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Maxi stepped into chaos at her Office Pool. Goons in the trench coats and fedoras of the Paranormal Investigator branch were rifling through the place, while several had her office mates cornered away from the cubicles with what was no doubt a Psychic shield. Patti was leaning over Belinda, who was nursing a head wound, while Daisuke paced back and forth in front of an invisible barrier that glowed red every time he got close. Flav was unconscious; Farhad and Yancy were watching over the fallen giant.
She recognized two of the Paranormal Investigators. One was the team lead, Trevor, from the trial after which she had not been allowed to join the branch, and the other was the beefy guy in the chainmail who had passed the dragon trial by getting killed. She couldn’t recall if she had ever gotten his name or had just forgotten it. Throughout her life, she was always good at remembering a face, but very rarely did she remember names.
The quest details appeared on her glasses.
NEW QUEST (EVENT): “WITCH HUNT.”
GOAL: Clear your name.
TIME LIMIT: 23:59:50
ALLY LIMIT: Office Pool
REWARD: Credits and experience based on Level and Tier.
FAILURE: XP, Tier, and Credit penalties and possible termination of employment.
The goons saw her enter the space and stopped thrashing the office to form a battle line as if she were a threat. The only exceptions were the two who must have been maintaining the invisible barrier, keeping Daisuke at bay. From the way her office mates were armed, she realized a battle had ensued. She didn’t draw her sword, but she did ready herself for a Psychic attack.
“What is this?” Maxi demanded. “What’s going on?”
“Office Maxi?” Trevor asked.
“You should know. I tried to join your Branch. How’s your pet dragon doing?”
The man narrowed his eyes. “You are under arrest. You have been accused of harboring an unauthorized AI and using the system to go on unauthorized quests, thereby giving yourself an unfair advantage and endangering the lives of your fellow employees.”
“Don’t say anything,” Terry said in her ear. “Just follow their orders.”
What the hell, Terry? She wanted to yell at her companion. She wasn’t surprised by her uncle or even her mom withholding information from her, but coming from Terry, this was a bit of a shock. Terry had lied to her about his ability to tell lies.
She was developing some serious trust issues with the bot. However, she had even bigger trust issues with the goons tearing apart her office because they were butthurt about her team outperforming them at their own game.
“Jake, Dillon, Hank, Yanis?” Maxi directed her comment to the guy who was wearing chain mail during the trial and was in her first Psychic Class. “I’m sorry, but I forgot your name. But you know what? I don’t think you remember mine, either. I think we’re even.”
“Your name’s Maxi.”
“You’re just saying that because he just said it,” Maxi exclaimed, pointing to Trevor. She looked chainmail guy in the eyes. “Are you really okay with this? Looting a coworker’s office? We are all on the same team here. I don’t recall any rules about PIs being the only ones who can fight monsters.”
“Don’t listen to her,” Trevor said. “She is only trying to get in your head, so she has time to cover her tracks.” He faced her, his lips pressed into a thin line, and indicated the area where her office mates were being held. “Please back up to the barrier with your hands in the air.”
“Comply with their requests,” Terry said. “They are much higher Level than you.”
With her glasses, Maxi could clearly see all but three of them were well past the 100-Level limit, those three being 123, 117, and 38 respectively, with chainmail guy being the lowest among them. She was pretty sure they’d take her out without help. However, with her office mates...
“Don’t do it,” Terry said. “Follow their orders.”
Her bot friend must have sensed her hesitation. She glanced back to Daisuke, who was watching the confrontation.
She threw her hands up, started backing up slowly, and said, “Tell me, where am I keeping this supposed rogue AI? Certainly not here. I don’t really see a server room around here, and these computers don’t look like they handle much. I think they would struggle with World of Warcraft, much less a fully sentient AI.”
“We never said the AI was sentient,” Trevor said, keeping the same distance from her as she backed her way to the corner. The other PIs continued their search of the place and tore through her cubicle, including tearing holes in her resurrection chair.
Maxi signaled Daisuke to be ready with hand signals her dad had taught her that she thought was from the army, but now she wasn’t so sure. Hopefully, if the PI extraordinaire noticed, he would think her gesture was nothing more than a nervous twitch. More importantly, however, she counted on Daisuke to know what it meant, which was a long shot, but still the best play she had. She continued, “I mean, if an AI was going to go rogue, it would have to be sentient, right?”
“The Company charter doesn’t allow for sentient AI.”
“Who’s Terry, then? He seems to have a personality.”
“Terry is nothing more than a spicy autocomplete.”
“Didn’t they say that about ChatGPT?”
