Chapter 21

Tiff had a plan.

It wasn’t a very exciting plan, but most plans aren’t actually that engaging. Sometimes it’s something simple, like “I’m going to start a load of laundry before I go grocery shopping,” or, “I’ll take the trash out to the street and then take a shower.”

Hers was, “make it through the day, go home, and do homework.”

So far, the plan was executing flawlessly. She survived Physical Education, but it was a close shave. While everyone else was busy whacking each other with sticks instead of playing field hockey, Tiff was made to run around the tennis courts they were using as rinks for 30 minutes. She almost expired.

Or maybe she was being a touch dramatic.

By now, the class truly understood that she was a full letter rank below the rest of them in the Might stat and realized she wasn’t joking or putting on an act to get out of participating. On the first day, some kids had laughed at her as she ran, full of misery, but now, they were silent, sparing her many pitying looks. A few classmates even cheered for her when she wobbled over to the bench next to the drinking fountain when she reached the time limit. She felt like a newborn fawn, knees knocking and stumbling over her own two feet, but she made it.

In fact, PE had worn her so thin that by the time lunch rolled around, Tiff was shambling like a zombie. Once she sat down, all she could think of was how she didn’t want to use her legs ever again, and she didn’t even touch her lunch. She stared at her orange for a solid minute, and once Candice realized the orange wasn’t plotting to murder anybody, Tiff probably wasn’t either.

“Do we need to take you to the nurse?” Candice asked.

Tiff looked up, and the bags under her eyes and her sunken cheeks must have made her look like a skeleton. Candice visibly recoiled.

“Or do we need to call a morgue? Are you alive?”

“No,” Tiff said, but it came out more like “Blehhhh.”

“That’s it,” Candice stood up abruptly. “Come on.”

Tiff, with her D-rank Might, could not resist the cheerleader.

While it was mildly embarrassing getting dragged through the halls to the nurse’s office during the middle of lunch, there was an upside. The nurse had her lie down on the bed and gave her a once-over, but none of her checks revealed any complicating issues. Once the older woman was satisfied, she told Tiff to talk to her PE teacher if the current routine was too harsh and said she’d provide medical analysis if necessary. Also…the nurse gave Tiff a tasty juice box, which was awesome, along with what looked like a prescription for more juice boxes she could exchange at the cafeteria. Now the proud owner of unlimited juice boxes, Tiff’s stance on having D rank Might was turning. Tiff slurped her way through the last few periods of the day and shuffled her way to the bus when the bell rang.

Tiff wasn’t surprised to find Amy waiting for her out front. The last few days made it clear she was very interested in the whole whirlwind surrounding Tiff’s Awakening, to the point where Tiff wondered what her sister’s friends must be thinking. But Tiff wasn’t really an expert on friends, with the exception of the bubbly cheerleader that had somehow attached to her like a leech…no, that wasn’t fair to Candice. She was much better than a gross…bug…slimy…thing. Even if her energy was sometimes taxing.

What was surprising was finding Victoria in the pickup line.

Well, not really, because again, after the last few days, Tiff had come to rely on her big sister too. Amy climbed in (she tried squeezing through the rolled-down passenger window until Victoria told her off), and Tiff gently eased herself into the back seat. The surprise came from Victoria herself the moment she pulled away from the school parking lot.

“I put in my resignation today,” she said in a very conflicted tone. It took Tiff half a second to figure out what Victoria was actually talking about; the admission was quite blunt.

“What?” Tiff gasped. “Why would you do that?!”

Tiff knew how much her big sister loved that job. How much she enjoyed delving into Rifts, being active and using her body, as well as how proud she was when she was accepted into Roughnecks. It was as close to a dream job as Victoria could get at this stage in her life, and Tiff knew she’d never leave it willingly. Or at the very least, without thinking it over very carefully.

“Didn’t really have a choice,” Victoria sighed. “After yesterday’s…incident with Dad, I think that became abundantly clear. Went into the Lounge first thing this morning.”

“Incident?” Amy puzzled from up front. Tiff could practically see the lightbulb go off. “Oh! You mean when you TELEPORTED?!”

Amy’s voice steadily raised in volume the more excited she got, to the point where she was practically yelling. Tiff winced, suddenly glad they were driving down a busy road.

“You got it,” Victoria said, digging her finger into her ear dramatically.

“So what kind of Skill is that? Is it a [Bodyguard] thing? Have you tried practicing with it? Can you do it at will? Can you teleport me to school in the morning? Oh! Now you can get rid of this jalopy!”

“Watch it, squirt,” Victoria grinned, looming over her little sister. “I got a Class and Affinity change. I’m a [Marauder] now, and I’ll [Maraud] your ass if you don’t settle down.”

