Chapter 36: 32. The Trip Back Home

Jay and the remaining crawlers soon learned leaving the black site required more subtlety than ordering an Uber. Or taking an open sidewalk to reach the nearest public bus stop.

Stalking the perimeter, reporters and other nosy civilians were hunting for internet-worthy subjects. It ranged from a street stain looking like Jesus in front of the perimeter to the food the guards ate if they got caught eating in the open. If the crowd saw the teens leaving the black site directly, the possible virality would hinder or disrupt the MPC’s covert operations.

Jay figured the MPC wanted to keep the Multiverse and dungeon info on the down-low so the public wouldn’t panic. Exposure could also bite the crawlers in the rear with all the possible spies, unfriendly spooks, and assassins.

Senior Agent Juliet Cabana described the situation to the crawlers under a small white tent at the edges of the black site. She was pretty, sharply dressed in a black skirt and heels, and was more of the business-orientated type. Seeing Kleo didn’t seem to phase the woman. Even when the [Faerie] orbited into Agent Cabana’s head, the woman held her impeccable composure.

“Okay, what’s the big deal, FemmeFrank?” Kleo whined. “Why won’t you act shocked or have that stupid wide-eyed human look on your face?”

“I did get shocked and had a wide-eyed moment, Miss Kleo,” Agent Cabana answered with monotonous professionalism. “For about a second. When you weren’t looking. Then I accepted your existence and refocused on my duty. Serving as your contact for the teams watching over your families, friends, and partially yourselves.”

“Bah, you’re doing it wrong. You’re supposed to get angry and offended when I call you female Frank,” Kleo said.

“I’ll be sure to tell Junior Agent Stronghold that he resembles a petite woman in a skirt,” the agent replied. “He could express his outrage in my place.”

“Good, good, you do that!” Kleo shot a small purple jet from her back and scooted into Dennis’s forehead. “I declare this a seat worthy of me. It’s the biggest one I can find.”

Dennis snorted softly.

Mike smiled tiredly.

Jay sighed, feeling weary. Kleo joking around should’ve gotten a laugh out of him. Or at least a chuckle. He couldn’t muster the energy.

“Are we ready to exit?” Jay asked.

Agent Cabana spoke into a comm built into her encrypted smartwatch. Someone on the other side of the line gave the affirmative.

Cabana led the crawlers out of the tent. They entered a well-groomed backyard through a gap in a board fence and moved around a series of evacuated homes beyond the cul-de-sac. They entered a small alley shaded by palm trees and stalks of bamboo, a single vein of many running through the suburbs.

Jay spotted a casually dressed man and woman walking down the alley from opposite directions. Could that be trouble? But he sensed no change in Cabana’s emotional gravity.

Agent Cabana wasn’t worried.

“Still clear?” She asked the new arrivals.

“Yes, Ma’am,” replied the man, which Jay figured was an agent charged with watching the alley.

“Aerial drone spotted a few civilian snoopers, but they weren’t in our quadrant,” the female agent explained. “Another team is dealing with them as we speak.”

“I just thought up something,” Dennis said. “Don’t we gotta worry about the crowd after all the noise YoAnna made?”

“Did that noise reach beyond the black site?” Mike asked.

“It didn’t,” said the disguised female agent. “The perimeter guards didn’t hear any noise either. They use separate radio channels outside of the black site, too. We didn’t have a panic among the outer guards, thankfully.”

“Do you know how Miss Sainte-Rhythms accomplished such a feat?” Agent Cabana asked the crawlers, specifically Mike.

“I have no clue,” Mike lied.

Agent Cabana nodded. “Then I’ll depart with something for Mister Luckrun. An order from up the chain wants you to keep as low a profile as possible. Your tendencies for public displays can be detrimental to our mission and come with consequences.”

“I’ll try,” Jay said, waving down Kleo before she argued with the senior agent. “Anything else?”

Senior Agent Cabana frowned. “Miss Kleo’s presence.”

“I’m just a fun toy of Master Jay,” Kleo said, taking a seat on Jay’s shoulder. They looked like an eccentric act with their matching rainbow-colored swirl-patterned hoodies. Kleo even copied how Jay rested his hands in his pouch.

“Your eyes?” Senior Agent Cabana inquired.

“Fancy contact lens,” Jay answered.

She sighed. “You live up to your profile, Mister Luckrun.” She glanced at Mike. “Keep him out of trouble, Mister Zhou.”

“No guarantees,” Mike said.

Dennis fidgeted, a decent cue for the senior agent to finish.

“You all have my phone number. We’ll contact you if we find suspicious activities involving you and yours. We are well aware we aren’t to intervene if an altercation does occur with a Champion directly and doesn’t involve possible civilian casualties. But if we happen to cross paths with an issue before you do, by circumstance, then it’s fair game.”

The Champions gave their farewells. The senior agent disappeared behind a hedge surrounding someone’s two-story home. The other agents departed the scene, leaving the boys and Kleo to find their way out into a bustling main street.

Jay put his hood on–and Kleo did the same. They took their time to look around now that they were free to do their own thing for the first time in what felt like a long time.

