"Tory, my man, that serious face doesn't look well on you. Tell me, what trouble we've landed ourselves into this time."
Vik patted Tory's shoulder before adding on.
"Hehe! It wasn't the first and it won't be the last."
Tory remained unresponsive to Vik's attempts to lighten the mood.
There was a loud techno-trance track playing in the background. People were dancing and drinking all around the two. And yet Tory wasn't interested in any of those. It broke his usual image of being as carefree as carefree could get.
"Don't tell me you got one of your "Mamacitas" pregnant by accident."
Vik chuckled before ordering a drink for himself at the counter. Tory got even more serious after listening to his remark before smiling mirthlessly:
"Hehehe. I should have gotten them pregnant after all. All of them at the same time damn it.
That op might as well be our last, Vik. There hasn't been any official news released to the public yet."
Tory said and looked at his rum glass. He traced the rim of the glass with hir right index finger before adding the rest.
"Maybe they are confirming something. Or they are waiting for someone to break the news. Either way. It'll happen sooner than later."
Tory said and consumed the glass of rum given to him in one gulp. Even as a virtual drink, the stimulation provided to his nervous system was real. So the guy coughed a bit due to the potency of the on-the-rock rum before continuing.
"I'm afraid we might not be able to get outside that haunted house once our real pictures start making the rounds in the news bulletins here and in reality.
We are fucked, Vik. Six ways to Sunday."
Vik wanted Tory to explain clearly instead of beating around the bush. But before he could demand such an explanation, he heard a spectral screen appearing right above the dance floor.
"Attention to all the common denizens of the Oasis Online. The Oasis Corp's chairperson Miss Raquel Roy requests your attendance."
A gentle female voice was heard from seemingly everywhere and nowhere. The blank screen then showed a live feed of a woman that looked to be in her early 30s.
She had lustrous black hair and a tanned olive complexion. Since the live feed was being projected on a big spectral screen with extra zoom on the woman's face, people could see her light grey eyes were moist. As if she had just wiped her tears.
Raquel Roy was a famous personality within the Oasis community and outside it. She was the only daughter of Remington Roy, one of the founding families behind the Oasis Corp.
Oasis Corp was established by a bunch of influential families some centuries back when the concepts of VR were still quite vague and suffocatingly limited. These companies became the pillar with which the virtual world later built its foundation.
As the founding families, these families had secured a large chunk of the corporation's stakes for themselves. The corporation would have to act according to the whims of these families if they come to a consensus on something particular.
But the strong ties between these three families slowly deteriorated over time. They used to often fight each other both in Oasis as well as in real life.
Remington Roy was a charismatic leader within the Roy faction. He was widely known for his Permavatar Lord Victorious in Oasis. And his achievements in the virtual world spanned over a century and a half.
That's right! Remington Roy was more than 175 years old. And he only married after turning 130.
Raquel was conceived when Remington was 135 years old. So she too had seen her share of life in her 40-plus years.
And currently, this lady was using her family's privilege and special status to make a global announcement. One could guess things she would talk about would be pretty serious.
Raquel used a piece of tissue to wipe the seemingly real tears before finally speaking in a shaky voice:
"Denizens of the Meta Oasis. I apologize for interrupting your activities. But I have a grim piece of news to share with you.
My father, Remington Roy, has died.
No. Let me correct that. He has been killed."
The entire Battery Point bar seemed to have frozen in time when Raquel made that announcement. Everybody looked at each other with dismay. In addition to them, two people listened to this news with different emotions than the rest.
Raquel took a moment to pause and clenched her fists as if trying to muster the courage to speak up. Her voice was heard soon after.
"He... he was killed by two men and all their accomplices."
Vik had stress lines on his forehead after listening this far. He had a foreboding sense that told him that he wouldn't like what Raquel was about to say next. But he listened to her words anyway.
"The external hardware research and development department of Oasis Corp was something my father dedicated his whole life to. And he was finally about to have a big breakthrough.
We all know that the sense of time in Oasis Online is far different from real life. The span of three hours here means only an hour in real life.
This difference is what made Oasis a success story all these years. It allows all of us to work hard for our goals and still have quality time with our families."
Raquel stared blankly in front of her as if trying to imagine something majestic before continuing. Her voice was now coated with a dash of excitement.
"But what if we could change that ratio from 1:3 to 1:6? What kind of revolution would it bring to the world of Oasis Online and our real world?
My father worked on achieving this near-impossible goal for years on end. And he finally had a breakthrough.
His team had succeeded in making the beta versions of the metapods that would have such a capability."
Raquel's facial expressions changed from excitement to that pure anger. In her tone was the wrath she seemed to feel in her heart.
"But it seems that our opponents didn't like that our influence in Oasis Corp was bound to increase. Our secret research facility in Latvia was ransacked a few days after the beta hardware was tested for the first time.
The beta metapods were stolen that day. The researchers involved in the project were killed along with the other staff. But those demons didn't stop there.
They also took advantage of my father being logged into the Mesis to kill him. He was an Awakened and a skilled warrior as you know him to be.
He couldn't have been killed by these lowly thugs had it been a fair fight. But they killed him when he was not in his senses. That's how an accomplished hero was slain by the hands of petty thugs."
'Bitch, you better not...'
Vik's stressed expressions were replaced with those that spelled impending doom. But his curses couldn't stop Raquel from speaking further.
"I believe the two men we are talking about were supported by my family's enemies. Major help was provided to them so that they could accomplish this almost impossible task with ease.
I am also inclined to believe that they had some internal help from my family's faction.
Therefore, I've decided to clean the house. I will make sure that the people who killed my father and the people who were behind that killing get what they deserve sooner or later.
I'll start by hunting the two men whose involvement in this heinous incident is confirmed along with their identities. And I need your help to do that."
Vik and Tory both looked at each other with the same expressions as they heard Raquel's final words.
"I'm offering bounty money for these two men. Their identities are…
Fernando Torres.
And...
Viktor Vladimir."