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Published at 22nd of January 2019 08:20:57 PM


Chapter 53

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Q let Scorch run, his long fluid stride eating up the distance back toward HQ. He pulled up when he saw Mojo exiting. "Going to Station Site, want to come?"

Mojo nodded and took his offered hand as she scooted up behind him. "I was headed there myself." She wrapped her arms around his waists and lay her head against his back.

Q let the red stallion trot easily toward the Station site, they arrived within a few minutes. He jumped down first and lent Mojo a hand that she really didn't need.

Q whistled as he saw the progress that had already been made, this wasn't an insta-build structure, but it was already done. The shiny silver Engine, along with the six cars it came with, was an impressive sight. Engineer Soji was walking around the Engine, carefully inspecting it. It was unconfirmed, but Q had heard rumor that Soji was sweet on Remmy.

Q stopped next to a ladder that was leaning against the Station Sign, a woodcarver was working on the sign, he was halfway done with the Talon station sign already. Q couldn't help but think it would be easier to carve at the shop, rather than on a ladder. "A moment of your time sir."

The middle aged craftsmen looked down at him, his eyes widened when he recognized him, immediately he shot down ladder. "Q! It's my honor to meet you, I'm Lorn."

"Very good work craftsmen Lorn, I wonder if I could trouble you with a small task." Mojo left when she saw Remmy and Tal, Q continued to talk with the craftsmen.

Q finally caught up with the group, they stopped talking the moment he approached. "Why so quiet? Wait.. you guys talking about me?"

Tal and Mojo shook their heads, while Remmy nodded. The little gnome glanced at her friends and then blushed as she shook her head also.

Q laughed as he threw an arm around Remmy's shoulders. "It's fine, I won't press. You did a great job here Tal, it looks just like an old fashion Train Station."

"Time for a ride then?" Tal had run the track from the Station all the way to the first of three city sites.

Q noticed a small dust cloud approaching, the Songbirds could be seen in the distance, jetting toward them. A slim blond was among them, Ren had been grinding experience points, she was now level 22. Q kept it to himself, but Ren had declared a base class recently. The sweetest girl he had ever known, was now a rogue.

Tal stared at her daughter, she fit in well with the easy going Songbirds. "Let's get this thing moving."

Remmy climbed up the ladder and took a left to head into the Engine compartment, while the rest of the group took a right into the first car.

All the windows were open as Q grabbed a window seat across the Ren. There were two rows of seats on each side, they were paired off facing each other with a small table in between each.

Ren grinned at him, "obviously this doesn't compare to the Q-train?"

Lara nodded, "a handsome man carrying you to breakfast? That has to be nice."

"Hmm... it's very nice." Ren loved the special treatment, "Quinn's the best."

The Songbirds of course, would never let something like that go.

"That's how I want to go to breakfast!"

"Q you should stay at the bunkhouse some nights!"

"Spoil us a little bit!"

Mojo took the seat next to Q, while Talia had followed Remmy, apparently engineers want to ride in front.

Q watched the landscape, the train was slowly starting to pick up speed, they'd keep it to a fraction of the speed it could handle. "Didn't really get to enjoy the ride last time."

Mojo smiled and slid an arm through his as she leaned against him, "the view from up top was very nice."

Lara Sy stared at Q, "view from the top?"

Q nodded, "Mojo and I enjoyed the ride North from the top of the train."

"After our special night together, you do this?" Lara covered her face with one hand. "Aren't you taking me seriously?"

Q grinned at her, "yes of course, I would never spank a woman I wasn't serious about."

Mojo dug her nails in to Q's arm, "what are you talking about Q'Ikah?"

The Songbirds started chirping all at once.

"He spanked us in the sewers of Fenway!"

"Ran us down one by one."

"He has very large hands."

"Um.. gonna check out the rest of the train." Q exited quickly before they could continue. The second car was empty, he was opening the door to the third when he spied Daze and Onion through the glass. He grinned to himself and took the ladder up to the top. They were holding hands and enjoying the view, there was no way Q would interrupt them. He doubled back and decided to head toward the engine compartment.

