We exited the dungeon a few items—and another Rank One Voltsmith’s Box—wealthier. Nothing the boss had dropped was particularly interesting, but the Voltsmith’s Box had three unique items in it. Taken together, they had the potential to change how I thought about my class—and about the Autoplate Pauldrons.

  The first was another Mana Coil. I’d seen these before, and this one didn’t seem to do anything special until the second item came into play.

  It was called a Converter, and it was little more than a black box with three possible entry points for wires and a single exit point. They weren’t labeled, but they were aligned in such a way that I couldn’t put more than one input wire into it without blocking the other two. I had a feeling about what a Converter did, but I wanted to be sure.

  The last item was another Tuning Rod. This time, I didn’t take it apart; I wanted it intact for the process of upgrading the Voltsmith’s Charge.

  “Thanks,” Tori said as we stepped back onto the beach through a cave exit that definitely hadn’t been there when we were looking earlier. The sun was working its way down. It had taken us almost two hours to track down the last Knife Crab in the cave and get one hundred percent completion, but Tori had insisted.

  I was glad she had.

  “You’re welcome. I need you at your best if we’re going to get the Queen Tyrant,” I replied. We started walking back toward Museumtown.

  “It’ll be reset by now,” she said. “It only had twenty-four hours, and we wasted all of yesterday on recovery.”

  “Wouldn’t matter. You’re not allowed in Tier Twos anyway, and we couldn’t have gotten ready for a boss like that even if you were.” Something moved up ahead, and I held up a hand. “I’ve got something.”

  Tori stopped in her tracks. Then she nodded. “I see it. Want me to hit it with a Pull?”

  “No. I think I know that guy.” I held up my Trip-Hammer and waved it as I strode toward the man in the white suit jacket. It was a little dirty, but shockingly clean considering how we’d all been living. “Bobby Richards, that you?”

  “Who else?!” the man said, his sports announcer voice carrying over the waves coming in across the beach. He broke into a jog, weaponless and seemingly not a threat at all. Tori stiffened as he did. I didn’t blame her; the man’s brilliant smile and easy-going posture were at odds with his level.

  Bobby Richards: Level 44

  Class: Resonator

  “Forty-Three?” he asked, sticking out a hand. I grabbed it, giving him a hearty shake. I’d hit Forty-Three from The Cancer and put both my points into Charge. Tori had his Thirty-Three and gotten within ten levels.

  Eventually, Bobby let go. “You’re catching up, Hal Riley. Listen, I was looking for you in Museumtown, but they’re not crazy about me there for some reason. This one lady, Silvers, pointed out here and said you might be on the beach or by the old tower, but only after I proved I wouldn’t be trouble for her or your two.”

  Before I could get a word in, he kept talking. “Nice to meet you, Miss Vanderbilt. Bobby. Bobby Richards.”

  Tori’s brow furrowed, and she accepted the handshake with a little hesitancy. She let go as soon as she could. “Where are you from, Mr. Richards?”

  “Bobby. It’s Bobby. Mr. Richards is my grandpa if he’s still around, and Robert’s my dad. I’m from Jersey, near Atlantic City. Not a gambler, though, I swear. I was in town for business.”

  “What kind of business?”

  “Oh, this and that.” Bobby pointed at me. “Speaking of business, though, tell me about Museumtown. What are your plans for the settlement? Are you going to expand the safe zone out toward Millennium Park?”

  Tori raised an eyebrow. Bobby’s hands both went up, and he flashed her a grin meant to be disarming. “I’m just making conversation, catching up with my good friend Hal.”

  “Business before pleasure, right, Bobby?” I asked, smiling his way. “Why don’t we head back to Museumtown, and I’ll see if we can answer your questions.”

  “We? Interesting. Very interesting,” Bobby said. “I accept your offer.”

  Tori looked about ready to kill me, but I gave her the look, and she went quiet. She followed us the whole way back to Museumtown, and as far as I could tell, her eyes didn’t leave the back of Bobby’s head the whole time.

  Jessica glared at me furiously as Bobby, Tori, and I walked back into Museumtown. “Hal, I kicked that guy out for a reason!”

  The palaeoanthropologist was surrounded by people—so many people. They’d all fallen silent as we approached, which was probably the only reason she wasn’t cursing me out. Or maybe her stepdaughter’s presence was shielding me from the worst of it. “What did you do, Bobby?”

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  Bobby shrugged. “I had a business proposition. She didn’t think it was a good deal.”

  “He wanted to turn Museumtown into a military base,” Jessica said. “I tried to explain that people never lived like that before recorded history. They had fights, yes, but that’s not how to survive an…an…”

  “Apocalypse?” I asked.

  “Yes!” She turned her glare to Bobby. “Are you trying to convince Hal to become a warlord? Because he’s smarter than that, and he’s definitely not stupid enough to give you fifteen percent of the dungeon gear in exchange for organizing it.”

  Bobby raised his hands placatingly. “Ma’am, I’m sorry. We got off on the wrong foot, and—“

  “Wait a minute.” I stepped between them. “What’s this about militarizing Museumtown?”

  “You can’t be serious!”

