"I don't understand what you're showing me." Judith flipped through the papers, boredom on her face. She huffed as she placed them in front of me. "These are just charts with nonsense. None of it makes sense."
"No." Luis pointed at them, tapping them with his finger. "They make sense. This is the information you've ignored for nearly a month."
"Ignored?" Judith scoffed. Then she crossed her arms. "I haven't ignored anything."
"Hm." Luis slowly shook his head. "Either you ignored them or someone in your office decided to push this information aside. Because if you read them, here—" Quickly turning them in his direction, Luis found a specific piece of data and then pointed at it for Judith to see. "This right here is data from tutorial NPCs registering players who logged in. There are a lot of incomplete quests. People were dropping like flies, no?"
"Are," I added. "People are, and will keep, dropping like flies."
Judith shrugged and shook her head. "Sometimes games are too much. How is that my fault?" She pressed a hand to her chest. "I'm not to blame here."
"Really?" Luis straightened and moved next to me. I saw the determination in his body language, the disbelief on his face. With one brow cocked with irritation, he shook his head once more. "Tell me, Judith, how long did you test this VR game before acquiring beta-testers?"
"That's information you don't need to know." Judith's painted nails dug into the sleeves of her blouse. "But, if you must know something, we were able to provide enough information on Love or Nothing to get to this point. Otherwise, none of you would have been given contracts."
"Ahuh." Luis pressed a tongue against the side of his cheek. "Great. That's great. Love or Nothing is one thing, but what about the spheres?" He tapped his temple. "Your company is the first with them, no? Everyone else has headsets. But spheres? The ability to take us into the game; no one can do that."
"Yet." Judith lifted a finger. "We're the first."
"Yes, and the first usually fuck up a lot along the way."
Judith's eyes shifted from Luis to the guard still in the room. Turning my head, I had to look back at the man, too. He was larger than Luis. Taller, stronger. From the looks of it, all he had to do was wrap an arm around Luis and he was done for.
Yet, the guard appeared to be listening. Why?
"I don't know what you're implying." Judith clenched her jaw, tugging at the muscles in her cheeks. "We've done our jobs."
"Oh, I'm sure you have. Or someone did, if it wasn't you." Luis slid a hand through his hair. "But how much of that was shared with us, the players?" He pointed at himself, then at me. "We were informed of any possible dangers?"
"Like I told Miss Charines here," Judith glanced at me as she spoke, "if either of you had read the Terms and Conditions, then you would see that—"
"Oh, I read them. And printed them for you." He pointed at the papers again. "Last few sheets are the Terms and Conditions, word for word, printed for easy reading. And in it, you list a lot of important facts about the game."
I had to step back. Luis grabbed a chair, spun it around, and sat on it in one swift motion. For a moment, I saw the Luis I first met inside Love or Nothing. The hard, nonchalant jerk without a care for anyone but himself.
But his argument was for my cousin, me, and everyone playing the game.
"You've explained the sneaky details about this data-link thing, syncing players together for a perfect match. But you don't entirely disclose how you'll protect that shared information. Why is that?"
Judith's mouth open for a moment before she shook her head. "Information like that is public knowledge. Like quizzes you take on the internet—"
"Even the internet has rules, Judith." Luis pressed a thumb against his chin. Then he flipped his hand around, coaxing her to continue through the pages. "There is a flaw in your contract. The issues? They get a little worse."
I wasn't sure if it was the way he was speaking to her, but Judith was nervous. I saw it in her eyes as she read the agreements in front of her. By her expression, I felt as though she hadn't read them at all herself. Everything she scanned appeared new. Different.
Luis didn't change anything in them, did he?
"You go into the health specifics of the game, outlined in area fifty-seven, point a."
"I see that." Judith shifted in her seat. "And as I told your friend, we've listed side effects that can occur with any game. Just as every other company has done in the past."
I had to move closer. I wanted to see what she was reading.
"Exactly. As you said, in the past." Luis chuckled. "But your company isn't in the past, is it, Judith?"
Her eyes slowly lifted from the sheet of paper as she put it down. With it on the table, I took it from her. I scanned down to the line Luis highlighted—fifty-seven, point a.
"57a. While playing Love or Nothing, a player may experience negative effects as described within the following: obesity, video, and light-induced seizures, negative postural effects, muscular and skeletal disorders. We recommend a play time of less than four hours a day, no more than three times a week, to avoid any negative effects of Love or Nothing."
Nothing in this list mentioned what might've happened to Manny. Nothing at all.
Luis really did some hard digging.