Yellow barricades and armored vehicles toting large guns separated the black site from the civilian populace. A crowd of random pedestrians, homeowners from the area, news reporters, and amateur internet personalities buzzed around the street. They were in various states of confusion, outrage, or pure unadulterated excitement. When Jay paid attention to their emotional gravity, he noticed strange forces at play, drawing these people together. Like a magnet. It was large enough to have these people here instead of elsewhere as if their combined emotions held sway on the group.

It dawned on Jay that he knew something bigger than anything these people knew combined. Maybe even bigger than the entire suburbs. Or the entire city. Hell, perhaps further than that. He probably couldn’t put a price on his knowledge. There wasn’t a price for his magic power. Powers that were probably rarer among all the other magic Jay hadn’t even seen yet.

What would these people do if they realized the world was on the edge of changing forever? Then what would they do when their universe got fully attached to the Multiverse and System? The questions were heavy. Stranger yet was how clear and fluid Jay’s thoughts ran. Those few points in Intellect were helping. Maybe he might divest a few more on that attribute once he reviewed all his dungeon gains.

“This is where we split, dudes and dudette,” Dennis said, stretching his muscular form tiredly. “It’s been wild. Like, get out the front door wild. But football practice picks up tomorrow. It’s light stuff—just a warmup before the real practice during the week. Then a big game with our rivals on Friday. That is the second week of school, which is a bummer, but I’m strangely okay with that. It’s a safe bummer.”

“Other than the assassins and enemy spies lurking,” Jay said.

Dennis sighed, pulling out his phone to order an Uber. “I really, really, really don’t want to think about that. None of that compares to my dad, anyway.”

“Will you be okay, Dennis?” Mike asked, concerned.

“I’ll be alright.” The blue-eyed physical phenom flashed a grin. “It’s nothing I haven’t faced before.”

A good line. But it was marred by the atmospheric gravity growing more volatile over Dennis.

Jay frowned but held himself back from intruding. He was worried he’d do more harm than good. Like how YoAnna failed to convince Frank to separate from his toxic organization. The teenage Spook had some decent reasons to stay. Logical stuff. But it did nothing for his well-being.

“Keep being precious, Kleo, and see you guys in school,” Dennis said. “Don’t be scared to say hi or anything even if I’m around the other jocks. I don’t want it to be like this didn’t happen.”

They bid farewell before Dennis walked off, his huge back disappearing around a corner. Jay, Kleo, and Mike lingered a while, ensnared by the strange dramas between the populace and the black site guards. Some civilians were outrageous. Others were simply curious citizens. A few were business savvy, risking trouble to park their food trucks or set up stalls and sell. One woman brought cookies to share with people not from the suburbs as others from the area sat on their lawn chairs in the front of their homes with a few beers.

“Is this part of the story?” Kleo asked hesitantly. “It’s a messy story if there is one here.”

“There’s no story,” Jay answered. “It’s just people being people.”

“Nobody controls them or tells them their script?” Kleo glanced at Mike. “C’mon, egghead, you’re smart enough to know there’s no true freedom, right?”

“What do you mean by freedom?” Mike asked.

“That sounds like a loaded question we can toy with another day,” Jay said.

“Did you do that on purpose?” Kleo asked.

“What on purpose?” Jay blinked.

“The pun,” Mike said.

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Jay winced. “I didn’t even intend that.”

“Yup, it’s time to go,” Mike said. “When you don’t intend a joke, you’re off. When I’m not feeling excited to engage in a sophisticated discussion in philosophy, I’m off.”

“We’re all off our rockers!” Kleo cheered.

A nearby man in a tank top staggered back in surprise. His eyes were red. His face was ruddy. The smell of alcohol on his breath was heavy as he stared at the [Faerie] on Jay’s shoulder.

“It’s an act I’m working on for the government. I want to show it to the magic alien goddess from another dimension they are hiding info about.” Jay narrowed his neon purple eyes into glowy slits. Kleo copied him without having to look. The shade under their hoods intensified the glow. “It’s freaky, ain’t it?”

“Freaky, freaky!” Kleo kicked her little legs.

The drunk man shook his head and walked off.

***

The bus ride was both amusingly eventful and strangely mundane.

The city wasn’t a major metropolitan. So, it had limited routes and limited buses. Thankfully, it was a Saturday, so the bus wasn’t packed like sardines in a can.

The crawlers found seats in the back. They fell into a comfortable silence filled by the engine rumbling and the drone of random bus riders talking, singing, or shouting deliriously around them. A man with a baby gator got on, and Jay had to put his hand on Kleo’s legs to keep her from booping the teensy descendant of ancient death dinosaurs. Or try to ride it.

That would’ve been awesome, but Jay didn’t know her capabilities yet. Could she withstand riding a baby gator? Could the baby gator withstand the [Faerie]?

When they reached Downtown at the city’s center, Jay’s window seat encouraged him to people-watch for a while. It was a strange experience for Jay. People were going about their day visiting bars, the local outlet mall, eating out, and living their lives. Nobody was aware of the dangers and the possible dungeon breaks. They simply went about their Saturday like everything was normal and safe.

