ready player one

chapter 9: the loyalty center ✔️

the loyalty center
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madison's p.o.v:
as i opened my eyes, i was greeted with a pounding headache and an empty common room. i realized we were at the rebellion and that i was on a couch in arty's room. i guess it makes sense that i'm on the couch because i'm still covered in dirt and.. uh, explosion mess?

i sat up and heard the bathroom door open and i was met with a half naked wade with only a towel on. of course my eyes had to wander. "i-i'm so sorry." wade said completely flustered. i laughed nervously and he ran back into the bathroom.

there's so many things i'd do to that man.

gross stop! i shook the thoughts out of my head and made my way into the common room and met up with samantha. "hey madison! just letting you know, there's a shower in my room but i think wade's using it right now. y'all got pretty gross in that explosion." sam said. "uh, y-yeah, i know." i stuttered think about our encounter a few minutes ago.

"uh oh, what happened?" sam asked with a smirk. "n-nothing." i responded with my cheeks heating up.
"y'all better not have done anything on my bed." she said in all seriousness as wade walked in. i tackled her across the couch while wade stood there awkwardly.

"i give up, i give up!" sam was yelling as i was tickling her. i got up laughing and headed to sam's room to get a shower.

as i was washing my hair i started thinking, after the whole easter egg thing, what are wade and i gonna be? friends? more? i'm also still wrapping my head around the fact that the james halliday is my dad.

as i stepped out of the shower i heard sam call me jokingly, "madison aya region, get your ass down here." as i walked down the stairs i said nervously, "uh, yeah, about that. that's not my last name."

she gave me a confused look that said elaborate. "so, you remember that box that my mom left me?" i stated, walking to the couch. "well, inside was a bunch of old papers that i didnt get to read, a leather journal, money, a blue button down and a note... from my mom. it basically explained why she's gone and that my father isn't my real father." "so who is it?" she asked anxiously. after a moment if silence i said, "james halliday."

"okay, good one. now who is it?" she asked jokingly. i just stared at her. "no way... seriously?" she asked with her mouth slightly open. "so that's why you didn't zero out and he talked to you through the oasis!" she said connecting the dots.

i actually didn't think about that. "well, anyways, we need to figure out where the next key is." i said trying to change the subject.

after a few minutes we saw a member of the rebellion drop their stuff and run. confused we looked back and saw IOI workers rushing in and taking as many people as they could.

samantha grabbed wade and i and brought us to a back room. she slipped off what looked like an air vent and said, "go, this is your only chance." "i'm not leaving without you." i stated firmly. "i'm right behind you now go." she said as she shuffled me and wade through the hole in the wall.

as i helped wade out and as i was going to reach for samantha she said, "the oasis needs y'all." "no, no, no wait!" and before i could say anything more, she shut the door and locked it.

"arty!!" i yelled as i banged on the wall in front of me. right as i was about to hit it again, wade grabbed my arms, flipped me around and put his finger to my lips.

"samantha evelyn cooke, IOI has purchased and consolidated all of your outstanding debt. currently an excess of 23,000 credits. you will be remanded to the nearest IOI loyalty center, untill your debt is paid in full including any interest, processing, and late fees you incur hence forth." i heard a voice say from the other side.

wade stood up and offered a hand to help me up, which i took. as soon as we were off the ground someone pulled wade and i and they started talking about not trusting someone in the oasis but then we realized it's aech!

"we need to go, now!" aech  said strongly and led us to her van. as we were running, a drone was scanning the outside of aech's van. i grabbed a pipe that was laying against a trash can and as wade made a distraction, i yanked the drone down and started beating it with the pipe.

we all loaded up on the van and as everyone was discussing a way to get sam back, i went to the back corner of the van just to... well, think. everything is just happening so fast that i haven't been able to process everything.

from halliday being my father, to potentially having a relationship, to just this whole situation. wade, sam, aech and i are probably some of the most wanted people in ohio as of right now. by this point i didn't even realize all my stress was pouring out of me through tears.

i felt someone slide down next to me and pulled me closer to them around my waist. i soon realize it's wade by the nothings he's whispering in my ear to get me to calm down. i normally don't have these kind of episodes ever since my dad started the abuse but when I'm with wade, sam and aech, i just feel like im at home and can show my feelings to all of them.

wade looked like he was holding something back so i asked what was wrong. "i don't want to leave you alone back here but i might have a way to get sam out." wade said quietly. i waved him off to go talk game plan while i felt myself daze off.

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a.n// i'm sorry it took so long to post but i've been busy with my new job and starting My senior year of high school. since i see that more people are reading the story, i will try to post more regularly :) thanks for reading and happy gunting!