Lifting my gaze, I looked at Judith as she began to sweat.
How can I thank him?
Luis extended his hand. He motioned for the paper I was reading. For a second, I was hesitant. But the look in his eyes told me to trust him. And honestly, I already did. What he did in just a few minutes, bringing Judith off her pedestal, I wasn't sure I could've done it. At least, not the way he did.
With a small smile, I handed him the document.
He took it and placed it back on the table. "So, right here, you detail what has happened in the past. Things all players already know. But nowhere in there do you mention the possible electrical pulses to the brain, which are detailed here—" Reaching across the table, Luis took the sheets out of her hands. He scanned through them before finding the one he needed. "On here are the notes from your research, isn't it?"
"What?" Judith grabbed it. "How did you—"
"Don't worry about how I got it, Judith." Luis smiled. "What I did is nothing compared to the damage your company has done to over a hundred players."
"A hundred?" I breathed.
"No." Quickly, Judith shook her head.
"Yes." Luis stretched his arms in front of him, balancing his weight on the chair. He looked cocky, but in a good way because it benefitted me and so many others. "There are players experiencing nerve damage because of your innovation. You may have run thorough tests on the game itself before pitching for beta testers, but you didn't actually test the spheres to make sure they were usable, did you?"
Judith's head snapped up. Her hands started to shake.
"You failed to mention all of the side effects, Judith. Regardless if a player reads the terms or not, you'll be held liable for any damage to a person." Luis stood from his seat.
But before he could step back and claim his obvious victory, Judith slammed her hand on the table. Her face turned red. "No, what you've done is a criminal offense. I can have you prosecuted!"
Luis shook his head as he quietly laughed. "Maybe, but I think what will happen to me will be a slap on the wrist compared to you. The amount of dirt I've dug up on your company is," he pretended to be shocked, "enormous."
"You... you..." Judith reached for her tablet and fumbled to turn it on. "I know you! You, you—"
"I'm beta tester number twenty-three, handpicked by Dragan himself, remember?" Luis grinned. "Didn't think an experienced tester would catch all of this? I noticed this in just a few days. Imagine if you released it, the number of people it could affect."
Judith continued to shake her head as she mumbled to herself.
"And so you're aware, I've already handed this information over to the proper authorities so hospitals can be compensated for your crimes."
My jaw dropped. He did what?
He looked at me. "Sorry, Chari. That's what took me so long. But I'm here."
He is here...
Judith bit her lip. "How could you..."
"No." He shook his head. "How could you? All of the people who have been hurt because of this stupid game. And all you care about is this stupid company. You should be ashamed of yourself."
"This... this can't hurt me." Judith laughed, but it wasn't as strong as before. Her nerves were in each sound she made. "I've got a legal team for things like this. This... is nothing. I'm not the first company to go through this!"
"Hm, you're not." Luis reached and grabbed my hand. Rather than freeze up like I normally would, I grabbed back. I linked our fingers. The strength of his courage seeped into me. I looked up at his face as he continued, "But, Judith, you're the first with this. And as I said, a lot of time, companies will fuck up."
Judith jumped up from her chair. With rage coursing through her, she pointed at the guard behind us. "Get them out of here! Make sure they're arrested! They've breached company computers and are trying to damage us!"
To my surprise, the guard didn't move. He remained at the door, his hand on his belt. His dark eyes scanned over Luis and me before looking back at Judith. "My little sister is playing for your company," he said, his voice low and deep, "and she hasn't been feeling good lately."
"W-What?" Judith stammered.
The guard shook his head. "At least I know why now..." Taking in a deep breath, he glanced at the two of us. "Go ahead and leave. I won't stop you."
It hurt my heart to see his face. To know he was going through the same thing. As Luis led me to the door, I touched the guard's arm. I gave him a weak smile. "I hope your sister will be okay," I whispered.
"Thanks," he said. "Same for whoever it is you know. I hope they're okay, too."
"Thank you." I smiled.
At the door, Luis made a point to turn back around, a smug look on his face. He scratched his chin as he lifted it. "And, so you're aware, nowhere in your conditions do you free Bio-Lab from any legal responsibility. Not sure who wrote these up for you, but that's a big no no. I hope your lawyers are prepared for the lawsuits coming your way."
I thought Judith would explode at that moment. Her face was fiery red. Her hands were deathly white as she gripped them into tight fists. Another ball of spit sputtered out from her mouth.
I had to pull Luis back out the door, to get him away. He had done what needed to be done. But I needed to make sure we could get out of the building intact.