ready player one

chapter 8: IOI and... the truth? ✔️

IOI and... the truth?
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madison's p.o.v:
IOI has been cracking down ever since parzival, artemis, aech and i found the first two keys. literally drones everywhere. as wade and i we're walking back to our stacks, we tried blending in as much as possible so we wouldn't attract any attention from the droids.

"i'm actually gonna head to my van because i really don't want to go home right now, but i'll see you later." i said as i started walking the opposite direction. "i don't either. my aunt is dating this douchebag who roughs us around, so do you mind if i join you?" he asked pleadingly. i nodded and pointed to the direction i was going in.

after a few moments of silence wade asked, "so why don't you want to go home?" "well, i love with just my dad and he's very abu- um, rude and i just don't want to have to deal with that." i said trying to cover up what i was going to stay my failing miserably. he nodded but definitely knew what i was about to say.

after crawling through a few smashed cars, we finally made it to my van. "no way, my van is not that far behind yours." he said a little shocked. "why haven't we ever seen each other?" he asked. i shrugged and started to work in my notebook trying to pick apart the clue that was in the scroll.

something is happening today, i just can't remember. is it a holiday? national pancake day? a birthda- MY BIRTHDAY! i'm a dumbass. wait, that means i can open the box now!

apparently my mother left me a box that had a lock on it that wouldn't open until i was 19 and now i am! as i was shuffling around, looking for my box, wade just sat there looking puzzled.

"okay, so i know i may look stupid but my mom left me a box when she left that wouldn't open until i was 19 and i just remembered today was my birthday." i said like it was no big deal.

"oh, well then happy birthday!" wade said with a laugh. i found the metal box, pulled it out and yanked on the lock which fell off with ease. i slowly opened the box and saw a bunch of old papers, an oversized, blue, long sleeve button down, a leather journal and a small box.

the first thing that caught my eye was a note. it read,

Dear Madison,
So, you may be wondering why I left. Let me start from the beginning. I met this man who was a little weird but on the inside, an amazing person. We liked a lot of the same things and we dated. After a year or so, we found out I was pregnant. It was the happiest we had ever been. However, once we had you, he became very successful in his business and I started seeing him less and less. We got into arguments and things started going downhill. We both decided to just stay friends, which we still are and will be. Anyways, i moved a town over into Columbus and met your father that you live with now. He became obsessed with the oasis and completely spent our money and IOI is on their way to come get me because we were in so much debt. Your "father" put all the blame on me and i will be taken to a loyalty center. Besides that, some information you should know is you got your eyes from me, there's $500 that i saved up just for you in this box and also your last name isn't region, it's Halliday.

Love you lots,
Your mother, Jessica.

i dropped the note and almost would have passed out if wade didn't catch me and bring me back into focus. "what happened? what's in the note?" he asked in a worded tone. "i-i'm... james halliday's daughter." i almost whispered. wade looked at me and shock, picked up the note and read it.

as i was still semi in shock, wade got a call on his goggles from nolan sorrento. with hesitation he answered it and i made sure to stay quiet.

i cant hear much if the conversation but one thing that caught my attention was wade saying, "what're you doing? you can't-" and then a pause. "sorrento don't do this i'm not even there!" he yelled with fear thick in his voice. he threw off his goggles, put in his ear piece and said call alice.

he grabbed my hand and yanked me out of the van as we ran towards our stack. he kept mumbling things like alice pick up or come on, come on. he looked like he was in major shock so i didn't question it, i knew i would after this though.

as the stacks came into our sight, drones were surrounding it, planting what looked like bombs and in a few seconds the whole stack exploded. we noticed the stack was falling right down on us so we ran and it barley missed us but had enough force to push us and knock us down.

wade got up but i couldn't, i hit my head on the ground when the explosion hit. after that, all i can remember is wade picking me up and taking me to god knows where.

••••••••••

wade's p.o.v:

"do you really think anyone's gonna give a damn about an explosion in some ghetto trash rat warren stack in columbus? sorrento said with no emotion in his voice. "sorrento don't do this! i'm not even there." i said in a panic. "not for long." and he hung up.

i put in my ear piece and called alice. as i was pulling madison to our stack, of course rick answered and hung up on me. in that second, the stacks exploded and madison and i were knocked off of our feet from it. as i landed on the ground, i rolled and pulled myself up but i noticed madison hit her head so i picked her up and went to the safest place possible.

the rebellion.

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a.n// alright, that was chapter 8 for y'all!! i'm at work in the back, eating frozen yogurt lmao, but yeah, i don't really have much to say! i hope y'all stick with this book and happy gunting!