Since Izzy herself mentioned that Danielle isn't the only followers of hers, some of them had finally arrived to lend us a hand. I'm quite surprised to know that Izzy doesn't need any kind of help of her own. She's probably very confident of her skills. Of course, I'm not saying that she's not capable. I'm just amazed at how much she has progressed since the last time we've hanged out together during high school.
"Behind you, White!" yelled Danielle.
I quickly duck as Danielle shoots out a horrific laser beam which disintegrate the AI that was about to ambush me.
I sighed, "That laser of yours is too dangerous over here."
"We're in a virtual space, White. It can be fixed in no time." so he says.
"Yeah. Yeah." I slowly nodded as I brought out my crossbow and began to load it with one of those wind magic bolts I have.
I shot somewhere further at another group of rebelling AIs. Once the bolt hits one of the AIs straight to their chest, the bolt exploded into a whirlwind catastrophe. Another AI was about to ambush me again, this time I retaliated by throwing my crossbow at the AI. It caught the AI off guard as it allow me to run toward it and stab it with my dagger deep into its chest. I pushed the AI away with my leg as I pulled out my dagger from its chest. I quickly threw my dagger to another AI nearby, which it did hit it head. Thanks to that, I was able to quickly 'Blink' myself to the dagger's location and continued my fight there.
All of this fighting really do reminded me a lot of how much Izzy and I used to play that one virtual reality game we played at the shopping mall. But I don't think right now would be the best time to remember that since that there was a bunch of opposing force at the time.
Reinforcement had finally arrived as they took out the AIs one by one. Piece by piece and before you know it, the revolt has been stopped. I also happen to notice that there were escapees trying to leave the city.
"Should we stop them?" I asked Danielle.
"No." With a cold heart tone, Danielle aims his laser energy and blasted the running AI.
That's awfully cold of him. I guess you can never assume a person by just a single trait that they always show to us. As to what I have observed so far, he is quite laid back sometimes but he can be cold and gruesome when it was time to get serious.
"Alright." Danielle turned toward me and reminded, "You should head back to the lounge. Supreme Leader Izzy is waiting for you."
"Are you sure?"
He nods, "Yes. She notified me a few moments ago using a telecommunication device that she made for us followers."
Resourceful, to say the least. With all have been said and done, I left Danielle and the other followers as they began to clean up the mess that the rebelling AIs had done. I've arrived back at the lounge several minutes later.
"Huh." I exerted a puff of tiredness as I finally reached the red door of Izzy's office. "That was a lot of work."
And so, I immediately opened the door without even properly knocking it. I opened the door and there was no one in the office. That's weird. I thought she would be back already since that was what Danielle had told me. It was at that realization when I hear the glistening sound of...water showering down and hitting a marble floor nearby. It didn't need a detective to know who was taking a shower. It was at that very moment where I knew I fucked up as soon as I notice that the shower just stopped.
"You should have knocked, White." Izzy's echoing voice can be heard from a distance.
I immediately turned my back as I look away from wherever she was from.
"I'm sorry!" I quickly responded. "But why do you even have a shower in your office, anyway?"
Izzy then finally got out of the bathroom with her bathrobe and moves behind a dressing curtain.
"I'm the Supreme Leader, I'll do whatever what I want, White." She then proceeds to get herself ready.
I took a breather and asked, "Well then...I should wait outside, right?"
"No need to White. We can talk now." so she says as she was still getting ready.
"Okay..." I was unsure. "I'll try not to look."
She gently laughs and told me, "First thing first, good job on handling those rebelling AIs so quick."
"Quick? I think you are quicker than I am. I mean you did it all alone on the other side of the city, right?"
"Am I finally hearing a compliment coming from you, White? Am I the player 1 now? Why, this is a rare occasion." she sarcastically mentioned.
"Alright, that's enough teasing from you. I'm quite a busy man." I replied.
She chuckles and said, "Very well. What I was about to tell you moments ago was related to today's case."
"You mean those AIs?"
"Yes." she agreed. "I've receive words from my spy that notified me that apparently this strange occurrence also happened in every other cities."
"It did?" I began to get curious.
She explained, "Yes. In fact, the most notable and significant one I heard was that the queen's kingdom seem to have the highest amount of case."
"Sam Maximus..."
"Additionally..." She continued, "The kingdom was the first city to receive such a case. I believe that place is the root of all of this widespread occurrence. Don't you think so, White?"
I reasoned with her, "Well just from that evidence...that may be it. But don't you think that's a bit too quick of you to assume the queen is responsible for all of this?"
She then replied, "It wouldn't be too far off, White." She was finally done dressing up as she approached me, who was still facing the red door.
"Far off...you mean her unique ability, right?"
She nods, "Definitely. But still, it's worth to check it out. Isn't it, White?"
"Why don't you and your spy do that, instead of asking me for this?" I noticed what she was trying to say.
Before I realized it, she was already right behind me. I felt a very strong cautionary presence. My heart almost skipped a beat as she gently puts one of her hand to my shoulder.
"Come on, White. I thought we're buddies? We've played video games a lot back in the day, right? We're that close back then so why can't we be even closer now? Why not helping me out in this?"
"I'm not helping anyone win this conquest on Virtue. Do that yourself. But I'll keep in mind about the kingdom, Izzy." I grab her hand to try and stop her from continuing to use her authoritative seduction.
There was honestly no intimate tension between the two of us but deep down inside Izzy, I'm quite sure she's lying to her tough demeanor act. However, I cannot reply with what she wanted because I already promised someone else. Someone that is significantly more of a dork than Izzy was.
"White..." she tried to talk to me with her stern eyes.
I sharply looked directly to her eyes and said, "Let's keep this professional, Izzy. You're a lot mature now these days and I don't intend to cause any further harm from that."
Izzy then sighed and looks down, "Very well, White. If that's what you want...I'll guess there's no way of me winning this fight." She then laughed, "Still, I can't believe you have a lot of 'fan' clamoring over you, White. Honestly, it made me jealous."
"Well you don't have to, Supreme Leader. I've already chosen someone."
She gently laughs, "If you say so, White. Make sure not to make her cry, alright?"
"I'll keep that in mind." I nodded to her.
"Oh and one more thing, White." She pulled my arm. "Here."
She gave me her business card. She has a business card?
"What's this?" I asked.
She explained, "My family runs a private business. We have a lot of trainers, combatants, tools, devices as well as experimental robots available. Should you need any help from me after all of this nonsense, I'll be there to return the favor."
I smiled, "Alright then. I'll keep this somewhere then. Until then, see you later." I waved her goodbye as I left her office.
The red door closes as I stopped for a moment and continued walking out of the building. To tell the truth, her authoritative presence seems to have suddenly go away as soon as I left her office. She's probably heading back to the bathroom but I shouldn't pry into it any longer.
I gotta go back to where I started with this world called Virtue. Back to The Glorious Kingdom of Spectrum. I was expecting that this would be harder considering that I'm going to be on my own this time. But I'm open to any help that will come from Spectrum any time.
In the meantime, I still think about my conversation with Izzy just now. I'm not really the type to be fairly good at this thing. But I hope Izzy will be able to endure this just as how I kept on enduring all this time for the sake of that shorty. Hopefully you are alright out there, Zen.
TO BE CONTINUED