63. Stakeout (Patreon)

“Kaidu, you run into anyone?” Rowan asked.

He nodded. “I spotted ten teams. Three had high level gear, party cohesion, and well-built parties, so I marked those for avoidance. Four further were full parties with low cohesion and lower-level gear. Those are marked as possibilities. The remaining three were loose clumps of wanderers, single-climbers or larger groups cut into smaller groups. Two of those three began acting together, and so I marked those for avoidance as well, though we may want to keep an eye on them, in case the group splits apart again later. The remaining group is our best bet of the groups I scouted. If you look to your leaderboard, all the information should have been filled in.”

“Our… what?” Ikara asked.

“It’s in the System, take a look.” Rowan pulled his up and scrolled through it. As Kaidu had said, the teams described by him and Ikara were both filled in. There were images, a few names, and point totals for all the teams the other two had described.

Rowan hesitated there, on their own team. “Who’s our fourth member? Has anyone seen them?”

Ikara shook her head.

“Players can join the game late. It’s possible our member has not arrived yet. Or that he or she is a lone wanderer, and has no interest in joining us. Regardless, it’s low-priority. Their point totals will be added to ours at the end of the day whether we discover them or not, so if we have more than five points, we know our fourth member is participating somewhere. If not, we should still be able to find a victory for ourselves,” Kaidu said.

“Aren’t we down a hundred points, then?” Ikara pointed out.

Kaidu shrugged. “I considered us down a hundred points from the moment the Clone Game began. It’s unlikely that our fourth party member with have high cohesion with our skill sets, or be particularly productive once they discover themselves a member of the Support Party. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“Is that why you said you needed a team?” Rowan asked.

Kaidu raised an eyebrow.

“Way back. You said you needed a team for the Tower…”

“One of many reasons, but yes. Being placed on random teams for team Scenarios is… less than ideal. I don’t have the strength to pull my own weight, and the weight of three others. The two of you are marginally better than nothing.”

“Oh, hey now,” Rowan complained.

For a bare second, Kaidu flashed a grin. Then his face returned to its original mask. “Let’s focus on finding a Safe Haven to stake out. Worst case, if we get no opportunities tonight, we can find one to set up an ambush on for tomorrow. Later than that, and teams will start running counter-ambush strategies.”

“Makes sense to me,” Rowan agreed.

Ikara nodded as well.

Kaidu strode off at full speed again, quickly leaving the two of them behind. Rowan stretched out his legs to keep up, and Ikara half-jogged, annoyed, but not annoyed enough to say anything. The pout on her face spoke volumes, not that Kaidu bothered to look.

Around the next corner, a white-outlined green panel floated over one of the doors. Unlike the other doors, this one had a handle, and the windows beside it were dark. Safe Haven, white text spelled out.

“Dark windows. That mean no one’s in?” Rowan asked.

Kaidu nodded.

Rowan glanced around. Not far from the door, a narrow alleyway wandered between the buildings. We could hide there and wait. “Seems as good a bet as any other.”

Kaidu shrugged.

“Are we done walking? Please? Thank heavens,” Ikara panted, catching up at last.

“Ikara, we’re going to stake this one out. I’m gonna hide in the alleyway over there.” Rowan pointed.

She wiped her mouth, sucked in a big breath, and nodded. “Let me just… boobytrap the door a little.”

Kaidu glanced up. Here, the buildings stood shorter, six stories instead of dozens. “I’ll be atop the buildings. If I see someone coming, I’ll ping your phones.”

With that, he jumped up, grabbed the top of the nearest window, and scrambled up it, then jumped from there to the next, onward and upward until he disappeared over the edge of the roof.

“Got it,” Rowan said to the empty street. Damn, I wish I had almost-level-twenty stats. Or at least enough points in skill and speed to manage that kind of awesome bullshit. The way my stat growth’s been going, I’ll end up with HP and nothing.

Rowan jogged over to the alleyway. Finding it empty, he slid inside and hunkered near one of the buildings for the small reprieve from the rain its overhang offered.

A minute or so later, Ikara joined him. She huddled up under his body, using him as a makeshift umbrella.

“Oy, hey,” Rowan grumbled light-heartedly.

Ikara grinned cheekily at him and scooted closer. “Stand a little left-ish, umbrella boy. My arm’s getting wet.”

“Umbrella boy,” Rowan muttered to himself, shaking his head. Still, he couldn’t help a grin.

“Gotta use all that height for something,” Ikara replied cheerfully.

“I’m not that tall. You’re just that short.”

“Shut up. Umbrellas don’t talk.”