Chapter 1: An Invitation to Mystery
It was a night like any other in the Four Rums. I was enjoying a glass of wine while Colette lectured us on some sort of math theory he has discovered. BFenix was making a go at understanding him but it may as well have been Greek to me. To my right, Vami was slipping in and out on consciousness.
Maybe I should introduce myself. The name's Quantum Surfer! Insert_Blank. You can call me Ib for short though, most people do. Yeah it was a night like any other. Except for one thing: my friend Overwatch_Elite had been missing for 2 weeks to the day.
"Hey," I blurted out, interupting Colette mid-sentence, "Where's Overv been?" Silence.
Scratch, the guy with a globe head, took a long pull of his drink. he shifted his globe to look at Colette. Even the hard stare of Asia wasn't enough to calm the tempest I had just created down.
"Who cares? He was a rubbish member and we're better off with him gone," Colette snapped. "Besides I was in the middle of something, Ib. Could you please wait until I've finished?"
The kid's got a mouth, sure but he's not all bad. He's smart, even if he has the social skills of a bull in a china shop.
"Now that you mention it, I am worried." Confided Silverdream. Another good kid with a heart of gold. Silva is always out to lend a helping hand to who needs it. He's also a good friend of Overwatch. "Last time I talked to him he mentioned something strange though. Something about another Four Rum? No that wasn't it... He said 'Forum 14.' Yeah! That was it!"
And then she walked in. In most stories when the dame walks in it's time to put on a tough front. But this wasn't just any dame. Her name's Natalya and she's one of the big wigs around here. When she says jump you say 'how high?' and all that. One tough cookie.
"Hi Natalya! I like what you did with your hair. Wildstyle, right?" said Vami.
"Oh uh, yeah. Hi." She looked bothered, annoyed. Maybe the hair dye fumes had gotten to her. "What are you guys talking about?" It was an innocent enough question. But in my line of work I've found the most innocent questions can lead to the biggest problems.
"Oh, nothing much," Silva this time, "We were thinking about Overwatch. He hasn't been around recently."
"Really? I hadn't notice," She said, cool as a cucumber in winter. "Did he mention anything?" Now I was supicious. Why the sudden interest, Nat?
"Yeah," Silva continued. "He said something about 'Forum 14' whatever that is." As he said the words I saw her mouth twitch. An icy block of fear dropped into my stomache suddenly, mixing with the warmth of the booze. I had a bad feeling.
"Oh, what's that?" Was it me or was she clenching her teeth pretty hard?
"No idea," Silva continued, oblivious.
TheShadowScythe appeared next to Natalya. Another tough customer, this guy. I didn't know him too well but he was legendary around these parts.
"Hey everyone, what are we talking about?" Again he was casual, almost too casual for me.
Natalya turned to him, "Something called 'Forum 14'."
His eyes widened slightly, I noticed.
"Really? And what would that be?"
"Well that's just the thing," she said, "No one seems to know."
"If no one knows what it is then why are we talking about it? Seems silly to me. By the way let me tell you chaps a story.."
Scythe commanded the room, entertaining us all with his drunken expolits. The Four Rums was bursting with laughter, everyone laughing and hooting at his tale. Well, almost everyone.If I were a gambling man I'd have bet the two of them were hiding something.
I finished my drink and turned to leave.
"Hey, Ib, where you going?" Silva asked.
"It's late, time to turn in." I said as casually as I could.
"Oh, well okay. Bye."
"Later, Silva."
At almost the same time Natalya and Scythe turned to me. "Bye, Ib." they said.
I hurried out the door and into the warm spring evening. Nights like these usually calm me down but not tonight. That icy block of fear sitting in my stomache told me to take the round about way home. Just in case.
Back at the Four Rums the party went on into the night...
I got home and checked my computer for messages from Overwatch. Nothing. Then I typed in "Forum 14". The search result was enough to let me know I was on to something.
It was enough to make my blood run cold.
I was on to something but enough was enough. It was late and my head was spinning. I was gonna regret drinking so much in the morning, I knew. As an afterthought I programmed Bjork_Bot to search for any information about Forum 14 that she could. Maybe when I woke up in the morning she'd have something for me.
As I laid in bed I could feel the room spinning around me. The booze, mixed with the tension I'd felt at the Four Rums had really done my head in.
"Tomorrow..." I said to myself, half asleep. "I'll figure it out tomorrow..."