Tal saw him taking the ladder from the top of the train. She turned those pretty blue eyes on him, "is this a heist?"

Q nodded, "yep, put all your clothes in the bag."

A giggle sounded out from behind Tal as Remmy peaked around her, "what kind of heist would that be?"

Q felt his face heat up, but he played it off with a wink, "the best kind." He walked past them and stepped into the engineers car.

A few minutes later the train came to a halt at the first City Site. Along the track was an Aqueduct that mirrored it's line, both of them came to an abrupt stop a hundred meters past the first site. Q jumped down and approached the Aqueduct. There was no water running through them yet, but they were an impressive feat. They were made mostly of stone from the quarry, approximately 15 feet off the ground. Q knew the dimensions because Tal had told him, the waterway was 10 feet across and 4 feet deep. When it began cycling water from the Water plant that would be built at the Northern mountain range, it would take only half a day to fully supply all four cities with fresh water. Each town would possess a fresh water basin that could be topped off weekly, Tal was following the ancient Roman design. There would be a road that ran alongside the waterway, for travelers and merchants that traveled by horse or on foot.

Q stared at it in wonder, in a short period of time they had made quite a bit of progress. This was due in large part to a certain lovely engineer. He turned as the rest of the group finally disembarked and joined him. Yayia had apparently been in the last car, if Q were to guess, she looked like she had been taking a nap.

"Are we going to visit Exodus tomorrow?" Ren was standing between Robin and Lark, since she had become a rogue, they had been training her.

"Yep, I've already set the building guidelines, so we'll have to bring supplies to the Songbird Tavern." Q had looked through several different pub and cantina designs before choosing a spacious Tavern template.

The Songbirds all started talking at once.

"Songbird Tavern? Best name ever!"

"Do we own a Tavern?"

"Are we going to work there?"

Q raised a hand to quiet the murmurs. "The TAP hub is going to become a central gathering place for all TAP players. It makes sense that our information network be based there."

Mojo smiled at the commotion, Q had promised her a tour of Exodus and the shops there. Apparently TAP NPCs were different from NPCs in other worlds. "We will have a chance to walk around tomorrow, they'll be uniforms that we are going to wear until after the Arena championships are done."

"As long as we are all gathered, I'll give you a quick brief on the upcoming Arena championship. There are many, many different worlds that vy for a spot in tournament. We've been given a pass into the tournament because of our recent arrival. There would have been four worlds competing in the semi final event, but our addition makes five. The other Worlds represented are teams from Guns and Gore, Martial Law, Civil Unrest and Iron Mountain. Each team fights three matches, the two best records advance to the finals." Q watched his team carefully. "Yayia, Mojo, Remmy, Crow, the five Songbirds and myself will make up the team. We are allowed one alternate, but I'm not going to assign one."

"How did we become the TAP representatives?" Ren asked the most obvious question, each of them were sure that Q had pulled a fast one.

"Originally Concert Hall would have sent a team, after seeing our people in Zohai, they opted to give us that right." Q said it with a straight face, it was actually about 10 percent accurate, which is nearly the same as fact.

The ride back was quite peaceful, the engine reversed direction and the entire TAP group sat on top of the first car, enjoying the sun and fresh air as they moved steadily through the countryside.

"I really like trains." Lara had said it a dozen times since they started.

Mojo nodded, "same here, this track will eventually go past Talon Station and stop at HQ."

Q watched Mojo, her white hair was up in a bun she leaned against Remmy as they chatted. She seemed younger now days, perhaps the weight of the Dark Elf line of succession had been weighing her down.

"Remmy, do you have a boy that you like?" Ren was naturally curious, since she had seen the way Soji stared at her.

Remmy nodded, "Quinn Riley of course."

Tal's pleasant laughter reached Q's ears. She had told Remmy all about Quinn and his childhood, so naturally the little gnome called him by his name. "A fine choice Remmy, I don't mind the company."

Mojo glanced back at Q, she had spoken with Tal privately also and the beautiful engineer had told her the same thing. She was somewhat baffled, Q was aware of her feelings, but he was resisting for some reason.