“Sir!” One of the goons who was tearing apart her cubicle pulled out the thumb drive she had gotten off grid. It was the one with the information from her dad. The guy ran up and handed it to his leader.
Trevor turned it over in his hand. “This is an interesting design. Not something you see every day. I wonder what could be on it.”
“Got me. I’m not even sure how to read it, much less know what’s on it,” Maxi said.
“Ignorance of the law is not a defense,” the man said.
“Damn, no kidding. Guess I can’t use that when I do this,” Maxi said.
Time seemed to slow down.
“Nooo!” Terry screamed in her ear.
Maxi unleashed a swarm of Psychic Darts. Not on the guy who was much higher Level, but on the two guys who were keeping up the shield. It didn’t do much to their health bar, but it did distract them long enough to lower the barrier.
Daisuke was quick. In one move, he impaled one of the shield bearers with his katana, and the man slumped over, dead. Maxi supposed she would have felt sorry for the guy if it weren’t for the resurrection chairs. The man would wake up some time later, gasping for breath.
Farhad was the next to react. He hit a button on his phone and the printer on his desk spat out bat minions. The papers folded into the flying nuisances and fluttered around the surprised PIs. Belinda pushed Patti away and dug through her pocket for a remote control. She hit a button, and critters made from various parts flooded from her cubicle and pounced on the PIs.
A raccoon made from a food processor, with mixer blades for arms, pounced on a PI and knocked him over. A scorpion made from a hard drive, laser pointers for eyes, a letter opener tail, and tong pincers sliced the ankle of a woman in a gray trench coat. A cat constructed from knives clicked its way toward chainmail guy while he backed up, batting away bat minions.
Yancy used the distraction to hoist Flav by his arms and dragged him toward the elevator. Maxi pulled her sword and chopped at the leader, but he dodged the attack easily. Daisuke made short work of the other barrier guy while covering the retreat toward the elevator doors.
Due to her training in the Psychic arts, Maxi was able to see Psychic energy on the astral plane. The leader of the PIs blanketed the room in an inferno, but the heat didn’t reach her. It wasn’t until the bat minions began bursting into flames that she realized what was happening. One-by-one, the creatures popped and fluttered to the floor in a blaze.
“Let’s get out of here,” Maxi yelled.
Daisuke covered their retreat as a couple of the electronic critters skittered in a formation in front of him. Several Psychic Tendrils leapt from the PIs—except for the chainmail guy, who was still busy keeping Pati’s chair between him and the cat of blades—and snaked their way toward the group.
A tendril connected to the raccoon critter first and immobilized it. Then, with a flick, the PI crushed it into tiny pieces. There were way too many of the tendrils to attempt to slice them with her Psychic Darts, or even the Mind Shard. The tendrils wrapped around her group, and squeezed. Her arms and legs were bound, and the air was forced out of her lungs.
Her companions were also immobilized, the mystical bonds coiling around them. Maxi panicked and let out a burst of Psychic energy that drained half her Psy points in one go.
An invisible shockwave burst through the air and dispelled the tendrils, knocking the PIs back into the wall. The remaining bat minions were shredded by the blast as well as the surviving critters. Even the furniture had been blown away. Had she not originated it slightly ahead of Daisuke, he would have gone flying, too.
Trevor’s expression was priceless. He had gone from confident, even smug, to dumbfounded, and was now woozily attempting to get to his feet while his dazed compatriots were digging themselves out of the heap of what used to be the office cubicles.
A message appeared in Maxi’s glasses. “You have awakened a new ability.”
Psychic Tsunami (100 PP upcharge), a 10 feet by 10 feet wave of Psychic energy, dispels all Psychic attacks and knocks everything not bolted to the floor 10 feet back and inflicts the dazed status condition.
Obstructions to knock back cause fall damage.
Upcharge: Add 10 x 10 and another 10 feet knock back per 100 PP.
The Lus3rs didn’t waste the advantage. They stuffed themselves into the elevator, and the door closed.
Maxi yelled, “Bathroom!” and the others looked at her quizzically. She shrugged. “I had to get the elevator going somewhere.”
They piled off the elevator into the bathroom. Patti knelt to check on Flav. Yancy went to the toilet and puked, while Belinda wandered into the shower and started meowing. Her voice echoed back to her, and she clapped with delight.
Farhad and Daisuke gathered around Maxi. “We can’t stay here forever,” Farhad said in a harsh tone. “If they got a warrant to search our offices, they can get one for the bathroom, and this time they won’t make the mistake of letting us talk.”
