torrential rain, holding up large umbrellas. The visibility in the area was very low. The rain created a mist that was impossible to see through.

"Couldn’t they have postponed this for a day or two?" Alex muttered.

"We were supposed to have this meeting a few days ago, but you were still too injured to attend. The INHO opted to wait for you to heal before holding it," Nairobi chimed in.

Etienne attempted to look through the mist, "I can’t even tell if we’re close..."

Alex looked down at his wrist and then back up, "We’re close."

The three of them continued walking for a while, their path occasionally illuminated by car headlights and street lamps.

After a few minutes, they arrived at the front of a large silver cylindrical building. Through the overwhelming rain, they spotted three individuals sitting under the overhang of the building.

A young Asian man with pale skin sat on the floor reading a book. An older woman in a bulletproof vest leaned against the cylindrical building and stared disinterestedly at a tanned young man who spoke emphatically, waving his arms around.

The older woman pointed at Etienne, Alex and Nairobi, and the tanned young man turned around immediately. Without hesitation, he walked from under the overhang into the rain and got into Etienne’s face.

The tanned young man stood a head above Etienne and looked directly into his eyes, "What’s up with this little hero? This little weak hero."

"I’m—"

The tanned young man cut him off immediately, "Oh, I know who you are, Ninjaman. Your name is buzzing all the way out in Cali. But let me be frank: I don’t think I like you. You let too many innocents die under your watch for me to respect you. Hell, you couldn’t even protect your mayor!"

Etienne gritted his teeth and pulled his arm back to strike him. Alex grabbed his arm and stopped him, while glaring at the tanned young man.

The tanned young man turned his attention to Alex, "What’s wrong Mechaboy," He put extra emphasis on the ’boy,’ "You got something to say? Or are you just in awe of a real hero?"

The tanned young man pushed Etienne aside and stood in front of Alex, "You know, I just saw your master last week, sipping Mai Tais in San Francisco. He looked so happy to finally be out of this dystopian hellhole."

Nairobi stepped between them, "That’s enough, Keita!"

Keita’s mood shifted immediately. A smile crept onto his face, and his voice became softer.

"Hey Nairo, I didn’t know you were with these guys. Sorry about that," He put a finger under her chin, "We miss you out in SoCal, you know. The hero scene is boring without you."

Nairobi slapped his hand away hard and looked at him with disgust.

Keita put his hands up and chuckled, "I see, I see. You’d much rather be out here in this lawless wasteland with this contractor and this kid playing at hero, instead of with us in the big leagues. You stand out more here, that’s for sure."

"Do you ever stop running your mouth, Keita?" The young man sitting on the floor asked calmly.

Keita turned to him with his fists balled, before glancing at the woman in the bulletproof vest and standing down.

Etienne whispered to Nairobi, "Who are these people?"

Nairobi stepped forward and pointed to them, "That arrogant jerk is the rank number 20 hero, Keita Sumire. His hero name is the Gamer. That quiet, soft-spoken guy on the ground in the number 33 hero, Shota Itagaki. His hero name is Protag."

Nairobi narrowed her eyes at the older woman, staring listlessly into the rain, "And she is rank number 77, Mina Hong. Her hero name is Ms. Glitch."

Nairobi turned to Etienne, "This is a hero group known as the Gamers. Back when they were lower ranked and had more members, I was a part of them. But now things have changed; it seems they’ve distilled it down to just a few members."

"But why are they he—" Before Alex could finish his sentence, the front door to the cylindrical building swung open and a beautiful young woman in a business suit stepped out with her hands behind her back.

"Good morning, Gamers and Paragons. Thank you for being early; you may come in."

The heroes all filed into the cylindrical building and walked down a long, winding hallway. The halls were dark, with dim lamps sparsely placed along the walls. The walls were bland and featureless, and the ground beneath them was crude and well worn.

"Is this really the INHO’s branch for Oregon? Where is everyone?" Etienne called out.

The woman in the business suit, leading the way, responded flatly, "I’m sure that you’re aware we only have one ranked hero and around 7 contracted heroes in the entire state. To be blunt, they slashed the budget and reduced the staff heavily. Besides myself, only 4 other people work here on a full-time basis."

"Even with all the recent meta incidents? The staff is still that small?" Alex questioned.

The woman in the business suit stopped and turned to the group, "That’s why we’re here. And that’s why we have a few unfamiliar faces with us."

She motioned to a small door, and the heroes filed into it.

The small door led to a large auditorium, filled with rows of chairs and a large board at the front. The heroes walked across the carpeted floor and took seats in various spots. The Paragons sat together near the front of the auditorium, while the Gamers spread out across the room.

The young woman in the business suit stood in front of a small podium and grabbed a microphone.

"Good morning everyone! My name is Isatou Camp and I am the director of the INHO’s Oregon branch. We’ll skip the pleasantries and I’ll immediately begin discussing our plan to subjugate and eliminate the Black Company from Oregon, using information we recently gained."