Amy stuck out her tongue playfully but did lower the volume. Instead, all that energy seemed to redirect itself to her entire body as she bounced frantically in her seat. Victoria simply shook her head.

“But that’s part of the problem,” she said, glancing up in the rear view mirror to meet Tiff’s eyes. “I can’t control it. It’s not a Skill, it’s part of my Class. As far as I’m aware, it only activates on its own when the conditions are met. So I think you can see where this is going, right? I can’t be a [Bodyguard] if I can get yanked away from a client without warning at any point.”

“Oh,” Tiff muttered miserably. She felt terrible, absolutely awful. This was entirely her fault! “Tori, I’m so sorry! We need to find a way to revert your class! We’ll get you back to being a normal [Bodyguard], I promise!”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, munch,” Victoria laughed. “I think this is a pretty major commitment. The System doesn’t just hand out stat upgrades like it did for me on a whim. I think I’m locked in.”

She glanced up again and saw how unhappy Tiff looked and she shook her head.

“Hey, don’t worry. I said I put in my resignation, not that I quit. Yes, I tried to, but they didn’t accept. After meeting with the boss, I’m glad. They’re willing to keep me on as a Rift Delver, but I’m de-listed as a [Bodyguard]. They’ll still call on me in a pinch, but otherwise I’ve been moved to inactive status.”

“Oh,” Tiff nodded. But the more she thought about it, the more she frowned. “Wait…but if you don’t do work, you won’t get paid? Tori, this isn’t right!”

“Haha,” Victoria laughed as she pulled up to their house. “I have the best little sisters. They care so much.”

Amy play-fought with Victoria as they marched into the house, and Tiff was greeted by yet another surprise that day.

“Girls!” Rick’s voice floated out of his office-den. “That you?”

Tiff rolled her eyes and figured if a thief was breaking into their home, they weren’t likely to announce their presence. Victoria and Amy all yelled back, but Rick wasn’t looking for either of them.

“Great! Tiff, if you’re free, would you mind coming here?”

Intrigued, Tiff hastily kicked off her shoes and tossed her backpack next to Amy’s…which was in the middle of the floor where anybody could trip over it. Victoria shunted them to the side, and all three sisters trundled into their dad’s den.

The girls didn’t often go into Rick’s office, but not because they weren’t allowed in. It simply wasn’t a place they could play around in…no matter how much Rick’s computer setup looked like an ultra-gaming experience or a man-cave. He had twelve monitors attached to what Tiff called a “tech tree,” which could all move, swivel, and rotate. Usually, he had multiple screens running various lines of code, and a few devoted to face-cams with the Troubleshooters or other clients he was trying to assist. Several were usually reserved for internet access or for viewing the (apparently multiple) security cameras he had around the house…and Tiff knew for a fact that the smallest monitor on the bottom right was exclusively reserved for baseball games.

It was his guilty pleasure, and Tiff waddled in on him one day when she was a tot. He was supposed to be fixing somebody’s issues, but he was engrossed in a game that had gone into extra innings. Tiff tugged on his pant leg, seeking attention, and he jumped, spooked that he got caught. He may have panicked, but after judging that Tiff wouldn’t give his secret away, he lifted her into his lap and they watched until the bottom of the 14th. Not that Tiff understood, at the time or now, what that really meant, other than the game ran long. It was one of her earliest memories and she wouldn’t tell a soul. She was no rat.

Today, however, every screen was off. No wonder he called out for the girls instead of knowing instinctively when they’d arrived. On the desk itself, however, was a nifty magnifying lens clamped to the desk, along with some open electronics underneath it.

“Ah, girls, great. Come in,” Rick smiled at them as they all wandered in.

“Whatcha working on, Dad?” Amy asked instantly, zooming up to the desk. Rick chuckled and held her back. “Something for your sister. Now, Tiff,” he said, turning to her. “I’ve got some questions about your Class…more specifically, that computer in your room, which I assume are related. Is this something you want your sisters in on?”

Tiff thought about it for a second. If she was feeling extra catty and wanted to get revenge on Amy for eating her dessert last week, she might say no. But petty revenge wasn’t as sweet as future allies…or ice cream. But since ice cream wasn’t on the table here, she shrugged instead.

“It’s probably for the best if they stay,” Tiff reasoned. “Tori is already in too deep and Amy might understand what you’re sharing with us better than I can.”

“Good,” Rick nodded. “It’s good to be open. So, Tiff, am I right in thinking that your computer is part of your class?”

“Yes,” Tiff nodded easily.

“Interesting,” Rick smiled. “How does that work? Didn’t Amy build it for you? Out of- ahem -my parts? She’s not Awakened; she doesn’t have a Class yet.”

“Ah,” Tiff said. Next to her, Amy turned away awkwardly. “Amy may have done it, but she didn’t do it? I, ah, I’m not doing this very well. It’s part of my Class…Dad, how much do you know about my Class?”

