Benedict was out guarding the ramp with the 71st Roamers right now, but Doyle always made sure that he had a couple of healers on retainer. He set Nick up with both a healer and someone with the skill to appraise items. Nick took a seat at a table in the corner of the kitchen while he waited for the people to approach him. He was given a rag and some water to clean himself off. Nick was grateful, his face was covered in dried spit and vomit. His hands were coated in blood and he was happy to take the soaked wraps off, no matter the stats of the new wraps he’d definitely be wearing them from now on. His chest piece had a huge slice through it, right on the shoulder. He wiped the blood off but realised he’d have to swap it out for something else.

Midway into his cleaning endeavours he was approached by two people. The healer charged ten pills per use of the skill and Nick could see how that would add up pretty quickly. It wasn’t until the healer used the skill three times that Nick could even use his arm again, though barely and not without a fair bit of pain. He didn’t want to spend more pills when he knew he could leach off his healer friend the next floor up.

The appraiser had similar rates, ten pills per item. Nick only got the wraps and the large sword from the armoured bandit checked. He was pleasantly surprised by both. He found out that items had tiers as well. The items you could find on the 70s floors would only be white tier at best, according to the appraiser, but the two items he had were the best he’d find here. The upper crust of white tier is how he put it, both with pretty decent effects. The wraps made the wearer’s hands considerably more durable and added weight to any strikes. The sword was just very sharp and had a resistance against dulling, which was a very desirable trait in swords he was told. Apparently there weren’t many blacksmiths that stayed in the hotel, so getting your sword repaired was quite the ordeal without travelling to the Parklands. Most people just sold or threw away damaged swords and swapped out for a new one at the white tiers. Nick thanked the man for his time and knowledge with a few extra pills in the payment.

Nick then headed back out to the Exe’s, they asked what had happened to him and Nick told his story. He cut out some of the details that he didn’t really want to share, like his aura and the fact that he totally lost control. He just said he accidentally went too hard on the guy and didn’t realise how much damage he actually dealt. Nobody in the group seemed even remotely bothered by the fact that Nick had killed a man.

Once again, he was reminded that the people here had lived very, very different lives to him. He had grown up in the suburbs, his biggest challenges had been waking up for work and paying bills on time. The people here had been dealing with this for decades, death was just another part of the day to them. Nick wondered how long it would be until he was just like them, completely unfazed by the mention of death. The group sat around chatting for a bit longer but Nick wasn’t really contributing, he wasn’t really in the mindstate for it. He looked down and realised that his hands were shaking.

Nick could still feel the man’s face beneath his fist. He could feel the bone giving away, the sickening crunch it made. Nick felt himself gag, almost throwing up again. He shook his head and tried to find something else to focus on, anything to get the image of the man’s bloody face out of his head. That’s when Paige asked him a question.

“So Nick, what’s the business you’re up to tomorrow?”

It was a harmless question, but Nick latched onto it.

“Well Doyle’s sending up a team and I’m moving my family down to the 71st floor.” He blurted out.

Nick’s eyes bulged, he hadn’t meant to say that. He shouldn’t have, that was something he was keeping close to his chest. Why had he said it?

“Whew, that’s quite the business. Good luck with that Nick, hope it all goes well for you.” Rina said.

“Yes it certainly is. If we can help in any way, we’d love to. You’ve been a good teammate for the recruits so far.” Paige followed up.

Nick wasn’t comfortable, something was wrong. He certainly wasn’t in the best frame of mind but he wouldn’t have said what he just had. This was a matter concerning his family’s safety. He wouldn’t just blurt it out like that. Nick got up.

“That’s all good, thanks. It’s all sorted. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

Rina looked concerned. “Nick, you’re not in a state to be running through the car park alone.”

Nick just wanted out of here. “Maybe not, but I’ve gotta get back.”

He made his way to the door and just as he made it out to the car park he could hear someone jogging up behind him. He turned around and saw that it was Rina.

“I’m not going to stop you, I’ll just see you to the ramp.” She said firmly.

Nick didn’t really have a good reason to say no and just nodded. Turning around and setting off. Nick took off in a jog, not wanting to spend too much time in the car park. He was still injured and didn’t think he could put up much of a fight if he was ambushed. The 71st floor was pretty safe but he knew he’d have to sprint through the 72nd and make sure to keep his wits about him. Rina effortlessly matched his pace, she made it look easy.

“You’re making this look easy.” He commented.

Rina flashed him a smile. “I’m a level four Farmer. One of my skills gives me a massive increase to endurance, I could run at this pace for days. Literally.” She laughed.

Nick was impressed. Rina was the first level four person he had ever met, or at least gotten to know. The leaders of each floor were likely higher levelled and Reggie certainly was, but he didn’t actually get to know any of them, so he didn’t count it. He found himself bubbling with questions, unsure of what to ask.

“Why Farmer?” Is what he eventually settled on.

Rina smiled again. “My folks back in the Parklands are Farmers. I was just a little kid when I got here and my family were farmers back out there. When we all got here, people needed food and my family helped set up the first farms, it was just the family business as the years went on.”

Nick was insanely curious about the topic and it certainly helped distract him from what had happened earlier, so he asked another question.

“What was it like when you got here?”

