Chapter 34: Other Gamers

As they were getting up to leave, they were approached by a baby-faced man in Robes of Infamy and a slender woman dressed in a pink on black set of the Robes of Affluence.

"Excuse us," the woman said as she sidled up to the table. "I'm sorry to bother you, but my name is Vera De Marcois. You might know me as Juliet Wrek. You're Experience Honey. Right? I recognize you from the Justice Meister 4 Tournament. You were the alternate for the American team."

While the first name she gave didn't ring a bell, the Net handle she offered made Hugh grin. "Holy crap. Juliet Wrek? I should have recognized you sooner. Yeah, I'm EXP Honey. What can I do for you?"

Juliet gave him a pained smile and said, "My sponsor offered me a huge bonus to set up shop for them, but I think I'm missing something. My Navigator says a purchase panel should appear when I walk up to a door, but I'm not seeing anything."

"Oh, you're a corporate runner? Let me think. Are you maybe trying to set up shop in the wrong place? This is the Food Court. Only restaurants can set up down here. If you're contracted with a company that sells shoes or something, the system probably isn't going to let you buy a shopfront outside of the clothing mall."

Her expression cleared and she sighed in relief. "That makes sense. I was worried my character was bugged. Scary concept, right? So, the clothing mall is..." She spun in place like she was trying to pick out the building based on architecture.

Hugh raised his eyebrow and asked, "Why don't you check the map? Everything is labeled."

"Right," she said. Turning to her Navigator, she held out her hand and said, "Book, please."

Hugh rolled his eyes as the baby-faced man handed it over. Juliet Wrek might be a famous female gamer, but she obviously wasn't as skilled as her fame would suggest. Seeing her drag her finger down her Book's Table of Contents, passing the correct page multiple times in a row, Hugh decided to help out simply to get rid of her.

"Map," he said. His map scroll appeared in the air in front of him, making Juliet's eyes bulge in surprise. Hugh quickly unrolled it on the table and asked, "What is your sponsor selling?"

"Cosmetics and perfume," she answered quickly.

Hugh pointed to the consumables mall. "You probably want to go here," he said. "The fastest way would be to get on the subway here and take it up one level. It should be your first stop."

"Thank you so much," she replied ecstatically. "Oh my god, I just had the best idea. You know what we should do? We should totally form a team. You totes know what you're doing with this Book thing. My sponsor would die to get someone skilled like you on their side. I'd be happy to make a call and get you on board all official-like."

"I'm good being freelance for now," Hugh said quickly. As appealing as getting a sponsor might be, there was no way in hell he'd align with a company who hired a gamer like Juliet to represent them. Besides, cosmetics and perfumes were completely outside his wheelhouse. If he was going to sign his name away, it might as well be for some useful swag.

"Well, if you ever change your mind, look me up. I'll totally remember how you saved me. Gamers gotta stick together. Right? Pound it." She held up a fist and Hugh humored her by pounding his own against it.

Then, with a quick wave and a rushed farewell, she picked up the hem of her Robe and took off running toward the subway.

"She was charismatic," Dex commented.

"Yeah, and she's a professional leech. Did you see how fast she tried to rope me in? If I'd agreed to team with her, I'm willing to bet I would have been paid peanuts to do all the work while she got paid out the nose to be the face. And no, I'm not saying that because she's a female gamer. Calibration is a woman and she could play circles around a gamer like Juliet."

"She has to have some skill or she wouldn't have gotten here so fast," Dex replied.

"True enough," Hugh admitted. "Although I have to wonder how much of that is because of luck and how much is because of skill. I mean, how is it possible she got all the way here without knowing what page the map is on?"

"She could have asked her Engineer to lead her to the nearest town," he said dryly. "I think you're focusing too much on the way she succeeded and not enough on the fact she did get here ahead of a lot of other players."

"You might be right, but I'm still not interested in being someone's lackey. It's one of the reasons I quit the Tournament circuit. Too many teams were more than happy to let me take the lead while we were training, but when it came time to play for the cameras—I always got shoved into the background like I was merely the coach. It was complete and utter bullshit. I can't count the times they cut my share of the winnings because I wasn't given the chance to play."

"I can see how that would be upsetting."

"Yeah, well, that's humans for you," Hugh replied. "Let's go before someone else..." Hugh trailed off, seeing a naked man covered in mud run up to an empty building and pound on the door, attracting attention from the other runners setting up shops around them. When the door refused to open for him, he ran over to the next and tried it. It also didn't open.

The man grabbed his hair in his fist and tugged as he looked around wildly in search of an answer. Hugh grimaced. As much as he didn't want to get involved, his conscience wouldn't allow him to ignore a fellow gamer in such dire need.

Hugh raised his hand and waved to flag the poor man down before he could completely lose it.

It took the guy a minute to notice him and calm down enough to gather his fractured dignity. Hugh let him take as long as he needed, using the time to summon a towel, Dex's original starter clothes, and a loaf of bread.

"How did you do that?" the man asked in wonder as he came to a stop at a safe distance. He used the only thing he carried, his Book of Life, to cover his exposed privates.

"We'll talk after you put your wang away," Hugh promised. "Go ahead and use the towel and clothes. The bread isn't anything to write home about, but I'm sure you're starving by now."