It was kind of stupid. Everything could change at any moment, but the secrecy wasn’t giving people a chance to get ahead of the world’s end. The apocalypse was coming, whether it was a smooth ride or a rough one.

“Jay,” Mike called, breaking the silence. His stop was coming up.

“Yeah?” Jay asked.

“We are changed, aren’t we?” Mike asked.

Jay paused to think. “Probably.”

“What do you mean?”

“Our views and perspectives are different,” Jay said. “We can see bigger pictures, I feel. But who we are inside. I don’t think that’ll change. I still got rooftops to dance across.”

“And I still have to beat Lilith and secure First Nerd for my mother’s ego,” Mike said with a faint chuckle. “Though, there’s no doubt she’ll invest into Intellect even if I hold her at a disadvantage in that arena.”

“Does it make us smarter?” Jay asked.

“It’ll make us think faster and deeper, yes, but it wouldn’t turn Dennis into a physicist. It’ll probably make a physicist a better physicist,” Mike explained.

“Hm, the choice of Attributes,” Kleo interrupted. “Sounds fun.”

“Ah, I suppose dungeon monsters who can’t level can’t apply AP,” Mike said. “Does that case remain the same in your relationship with Jay?”

“It’s an interesting case,” Kleo said, leaving it at that.

“I’m going to check it all out at home,” Jay said as Mike started to stand. “Do you want me to come along to take the brunt of your mom’s anger?”

Unlike Dennis, Mike’s gravity consolidated into a small dense sphere. It gathered mainly in his chest, becoming formidable. However, Jay figured Mrs. Zhou’s emotional gravity would be way denser and more tightly bound than her son’s. She was a tough mother for anyone to have.

“I’ll be okay. You know how I’m an old hand at dealing with Mother Zhou,” Mike said. “Oh, and one more thing, Jay. Thanks. For all of this. It’s tiring and perhaps nightmarish. We can all acknowledge that, but I’m glad you convinced me to attend the party.” He flashed a genuine grin, tired but happy. “I’m living the fucking dream, man. I’m living it.”

***

“Holy shit, I’m home,” Jay said before turning his head to Kleo. “We’re home.”

“Home?” Kleo said ponderously. “Will it get attacked by monsters where everyone you know is eaten unless they first get murdered by a girl turned evil by a cruel master?”

Jay blinked. He restudied the low, squat, small dwelling with a rusted fence and overgrown lawn. The burgundy paint was faded and chipped, and the roof had black stains from algae build-up.

“We have Sunday Brunch Potluck,” Jay explained, strolling past the gate, keys out. “The place ain’t much from the outside–I should probably mow the lawn–but it has some perks my mom likes.”

Closing the door behind him, the smell of cinnamon and apples replaced the outside air. Jay paused to breathe it in, his body loosening after hours of tension he hadn’t known was there.

He let go of the tightly held reins for [Moonwalker’s] passive and glided between steps. Kleo floated from his shoulder and followed in his wake. They moved left from the entrance, where the hallway led to his room.

They paused in front of the closed door.

“Hm, never been in a boy’s room,” Kleo said.

“Please, can we not joke about that?” Jay winced.

“I’m not joking, Master,” Kleo hovered to a stop. “I’m lost. And a little scared.”

“I can sense that,” Jay said, averting his eyes. “I hope it isn’t anything I’ve done or you’re worried I’ll do.”

“I’m not worried about that,” Kleo said. “I’m in your hands, Master. I’ll trust you’ll take care of me. I’m more worried that I won’t fit in. I won’t belong. And I have nowhere to go without the dungeon. And without you.”

Jay nodded, falling silent because he didn’t know the right thing to say. When he started this strange but exhilarating storyline centering on Kleo being the chosen heroine, it was all instinctual.

The instincts had been satisfied. The metaphorical gravity wasn’t serving as a guide anymore. Now Jay had to figure out the rest.

“I have no idea what I’m doing, but I’m going to do my best anyway,” Jay said. “Is that okay?”

Kleo floated in front of his face, getting uncomfortably close. But not too close where she’d focus on one eye or the other. It was like she was accessing deep into his soul where all his potential, failures, and personhood resided. Would she find something satisfactory inside of him? Or would she realize their union as master and familiar was a regrettable mistake?

“Master,” she called softly.

“Yeah?” Jay gulped.

She backflipped and punted the tip of his nose.

“Ow!” Jay whined.

“I owed you that for making me endure tyranny!” Kleo pointed, shrieking with laughter.

Jay rubbed his nose, his neck warming up. She threw him for a loop there. “Mike’s right. I’m way off if I’m this much of a chump in the joke.”

“You’ll be alright. Now, can I see the room of the Chump Master?” Kleo asked.

“Damn, you’re a menace.” He tried to frown. A tightlipped smile crossed his face instead.

“Here lies the lair of Jay Luckrun,” he said, revealing his tastefully cluttered room. “Survive the initial foray, and then we’ll do the system stuff right after.”

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