Jake found himself looking the mechanic over. They wore a pair of coveralls but they were unzipped to the waist. With the top part hanging from around their waist. They wore a plain white T shirt while their black hair was pulled up into a ponytail. They were just shy of matching his new height, after his growth spurt he had ended up at five eleven. Just shy of the all important six foot mark, he was mildly annoyed. They were slender and his eyes settled on their chest, he could just make out small breasts under her plain shirt confirming they were in fact not a guy. Her arms came up to cover her chest and he snapped his gaze to her face. Her face was a bit too sharp and angular to be pretty. Too strong of a jaw and prominent cheek boned, it made her face seem harsh.
Her expression seemed more embarrassed than angry at catching his eyes drifting. "Sorry." He mumbled. She was almost the exact opposite of Gadget. Gadget was short and a bit stocky but in all the right places, under her coveralls. She also tended to wear a bit of make up, was both loud, crude, and yet somehow always acted a bit… girly.
Thinking about Gadget made Jake grit his teeth. "Did you need something?" His tone sounded cold even to his ears.
"Um." She looked him in the eyes for a moment, her head started to dip down but then she seemed to force herself to keep looking him in the eyes. "Susan." She swallowed a few times, her eyes trying to drift away from his but she kept them looking at him. "I know." She finally said. "That she is… is gone."
Jake blinked at her then glanced to Clive who gave him the slightest of nods. "Let us talk somewhere more private." She nodded and Jake lead her to one of the private meeting rooms behind the bar. He drew more than a few looks, partially because he was with a strange woman. Partly because he was casually entering one of the off limit private rooms.
Inside the room were just a table and a number of chairs. Jake sat down. The mechanic sat down as well. "Sorry. My name is Leah. I probably should have said that at the start." She wasn't looking at him but fiddling with her fingers.
"Did you come to blame me?" Jake asked flatly. He didn't mind if she came to yell at him or curse him. If it made her feel better… he felt it was the least he could do. 'I took someone from her.' That was all he could think.
"What? No." Jake blinked at her shocked expression, she even looked him in the eyes for a moment.
"They didn't tell you then?" Jake started. "That I…"
Before he could finish she spoke up. "That your ability… that it makes you lose control and you…" She paused. "I did blame you at first. But then I thought about it more. I watched some more of the videos Susan sent me. I just… When I saw you in the videos… I decided I had to meet you to know." She looked him in the eyes again and then took in a huge long breath. "I can't blame you. Even before you knew who I was. What I knew. Your eyes." Jake blinked in shock. Tears welled up in her eyes and rolled gently down her cheeks. "I saw the truth. Nothing I said could be worse than what you told yourself." She sniffled and dug out a rag from her pocket to blow her nose.
"How long have you known… the truth?" Jake finally asked, he didn't know what to make of her previous statement so for now, ignored it.
"I only found out when Susan… We were going to meet up in real life." She suddenly looked around the room as if seeing it for the first time. "I mean… in… on the other side. When she suddenly stopped logging in and I couldn't get her on the phone. I was going to take the bus to her town. That is when they approached me and told me the…" She trailed off.
"I see." Was all Jake could say. He didn't know what to tell her. If she had yelled at him and blamed him he could accept that. But, what did he tell someone who didn't blame him for killing someone important to him?
"Yeah." The girl gave him a crooked smile. "You know Susan talked so much about you and the others. She had a lot of fun. You all meant a lot to her. More than I think you know. Things in her life hadn't always been good. Playing this game…" She paused at referring to it as a game but continued. "Playing with all of you meant a lot to her." Suddenly Leah stood up and of all things bowed to him. "Thank you for being her friend."
Jake couldn't stop the hot tears running down his cheek, nor did he try. His overwhelmed heart felt as if it was being crushed in his chest. How was he supposed to deal with this? How could he accept someone thanking him? After what he did?
Leah straightened and wiped tears from her face then sniffled. "Um, anyways. I came to bring you this as well." She placed a slender metal rod about the size of a thick marker on the table. It was made of a bronze colored metal and he noticed as she let it go it shimmered as if light raced through unseen paths in it. "It is the key to the vehicle I made for… your group. It is yours now."
Jake just stared at the key, tears still seeping down his cheeks. "I… I can't take that."
"Of course, you can." Leah even rolled it across the table. He had to catch it to keep it from falling off. "You paid for it, at least in part. You are the only one with a right to it. Besides," her tone grew soft. "Susan would have wanted you to have it." She seemed to see his hesitation still. "With it, you can better provide for everyone. They said you were doing that. Taking over for the others."
Jake just looked at the key in his hands for a long few seconds before nodding. "Ok." He looked up at her. "Thank you."
She gave him another crooked smile, a little bigger this time. He noticed a few of her teeth were crooked too, the slight imperfection seemed to fit her though.
"Good." she sniffled. "It is outside, and I got a place for us to store it until we leave."
Jake had started to stand up and froze. "We?"
"Yes. That was originally the plan. Susan was going to have me join your group. You need a mechanic and a driver. Plus I can upgrade it as we get the materials." Leah was again looking him right in the eyes.
"I don't think that is a good idea…" Jake started.
"I have no combat skills. So I won't be around when you do the fighting." She answered before he could even finish his objection. "I have given this a lot of thought. I can't… I can't keep just doing like I was before. Not knowing the truth now. I don't want to go back to my empty apartment and just sit there. Knowing none of it was real. Or that the power… no that my reality might come crashing down if someone doesn't drag back enough monster cores." She took another deep breath. "But mostly. I want to see the real world. The one filled with monsters and adventure." She looked him directly in the eyes, her gaze piercing him. "I want to see it all for Susan, to see what she would have seen on her behalf." Jake swallowed, hard. His heart was racing, his blood roared in his ears. He felt almost as if he was going to pass out.
He couldn't group with someone. No, he couldn't. But… he couldn't tell her no. He owed her so much. Nor could he deny her wish, not when she put it that way. "Ok." He croaked.
Leah gave him another sad crooked smile and nodded. "Thank you."
**********
The vehicle looked to Jake like a hovering speed boat made of dull grey metal. It was longer and more narrow than he expected. But other than seats it had no other features. It wasn't as fast as he expected either, but it was still a lot better than walking. Leah explained as she drove him around that it was a true custom job. No patterns or blueprints. She had designed it from the ground up herself. She had been playing the game longer than he expected, several years. But her class was Mechanic, which offered no combat abilities. He hadn't realized that there were classes like that.
She had been two hubs over, one that the others had passed through before getting here. She was vague, very vague about how she met Gadget. But he got the feeling they had gotten close very quickly. When Gadget had asked about a possible vehicle purchase, Leah had explained about her vehicle design. She had been saving up to build her prototype but needed considerable capital still. So just for the chance to build the vehicle she had offered to build it at cost. With the agreement that she would join the group. Gadget had never mentioned it to Jake or the others as far as he knew. But, he realized they would have never complained.
Leah also explained that the vehicle really wasn't done, little more than being the frame and an engine. She listed off what seemed like an endless stream of possible upgrades. By the time she was done, it sounded less like a car or speed boat. It sounded more like a five star luxury hotel on a dreadnought battleship.
With a form of transportation and a driver. Jake's plan was to head towards other hubs. Or at the very least start hitting the hunting grounds previously out of his range. He talked with Leah about his plans. It was hard for him. Doing so made him remember the others, especially when she called him Merc. But in a way… he welcomed that pain.
The plan was to leave for another hub area that weekend. That way they would get plenty of time to travel. Jake never did get to go on a killing spree that night, but somehow the anguish in his heart had lessened.