“Absolutely nothing,” he easily admitted. “Other than the fact that you’re using a server to display a frankly terrifyingly accurate map of the greater Los Angeles area…nothing.”

Tiff rubbed her chin. The situation she found herself in was very bizarre, and two days ago it would have scared the pants right off of her. Then she’d be left standing in her underwear, which would make the situation more terrifying than it had any right to be. Tiff shook her head; she was getting sidetracked.

The point was, she no longer felt afraid of her family finding out what her Class was…except for her mom; that was still a roadblock on the horizon. But her sisters already knew, and her dad had already discovered her Affinity…so what was the problem with sharing everything? The more she thought about it, the more it made sense, and the sillier she felt about not going to him sooner. She really, really needed help navigating some of her System’s…systems.

“I’m a [Dungeon Master],” Tiff said, flipping a System screen around. “Before you ask, I have no idea what it does. I’ve learned about as much about it so far as everybody else. It only came with a single Skill: [Place Core]. It didn’t tell me much and I didn’t want to use it because the System also made me a Supervillain when I Awakened.”

Tiff took a deep breath and Rick raised an eyebrow as he scanned the screen she shared. A smile tugged at his lips and Tiff felt a twinge of regret. Had she shown something she shouldn’t have?

“Dark Queen?” Rick asked, clearly amused. Tiff wafted away the screen and flung her face into her hands.

“I didn’t choose it!” She wailed. “It wasn’t me!”

“We’re all young at one point in our lives,” Rick teased loftily, clearly not believing her at all. “Don’t be ashamed of the phases you go through-”

“Dad!”

“Next you’ll tell me it’s not a phase, right?” Rick smirked. Tiff’s cheeks burned cherry red and her whine reached the pitch of a tea-kettle. Fortunately, Victoria came to her rescue.

“Dad, take it easy on her. She can’t lie.”

Or not.

Tiff peeked around her fingers to see Rick’s questioning face, the smile slowly slipping away.

“It’s a Quirk,” Victoria explained. “We can go over that later. We’re getting off track.”

In Tiff’s opinion, the System should award Victoria with one million Fame, because right now, she was Tiff’s hero.

“So, I put my [Core] down,” Tiff started to explain, but Rick cut her off.

“Where?” He asked. With all the tools at his disposal, Tiff realized he would certainly know if she placed a floating green diamond somewhere he could see it.

“In my closet,” Tiff groaned. Why was that where she ended up sticking it? Fate was either cruel or kind; Tiff couldn’t decide which.

“There’s a dungeon core in your closet,” Rick asked flatly. When Tiff meekly nodded, he shook his head. “This day is taking a very strange turn. So, this…core. It’s important, I take it?”

“Have you never played video games?” Amy asked in mock outrage. Rick gave his youngest daughter a cool stare.

“I can get a sub-41 in Super Metroid.”

Amy’s jaw dropped.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Single segment?” She demanded.

“PRKD,” Rick declared triumphantly.

Tiff nearly fell over; she was feeling overwhelmed. A steadying hand latched onto her shoulder and she looked up to see Victoria’s grim face. Their eyes met and they shared an understanding.

Two nerds had just congregated in the same place and they…gained enlightenment?

“We’re getting off track!” Victoria barked, clapping her hands. Amy yelped as she jumped into the air and Rick coughed into his fist.

“Haaaa, right. Dungeon core. What’s it look like?”

“Are you familiar with the Sims?”

Rick was about to open his mouth, but a threatening look from Victoria set him straight.

“Never mind. What does it have to do with the computer?”

“Ah,” Tiff shook herself from a daze. “I said I didn’t want to use my Class, right? The System gave me a Quest to put it down and I ignored it. The System didn’t like that. It gave me a new Quest with a time limit, so I had to put it down and put it in the closet. Anyway! Once I did that, I got a Quest reward.”

“I’m…still not sure how that connects to the computer in your room,” Rick said with a frown. Tiff felt like kicking herself. Why was this hard even when she was trying to be up front?

“Amy, can you go get the stick?”

“Gotcha!”

Amy bolted out of the office, but it was only a matter of moments before she came bounding back in. She skidded to a stop in front of Rick and held out her hands, the TAS on display.

“A Quest rewarded you with a thumb drive,” Rick said, full of disbelief. He picked it up gently and turned it over in his fingers. “Hopefully it has decent storage capacity,” he muttered. “Territory Administration Suite…?”

“That’s what you saw running on the computer,” Tiff said. “It’s a map of my territory.”

“Tiff,” Rick said slowly as he placed the TAS down onto his desk. “Did you just become the ruler of a land?”

“Actually,” Victoria piped up, “I’m pretty sure she has.”

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