Rina sighed, her smile falling from her face. “You might think it’s pretty bad here now, but it was way worse back then. There were hundreds of thousands of us, all confused, all very lost. The hotel wasn’t around back then, it was just the Parklands. There wasn’t much food. The Black Hoods gave out very little food and people started fighting over it pretty quickly. The fighting got really intense. People were also just randomly going missing. Entire families, you could talk to them one afternoon and the next they’d just have vanished.”

That was a lot. Nick quickly tried to process everything. There was a group he’d never heard of before mentioned.

“Who are the Black Hoods?” They sounded like some lame super villain group.

Rina shrugged. “Dunno really. I never saw them but, apparently there were people who came to deliver food to us when we first got here. They never said anything, they’d just deliver massive amounts of basic food and necessities. They all wore black robes and hoods, hence what people started calling them. Don’t think anyone’s actually seen them since then, but there’s always rumours.”

Nick had so many questions. He wanted to know more about the start of things here in the Complex. What did she mean the hotel didn’t exist back then? Hundreds of thousands of people? There were some many questions bubbling in his head, a very welcome distraction. Before Nick could ask any of his questions they had made it to the ramp.

“I’ll see you tomorrow alright?” Rina said.

Nick gave her a smile. “Of course, you can meet my folks.”

He really wasn’t sure about Paige, there was something incredibly off about her. Nick liked Rina though, even more so after learning about her past. She seemed like a decent, honest person and Nick liked it. It was a breath of fresh air in this place. With that the two parted ways and Nick headed up a floor. He didn’t bother speaking to the group of militia guarding the ramp, they weren’t Luicano and his crew so Nick wasn’t connected to them at all. He just took off on a sprint. He held nothing back and cleared the entire car park at a record pace. He totally should have timed it with his new clock. The running must have aggravated his shoulder though, as it was screaming at him. He wanted to see Maddy as quickly as possible.

He was stopped by Gareth on the steps up to the door though.

“Watch it kid, something's brewing in there. Tony seems all out of whack, no clue what’s going on but be careful alright?” The man sounded genuinely concerned.

Nick’s blood ran cold, had Tony found out about his plan? Nick couldn’t even run, he needed to get to his family and make sure they were safe. Hopefully it was something unrelated. He made his way into the hotel and found far more militia than usual sitting near the entrance. Nobody gave him more than a cursory glance though. He did spot someone wearing a very familiar chest piece though. It looked like Tony was actually handing out the gear Nick brought back. Nick headed into the bar and found it a flurry of activity.

Tony was rushing around and giving orders to different members of the militia, the man had a very frantic energy about him. He spun around and looked at Nick as soon as he came through the door.

The man’s eyes narrowed. “What are you doing back this early?” There was an accusatory tone laid thick in his voice.

“I was attacked by bandits, I got pretty banged up and didn’t want to lose all my money to one of Doyle’s healers.” Honesty was always the best policy.

Tony’s eyes widened. “You were attacked!? I knew it! Someone’s out to get me. Trying to cut off my resources!”

What. The man had taken what Nick said and spun it into a completely different narrative. The bandits certainly didn’t seem to know Nick, it felt more random than a targeted hit. Nick would take it though. If Tony was seeing Nick as a victim then it meant that he wasn’t being accused of anything.

“You managed to get some loot right?” Tony pressed him.

Nick took out the axe, the poor swordsman's sword and some of his leather armour as well. He handed it all over to Tony and the man looked genuinely ecstatic.

“Good work kid. Oh, you won’t be going out tomorrow. I want the whole team gathered.”

That didn’t bode well. Did Tony actually know something was happening tomorrow? Nick was concerned. Tony seemed to be preparing for something and Nick’s plans were definitely going to be impacted. Nick needed to find out what was happening.

“Why, what’s going on?” He asked.

Tony scowled at him. “Doesn’t matter right now.” He then dismissed Nick with a wave of the hand.

Hopefully someone else would have some information. He headed back to his room and found his entire family gathered there.

“Got any grub?” Lily asked. “We’ve got some stuff to talk about.”

“That we do.” Nick said with a sigh.

Nick realised, much to the disappointment of his family and himself, that he had forgotten to buy any more food from the kitchen. The family grabbed some food from the oven and started talking. Nick went first, explaining what had happened to him today. He had to use vague language to make sure Benny didn’t really get the picture but his words shocked Henry and Lily. They panicked, asking him if he was okay and pulling him into a family hug. Benny didn’t quite get it but joined in.

“I’m definitely not okay, but I’ve got no choice but to be. We’ve got a busy day ahead of us.”

Henry looked deeply concerned but there was nothing anyone could say. After a bit of awkward silence Lily started speaking.

“Tony’s gone bonkers. He’s started getting the militia ready for something. He’s making sure that everyone is ready to respond to something. I think he knows about our plan, Nick.”

“I don’t think he knows it’s specifically to do with us, whatever he does know. He seemed to quickly convince himself that I was targeted because of whatever conspiracy he’s seeing.”

It was then that there was a knock on the suite's door. The whole family went deathly silent.

Nick cautiously got up and approached the door. When he opened it found Maddy who launched herself at Nick, catching him by surprise. She pulled him into a hug and he felt his shoulder tingle, she was already healing him.

“Tony said you got attacked?!? Are you okay?” She cried out.

The whole family let out a sigh of relief. Then Maddy spoke up again.

“You all need to come with me. I asked my sister if she had any idea what was going on with Tony. For once she actually had an answer for me.”