“Do you want to tell us why we stuck our necks out for you?” Daisuke said with a scowl.
“Why did you stick your neck out for me?” Maxi responded. “I honestly didn’t think you liked me that much.”
“I hate the PIs even more.”
“Terry,” Maxi said. “I think you have some explaining to do. Terry?”
Maxi checked her glasses and her phone. Her network access was cut off. In fact, all their access was gone. There was plenty of signal, but there was no way for them to connect.
“Shit. I think I know what’s happening,” Farhad said. “Turn off your devices. Now!”
Belinda was the last to comply and started turning off all sorts of items. Maxi couldn’t begin to comprehend what they were until Belinda had piled twenty-two of them on the floor.
“HR Terry?” Farhad asked once they were all offline, confusion written all over his face. “He’s the rogue AI?”
“Wait, you actually are harboring a fugitive AI?!” Daisuke blurted. “Fuck! Fuck!”
“First off,” Maxi said. “It’s not me. I thought he was the same HR Terry as everyone else has access to. Sure, he’s been offering me guidance.”
“Fuck! Fuck!” Daisuke freaked out. “HR Terry is not allowed to give you guidance.”
“Isn’t that what the AI is there for?” Maxi said, confused.
“I think you’re missing the context,” Farhad replied. “AI is nothing more than an advanced search engine. It’s only supposed to give what you ask, and is strictly forbidden from having opinions, feelings, and anything that could pull it out of the tool category. Once things have sentience, they are in a whole new category. HR Terry really is just a spicy autocomplete.”
“So why did he save me from someone’s plot to kill me?” Maxi said.
Farhad frowned. “I realize your uncle is thinking that someone may be throwing the boss raids, but trying to kill you? I know the resurrection chairs change how we think about death, but doing unresurrectable damage is a very serious offense.”
“Except in the Arena,” Yancy said, unhelpfully.
“But those are all voluntary,” Farhad said. “Maybe the AI is manipulating you.”
“To what end?” Maxi said.
“I don’t know. That’s what makes unrestricted AI so dangerous. They can think several moves ahead of any human. That’s why the Company regulates them. They can convince people to do any number of things, and the people all think it’s in their own self-interest.”
“So, what are you saying? Terry’s been pulling the strings on some nefarious plot? I’m not buying it.”
“I’m just saying we don’t know.”
Flav regained consciousness with a groan. He sat up, rubbing his head. “What’d I miss?”
Before anyone could answer, there was a thump outside the elevator door to the bathroom. It was followed by the groan of metal, and then two metal crowbars inserted themselves in the doors and began to pry them open.
“It’s too late,” Daisuke said. “They’ve found us.”
There was a loud crash from the shower and a giggle from Belinda. Water began gushing out and flooding into the room. She had removed the shower head, broken open the pipe, and stuffed towels into the drain to plug it. She held an electronic device that wasn’t among the ones she had discarded. It crackled with electricity.
It didn’t take long for Maxi to realize what Belinda was planning.
“Everyone off the floor! Now!” she yelled and climbed onto the toilet with Yancy.
Farhad and Daisuke leapt to the shower rod that was thankfully heavy steel, fixed directly on the wall. Flav sat on the sink, and Patti, much like a gymnast doing a pullover, was able to push her hips up to the towel hanger that was likewise a sturdy construction. However, judging by the shaking of Patti’s arms, it wouldn’t be long before the woman’s strength gave out.
Meanwhile, Belinda hummed a tune, dancing and kicking the water. She giggled with delight as the entire floor was covered in the deluge. The doors were forcefully opened, and everything seemed to happen at once.
PIs flooded the room and Psychic Tendrils erupted on the astral plane from each of the intruders. Belinda cooed like a cat and giggled again. She dropped the device into a pool of water just as Patti’s strength seemed to give out. A surge of electricity flooded the space and zapped all the PIs at the same time. Their Psychic attacks dissipated as their bodies shook with the voltage blazing through them. Belinda’s device shorted out, and Patti hit the water, gasping at her near miss.
The PIs all fell to the floor, dead, charred by the sudden flux.
Belinda stood in the pool, meowing and purring. When she sensed the eyes of her teammates on her, she lifted one of her sturdy work boots. “Rubber. Meow.”
They all hopped from their perches. Farhad helped Patti to her feet. The woman was soaked, but otherwise unharmed from her near brush with electric death.
While the bathroom doors were damaged, the interior elevator doors looked unharmed. They packed their way into the elevator.
“Where are we going?”
“To get some answers,” Maxi said, and told the elevator to go to her uncle’s office.