Parallel: United Front

Chapter 23: Tutorial King

The Atrium

Inner Ring, Kudan.

1430 Hours, July 30th 3039.

"Whoa, that's one hell of a building." Dayle admired the Atrium's spiral architecture as he, Raines and Arthur emerged from the train station opposite. Most buildings in Kudan followed the giant-block format, so it was nice to see such a fantabulous design. Of course, Dayle heavily doubted this was replicable in real life, but who cared?

Raines and Arthur muttered brief words of agreement before trio crossed the street and then entered the building.

Dayle was spared having to seek out the recruitment location by a holographic lady who held a sign with the words, "Low Guruk Expedition" and an arrow pointing to the side. Thankful for modern technology, the fireteam followed the arrows to a small conference room by the side that had been converted to a registration center.

Dayle was surprised to find the hall packed to the brim. For whatever reason, the teams who registered remained in the room rather than leave. Instead, the teams began striking up conversations and sharing information with other teams. Clearly, they hoped to better understand their companions before the battle began.

"Dayle, over here!"

Dayle followed Raines shout to a counter at the corner of the room.

A middle aged woman looked up from her console to look at the trio. She gave the team a once-over, and then scoffed. "Are you here to register?"

Despite her venomous tone, Dayle responded with a sweet smile, "Yes, we are."

The clerk sneered. She could tell from their get-up that these were a bunch of newbies. There was no end to fools who were willing to risk their lives for money. "I'm sure you heard, but you will be rewarded for every piece of intel you find. Credits will also be awarded for every Nexus bot killed."

"Oh? There's a reward?" Dayle's eyes sparkled. So, there was a chance to earn some cash from this? What was the thing FireRain needed most right now? Money, certainly! "Someone's bankrolling this mission?"

The clerk looked at Dayle in disbelief. "You didn't know? So, why are you here if not for the reward?"

Dayle awkwardly coughed. Damn, he messed up! He could not give away the fact he wanted intel. "Uh..."

"The Nexus are a dangerous threat to all our existence." Arthur suddenly spoke up, drawing the attention to himself. "It is our duty as the powerful to do all we can to take them down as swiftly as possible. Noblesse Oblige.:

"Ha-ha! Noblesse Oblige!?" A man guffawed from the side. "Didn't think I'd ever hear that from an Auger."

Arthur turned to look at the voice's source.

A thirty-something tall, muscular man with dark-chocolate skin grinned as he gave the group a once over. The man, who was dressed in a tight T-shirt that wrapped around his powerful chest and biceps, took out the cigar in his mouth and snuffed it in an ashtray. "You kids are something special." The man held out his hand, which had been replaced by an intimidating, metal bionic model. "Name's Glock. Haven't seen your faces around. You guys new?"

Dayle smiled as he shook Glock's hand. "Yeah, you could say that. We've only been in here a couple days. Name's Dayle." He introduced Raines and Arthur, who shared pleasantries as they too shook Glock's bionic hand. When the pleasantries were done, Dayle gave Glock a strange look as he asked, "Why did you say we were something special? Did we say something wrong?"

"Wrong?" Glock shook his head. "Far from it. It's just very rare to find Augurs who gives a damn about the Residents." He pointed at Arthur and said with a chuckle, "Never thought I'd hear someone say Noblesse Oblige in this world. Y'all must be pretty green if you still have time to think about others. It's a man-eat-man world out here. Everyone's looking out for number one. I suggest y'all do the same."