Only a Game (Olympus Drive Chronicles)

Chapter 37: Imagine meeting your celebrity crush and they repel you up a wall

Teddy

Ariadne and Metion completely ignore how obviously star struck I am. Metion himself could care less about my presence in general. I mean, I realize he's been kidnapped that would be a bit preoccupying. However. We are here to rescue him, sort of.

He's taller than I expected from pictures, a good head taller than me, with deep silver hair that's slicked back from his face. His eyes are small and light, and mouth unsmiling. He's wearing a silver leather jacket along with black cargo pants. A cigarette hangs from his lips. Like this is his morning dungeon crawl and he happened to find two adventurers on the way.

He does not wait for us to properly remove our VR headsets before repelling us to the top of the wall. Then he growls at us to come while we struggle to get them off while following him along the top of the wall. The sun glares down now and I am nearly blinded when I get the headset off. Ariadne takes my arm and tugs me on.

We are not on top of the wall for long, however. Instead Metion opens a secret door, and we descend into a tunnel, the only light coming from the cigarette stub in his mouth. Which is to say there is no light. Ariadne and I trip forward, and Metion leads us a decent distance down the dark tunnel, only for us to nearly run into him at another door.

"Move it," he ushers us in unceremoniously.

And we are inside---a surprisingly competent bunker. But like, an Ironman bunker, filled with parts and gadgets and television screens and computers glowing and whirring under every table. A boy, who was sitting on a faded sofa fiddling with a laptop, immediately launches himself into Ariadne's arms. He's about my height, burying his face in her thick chest happily as that's where his head reaches on her.

"You're welcome, what have you been up to?" Metion picks up the laptop unconcernedly as the two embrace. I'm left to stand there awkwardly.

"I missed you so much," the boy says, face in Ariadne's chest (lucky) eyes closed. I realize after half a second he must be Metion's son. They look little alike, though. Metion is quite pale and clearly European (eastern European if I remember correctly), with light blue eyes. The boy is of about the same complexion as me, (we are both a bit lighter than Ariadne, though for me that's probably lack of sun). Unlike me, the boy has inky black curls and deep dark eyes. The boy smiles a lovely, happy grin as he embraces Ariadne.

"I missed you too, I got your message," she says, ruffling his hair happily as they both sort of collapse on the sofa to hug each other.

"You did? Did you beat the treasure trove? What did you think---"

"Later—you have something for me? Also who is he?" Metion looks finished with their reunion.

"He's a gamer---and he knew you were alive, that's why he's helping," Ariande says, a bit annoyed, unstrapping her backpack to start getting something out.

"You did?" Metion turns to me, interested now.

"Yes---I knew, I mean I was pretty sure but once I played Dancing Ground I was positive," I stutter, surprised now that his quick eyes are on me.

"You found the hidden scene?" Metion asks, eagerly now, as he takes off his jacket. He's wearing a soft black t-shirt under it. on his left arm is a tattoo Stay Lost ; ) which was the logo for his company, Talos Industries.

"What---no, what hidden scene?" I ask, frowning, "I knew because of the game design---"

"Idiots," Metion mutters, clearly annoyed, turning to look at a set of computer monitors.

"I found it," Ariadne mutters.

"That's irrelevant you knew we were here!" Metion growls.

"Wow, dad, almost like if you wanted people to find the hidden message in the cutscene and come help us you should have made it easier to find," the boy says, slyly. He's now draped over the back of the sofa, two cigarettes dangling from his lips. He goes to light both of them.