"What?"
Carved on Sean's cardboard box in the entrance hall of his building, is 'Eight told me to go to his building, I'll get to the lab with you afterwards.'
DIDN'T I TELL HIM TO STAY CLOSE?!
This is the second time, oh my god the second time! The second time he decided not to listen to me, what's gotten into him?
I was too tolerant when I approved of his request to enter this stage, he literally can't defend himself yet.
This definitely isn't my nephew, not the Sean I remember at least, who the hell is this?
Where even is Eight's building? Who the hell is Eight in the first place? The guy never had a significant role in any of the stages I've cleared, he's a total npc.
There's no way I will wait for him at the lab, if he's by himself, he can't defend himself not just against Hearts, but the other three players in this game too, especially Corpse.
I sprinted around the city, not certain of which direction should I actually be taking.
Hearts is close, if I remember correctly, Ten is stationed there to monitor him, I can ask Ten for directions.
Fortunately, Ten was actually there, he pointed out the direction and I immediately started sprinting at maximum velocity towards it.
"Where is Three?"
"Three?" Eight was there, but not Sean.
"Yeah you took him here didn't you? Where is he?!"
"No I never did, what? His building is literally on the very opposite side of our territory."
"Huh?!" I was dissatisfied with that answer, I summoned my Ice Shield and formed ice spikes on my fists.
"Woah woah woah! I'm serious please, I-I'm telling the truth man! I don't know what you're talking about."
He shrank backwards while I advanced forward. I have enough experience to distinguish between real and false panic, his looked...real.
Then I remembered, the first time he left my side, he did that by lying. He lied again.
I don't understand...but why would he? This isn't him.
"You alright Four? It's not me man seriously!"
Then where the hell could he be now.
Aimlessly searching for him will amount to nothing, I can't outmatch his intelligence.
So...I'm left with one choice, anxiously waiting for him to use that smartass big brain of his to achieve whatever unthinkable objectives he has that I shouldn't know about...again.
I might need to burn points for anxiety meds if this keeps up. Sean, why?
I didn't have much choice left, I ended up exactly where he wants me to be, in front of the lab, monitoring Jack's movement, someone's gotta clear the stage after all.
I sat on a rubble across the street of the lab and bought myself cup noodle from the earpiece.
Tried and tested, eating is the most effective way to get things off my chest, it's the optimal method to cure bad moods.
I didn't even finish eating though, Jack's exit from the lab disturbed the meal. Had to get back to work, sighs.
"Jack, you're going to discuss the peace terms with Hearts?"
He nodded.
"Mind if I come with? I don't trust those guys."
"Sure."
"Jack of Diamonds, what a pleasure." Ace of Hearts stood up from his chair upon noticing us. His smirk is as repulsive as ever.
"State your terms."
"Without him." Ace of Hearts pointed at me, in a patronizing way that made me involuntarily clench my fists.
"You should go." Jack said to me.
"What? No, I'm not gonna leave you alone with these guys."
We were in the largest tent Hearts had set up, inside wasn't just Ace of Hearts, we were surrounded by Hearts men.
Though they're unarmed, the numbers still means Jack alone won't be able to handle it.
"It's an order, go outside."
Damn it Jack, you're just leaving yourself vulnerable like that.
Then again, only I'm aware that an assassination attempt will be made on him, he's oblivious of that fact.
"Before I go, I request to search this tent for any hostile objects." I spoke directly to Ace of Hearts.
"With all due respect, why are you speaking?"
Oh I'll kill you Ace of Hearts.
"Do you approve of his request, Jack of Diamonds?" He said as if I'm a complete nobody.
"It's a harmless safety precaution, I approve of it." Thankfully Jack is reasonable.
"Unfortunately, I don't approve of it." Ace of Hearts said while widening his smirk with a contemptuous eye on me.
"You're on our turf, you don't make the rules." I said that while walking closer towards Ace of Hearts.
I was trying to intimidate him by closing our distance, but Four's body is a bit too short for that...
"How bold." We're now only inches away. My eyes don't deceive me, Ace of Hearts' hand behind his back, it's almost definitely holding something.
"Four, stop..." Before Jack could finish his sentence, Ace of Hearts reveals what his hiding behind his back by swinging the sharp piece of wood fragment at my head, about the size of a knife.
It didn't pierce my head though, it just broke upon impact, I hardened my head in time with my Ice Shield.
You got impatient, Ace of Hearts, deciding to kill me instead of forcing me out was mistaken.
"Wha-"
Before the bastard could understand what happened, I gave him the knuckle sandwich he so so so deserved and sent him to the floor.
The five or six Hearts men in the tent also reveals themselves to be holding a sharp wood fragment and charges forward.
They didn't bring any weapons, but their supply crates are wooden, that's their implement for the assassination.
I quickly froze the air around my arms to form two shields on each forearm, then used them to block off the attacks directed towards Jack.
The attacks that were directed to me will all just fail, my skin will be hardened with ice on impact, it can't hurt me at all.
Defense's over, now's time for offense.
I swung my arms and the ice shields that was projecting from my forearms knocked every soldier in my way out.
The ones that dodged it doesn't survive long either, the ones that's smart enough to run away did escape though.
I was going to go and chase them, but my earpiece rang.
"Player Corpse has been eliminated by npc #0125"
What? Corpse?
"Thanks, Four" Jack of Diamonds who hid behind me during the fight in the tent said.
"Oh, no worries."
He just survived an assassination made on him, the first thing he do after it? Sweep off dust from his blazer.
But wait wait wait, no, how did Corpse die. By an npc too, how? Could this be...Sean's doing?
"Wait...urgh, wait, wait..." Oh look who's still alive, standing back up with a terrible bruise on his face.
"Just wait a second...argh." Ace of Hearts sat back down onto his chair.
I formed a gigantic ice spike on my arm, ready to finish him off, but then Jack stopped me.
"Wait, I want to listen to what he has to say."
Well alright then, it's not like he can escape his inevitable demise from me, maybe there's plotlines here that connects to future stages.
"Jack of Diamonds, Jack of Diamonds, Jack of...Diamonds...Diamonds...Jack." it was one punch, and dude can't speak properly anymore, that punch has retarded his mind I see.
"You're an elusive guy Diamonds...Jack...Diamonds."
"Does this mean war with Hearts?"
"No...no no, King's got other plans, but I do have something to say right now." He looked like he's high throughout the entire conversation.
Then, my earpiece rang again.
"Player Shockwave has joined your alliance, Dawn Breakers."
"Player Kenneth Spears has joined your alliance, Dawn Breakers."
Sean...what are you doing...
"Say it then." Jack demanded Ace of Hearts.
"All of you don't have long left...enjoy your time while you can...wait sorry, I was stupid. You can't enjoy your time from this point forward."
For the first time since I've punched him, he lifted his head and looked us in the eyes.
Jack remains cool and calm, maintaining his usual neutral stoic face.
"Take one wrong step, and you might sink." He cackled at his own statement, "Look behind your backs...sleep with one eye open...walk with a gun in hand. You're not safe, you never will be."
Jack stared him dead in the eyes pensively for a few seconds, before nodding his head to me, signaling the kill.
You egotistical, narcissistic, derogatory, belittling degenerate, say your goodbyes.
"Congratulations, you have eliminated Jack of Diamonds' assassin, Ace of Hearts. Teleporting you back to game lobby..."
"Player Corpse, Frostbite, Kenneth Spears, Sean Anthony and Shockwave just broke the record time for campaign stage 1-5 with 31 hours 43 minutes."