Maids VS Apocalypse

"You done with your business?"

After a light knock Franco popped his head into the suit and looked around. He had already heard talking so he felt no need to wait until someone gave him permission to enter. To his shock, an entire computer with multiple screens was set in the center of the living room.

"Did something happen?" Ramsay, still standing by the door.

"I just came to check and... what happened here?"

The Italian noticed that their new squadmate was in the process of dismantling the computer and gathering the components. He recognized it as the one he saw in passing in the boys room. Still, the reason for why he would take it out in such a place eluded him.

"He just wanted to try something out." Ramsay said. "Don’t worry about it."

Franco gave him a doubtful look them turned away with a sigh. A pack of cigarettes fall in his hand the next moment and he brought it to his face then stopped just as he was about to bite on the butt of a cigarette.

"Not again..." He heaved another sigh and made the pack disappear. "Hey kid."

"What?" Mark asked. His eyes were on the double monitors as he sent them to his inventory.

"Dr. Goodman is waiting." Franco pointed a thumb behind him. "Go get your doctor’s appointment done so we can move."

"Alright, give me a couple of minutes."

Just as he was about to go on with storing his PC Mark’s eyes met Ramsay’s. The wordless exchange reminded him that he had neglected to do something very important and that he had to take care of it then and there.

Since she was going to accompany them, Kobayashi had to know what to say and what to keep to herself. Mark already mentioned that details concerning his System and game needed to be kept a secret so he reemphasized the point then came up with a backstory to explain why he was going to such length for a random internet friend.

There was no need to scramble something too complicated. Kobayashi had always been an orphan, since her parents died during the Great World War. Since Mark was one of the few acquaintances she had, it came down to him to help when the world began marching to its end.

His talk with the illustrator came to an end so he headed out to meet the doctor. No sooner had he stepped out into the hallway than a certain orange head came running toward him with murderous intent. Elya still held on to her grudge against him and would’ve acted on it if not for Alex stopping her.

That was yet another reminder of how he needed to be careful when using his items.

Alex and Elya stayed with Kobayashi while Ramsay went to take care of something. Only Franco accompanied Mark to where the doctor was. The youth had expected a long conversation on the way but his Italian squadmate didn’t speak much. The silence gave him the piece of mind he needed to consider other things and his conversation with Friend was the first thing in mind.

The CDC aside, what concerned Mark much more was what his mysterious contact had to say about Rebecca. If he were to be believed, the chubby black woman had Abilities that allow her to see through lies and to compel others to answer questions truthfully.

He suspected that his upcoming appointment was nothing more than a guise for the doctor to pry into his secrets. The Peace Keepers most likely want to keep track of his progress, and though it appears not much has changed since he left the headquarters, a lot has happened and signs showed that he had discovered a few things.

"Took you long enough."

Rebecca met them with a frown when they arrived at her makeshift office, which happened to be an infirmary somewhere in the underground shelter.

"I had a few things to take care of." Mark replied.

"It is nice to meet you again, doctor." Lara said and curtsied.

"And it will always be a pleasure to see you, Lara dear." The chubby doctor beamed. "I see your uniform was fixed. Just seeing you in it made the whole trip worth it."

"Don’t tell me you came all the way here just for that." Mark asked.

"Don’t worry, you’re still the center of attention, Mr. Level 5." Rebecca said sarcastically. She then tapped a medical bed and gestured with her had. "If you have anything metallic on you store it away and lie down."

Before he knew it, Mark had changed out of his clothes and wore a simple hospital gown. Turns out the PK uniform he was wearing before came with a lot of small metallic parts and taking it was the best choice.

"Don’t tell me we’re taking an MRA." Mark said while lying down.

"Close enough."

Standing beside him, Rebecca cracked her knuckles and tool a deep breath. With her eyes closed, she held out her right hand with her palm facing down. A couple of seconds passed after which a light green glow manifested a couple dozen centemeters above Mark’s chest. That glow spread out on either side, creating an arch that continued to expand until both ends met on below the bed, creating a ring that surrounded it.

"I’m told you already leveled up once."

When Rebecca spoke, the ring created through her Ability began moving. It hovered at the same altitude and slowly moved down toward Mark’s feet.

"Yeah." Mark winced, recalling the mistake he made back then. "It hurt like hell."

"You don’t say." The doctor chuckled. "Didn’t I warn you that you aren’t ready?"

"Well, it would’ve helped a lot more it you said something about the pain."

The ring of light reached his feet then came back up.

"You’ve been injured quite a few times in the past few days." Rebecca said. "The wounds themselves aren’t a problem, but..."

"I think they are a big problem." Mark remarked.

"Yeah, but what concerns me more is the amount of drugs you took."

"Drugs? What drugs?"

"The potions." The doctor sighed. "You took a couple for HP and quite a few for MP."

"Well..."

Potions were a convenient was to get back in shape so of course they had to make use of them. On top of the ones from his System, Mark was made to drink a few while passed out back when the red hooded woman attacked him and when Lara kicked him into the ceiling.

"Unfortunately, life isn’t like the game. There are consequences to putting something into your body. You can’t just pop a pill or down some vial whenever things got a little difficult for you."

"I... will keep that in mind."

It wasn’t that Mark enjoyed drinking potions to begin with. They taste horrible and so he always planned on avoiding them unless it’s absolutely necessary.

"The bite wound on your neck isn’t too bad. I take it you and the young miss aren’t active."

"Please don’t say it like that."

"How are you holding?" Rebecca turned to Lara with that question.

"I... I am doing well." The maid replied, doing her best to remain composed.

"Don’t wait too long before getting it on. You don’t want to repeat the incident from before."

Mark could only sigh at the doctor’s no so subtle comments. He was trying to remain vigilant against her, waiting for the moment she would use her Interrogator Abilities on him. He suspected that all the small talk was intended to push him into letting his guard down, and it would’ve worked if he wasn’t aware from the very start.

"So, you should’ve met your illustrator friend by now." Rebecca said. "How was it?"

"Turns out he was a woman." Though his reply was calm, Mark was panicking on the inside. "Can you believe it?"

"You sound surprised. Did it never occur to you that it might be the case?"

"Not once." Mark sighed.

Silence filled the small infirmary again. Rebecca went on with whatever she was doing, guiding the ring of light up and down while staring at empty space, or maybe the interface of her System which only she could see.

"Oh, right. Your system upgrade quest should be cleared by now." She said after a while. "Did you receive the developer mode you spoke of before?"

"... yeah..."

Mark tensed up even more than before. He got the impression that telling hr all that stuff had been a mistake, even though it was done out of necessity. If he hadn’t divulged the details of the Quest he felt that it was unlikely that the Peace Keepers would’ve allowed him to leave to complete it. Still, that didn’t stop it from sounding problematic.

"Did you try it out?" 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Yeah. Nothing major though."

"Do you have anything planned?"

"Nothing for now." Mark replied. "To be honest, now that I have it, I barely know what I should be doing with it."

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Thanks for reading the series. Due to the lack of support, I have decided to drop it.