Q stood as the train approached the town, he smiled when he saw woodcarvers handywork, 'Talia Station.'

Remmy clapped wildly when she saw it, "Yay!! That's a great name!"

The rest of the group cheered, Tal seemed speechless for once, her pretty blue eyes staring at the sign. She had definitely told the craftsman Talon Station. The innocent look on Quinn's face told her who was responsible, it was a beautiful sign.

Ren hugged Q from behind, "that was you right? I saw you talking to the signmaker before we left."

Q gave her a deadpan look, "you're out of the secret club."

Ren covered her mouth with a hand, "wait.. I am? Hey I didn't know that was a secret Quinn!"

"Nope.. ousted." Q took out his jetpack as the train finally came to a halt.

"Who is that?" Robin stared at the woman standing alone at the station, even from a distance you could see her tattoos.

Lark's eyes widened, 'is that the Painted Lady? Why is she here?"

They watched as Q fired up his jetpack and moved towards her. Since everyone in the group had one as well, they all followed him. Q landed softly a few feet in front of her.

She stuck out her hand when he approached, "I agree to your proposal, I'm Jezebell."

Q smiled pleasantly, "I'm Quinn."

***********

A few hours later Q was sitting at the kitchen Island with his Dad and Grandpa. They were drinking brandy and playing cards while they talked. Quinn was feeling mildly intoxicated, he wasn't someone who drank normally.

"We'll keep the security team here for the next few months, just as a precaution." Mike didn't want anything to happen to his grandson and Louise had told him to make sure he was protected, no matter what.

"It's fine with me, I barely know they are there." Quinn eyed the two Obreen men, they were remarkably good poker players.

"You like that truck in the driveway?" Gus had found out that Quinn was looking into getting a truck, after some detail digging he had picked one out.

"That black one? It's awesome, going to get myself one just like it." Quinn grimaced and tossed his cards face down on the table.

Gus smiled at his son, "it's all yours. I picked it up for you today." He slid a pair of keys across the table to his son. He had missed out on just about everything in Quinn's life. He was more then happy to buy Quinn his first ride.

Quinn picked up the keys, staring at them for a moment. "Wow.. thanks Dad! Crap.. I shouldn't have had those last three drinks. We'll take it for a drive tomorrow."

Gus nodded, "last five drinks you mean." He glanced at his old man, he loved to pour brandy.

The old man shrugged at him, "hey... I didn't force him." He grinned at his grandson, "holds them pretty well though.

A few hours later, the two of then helped younger Quinn up the stairs. Tal had been sleeping, but she sat up when she heard them.

"Hi Dad. Hey Grandpa. Did you guys leave anything in the bottle?" She watched with a smile as they eased him onto the bed.

Mike Obreen shook his head, "nope, drained it."

Gus scowled at his dad, "two bottles actually."

Quinn rolled onto his side, "thanks for the truck..." He was sleeping almost instantly.

"Night Talia." Mike Obreen waved and walked out the door. He heard his son talking a bit more but by the time he had gathered his things, Gus was ready to go.

**********

Quinn woke to the sun shining into his window, for once he hadn't been playing TAP at night. He squinted at the bright light, a mild headache forming behind his eyes.

"Want me to shut that for you Quinn?"

A distinctive voice caused him to wake up instantly, a pink haired gnome was standing in his doorway, her big smile extending from ear to ear.

"Remmy! Let Quinn sleep, he stayed up late drinking." Yayia peaked in his room, the High Elf nodded pleasantly at him. "Your home is nothing like I imagined it would be Quinn."

A moment later Tal rounded them up and herded them down the stairs. She paused in the doorway, "since our home is Exodus compliant, I thought I'd see if they could come here, mission accomplished."

It was then that Quinn noticed her metallic limb, it wasn't her prosthetic. "This is too much."

Tal pointed to the VR chamber where her actual body was, "remember the VR mappers? Everyone is here, come downstairs when you are ready." Tal blew him a kiss and exited quietly.

Quinn sat on the edge of the bed holding his head. "Oh god that hurts..I hope there is real food. My happy life fades away."




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