  Bobby smiled winningly. “How would you like to be partners in a new model for dungeon-clearing? You beat The Captain. That makes you in charge of Museumtown, and I’ve been all over the city. There are a few dozen places like your town, but nothing anywhere near as developed. A million people still—maybe more—but nothing organized. They’re mostly in camps on the west side. We could run an organized, team-based dungeon-clearing operation from it, get the local Tier Ones under control, and start looking at Tier Twos.”

  “No,” I said.

  “I knew you weren’t stupid, Hal,” Jessica said.

  Truthfully, I’d already been thinking about something similar. We had a little over a week before the Tier Three dungeon opened up, and we weren’t ready for it. If Jessica, Calvin, and I wanted Museumtown to be able to beat what was coming, we’d need to get some people’s rears in gear, as Mom used to say. The idea of organizing people into teams and sending them to the Tier Ones that we knew would be reopening soon felt solid.

  But I wanted Calvin running it.

  He had something Bobby didn’t: military experience. And he had something else. People trusted him—or at least, I did. Bobby was a good guy. But Calvin was better.

  I looked over the assembled folks, looking for anyone over Level Thirty, but the highest I could see was Level Twenty-Seven. These people were falling behind. Even the ones who were trying weren’t keeping up.

  “Bobby, I think your idea’s good, but I’ve got someone else who’s going to run it for us. Jessica, I’ve been thinking about something similar—not full militarization,” I said before she could interrupt, “but we do need to do better. We need everyone to do better. Once Calvin gets back from hunting down the twins, I’m going to ask him to head it up.”

  Jessica’s brow furrowed, and she looked like she was about to start yelling again, so I continued. “I know people never lived like this. I’m not asking us to now, but I do know a billion people died at the end of the tutorials because they didn’t finish in time. We can’t let that be us. We can’t fall behind.” A billion people. I hadn’t said it out loud before, and now that I had, it felt like bile on my tongue. I needed to spit it out or wash it down, but I couldn’t.

  The woman’s jaw set. “And where is Calvin? Where are these twins you and Tori keep talking about?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Jessica-Mom,” Tori interrupted. “Hal’s right that we can’t fall behind. Me and him are barely ahead of the power curve, and as for everyone else? They don’t have a chance in a Tier Two.”

  Jessica went quiet. I held my breath. Then she sighed. “Hal, we’ll talk about this later. I’ve got a dozen problems popping up, and the dungeons are the smallest one. If you want to help, keep that guy out of my way, and don’t accept any stupid deals.”

  Bobby cleared his throat dramatically. “Actually, I’ve got a much less stupid one. How do you feel about Soldier Field?”

  “Nope,” Tori said before Jessica could even open her mouth. “I’m not allowed in Tier Twos until I’m Level Fifty.”

  Her stepmom nodded, a thin smile breaking through the frustration still on her face. “Tori, I’ve got work for you. It’s not dungeon delving, but it’s important. Can you help me out?”

  “Sure.” Tori didn’t sound enthusiastic. She joined her stepmom, and the two of them turned back to the crowd of people who’d been talking to Jessica a minute ago.

  Bobby pointed at the stadium south of Museumtown. “I never got a notification that that place had been cleared—not even the first floor. How about you and me give it a go together? We’ll split the gear fifty-fifty, and I’ll even let you take first pick this time.”

  I nodded and shook Bobby’s hand. Tori needed the levels, but if I could find something useful for her in there, it’d go a long way toward leveling her up later. Besides, I wanted to see a second-floor boss that wasn’t the Queen Tyrant. They couldn’t all be that bad, right?

  Tori had plans.

  Big ones.

  She hadn’t forgiven Tommy for cutting her mom—not even if the bastard had turned out to be on her side, and it had been an accident. As far as she was concerned, he was on the thinnest ice possible, and if he screwed up even once, she’d be there, ready to punish him. Age and size didn’t matter anymore. The strength of your class did—and Tori was strong. She wasn’t even close to competing with Hal, but she was head and shoulders over most people in Museumtown, and well above Tommy’s level.

  So, keeping an eye on Tommy was one of her goals. He wasn’t anywhere to be found, though. As she helped her step-mom keep track of who needed what in Museumtown, she couldn’t help but wonder where he'd gone.

  More importantly, she needed to head southeast.

  Tori didn’t believe for a second that The Captain’s bullshit was done. He might be dead—no, he was definitely dead—but Eddie hadn’t been the only gang leader under his thumb. It was only a matter of time before someone else showed up to mess with Museumtown, and she’d be ready for whoever it was. She’d have Hal ready for it, too.

  Besides, something about Bobby bugged the crap out of her. He reminded her of the big bad enemies in her games—the ones who’d pretend to be a friend to the player, who’d give them advice and weapons, only to betray them at the worst possible time.

  In short, he reeked of trickery and scams.

  If there was anywhere in Chicago she’d be able to find records of both the gangs and an obvious scam artist like Bobby Richards, it’d be the police precinct building. She was pretty sure it was a dungeon, but equally sure it wouldn’t be a Tier Two. She could solo it pretty easily.

  As soon as she was done with crowd control for Jessica, she’d ask if she could go exploring. Then she’d check it out. And if Jessica said no? She’d find another way.

  There had to be something on Bobby there, and she had to find it.

  Hal’s life might depend on it someday.

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