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Published at 21st of March 2019 12:24:05 AM


Chapter 69

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Quinn opened the chamber and slid out easily. The open shutter told him that it was past dinner time. He heard the shower running and assumed Tal must be using it. "I'm so hungry."

He slipped out of the VR suit and hung it on the bathroom door. "It's just me Tal." Quinn grabbed his toothbrush and applied some paste.

"Good job today Quinn." More than anything, Tal loved his willingness to help others.

"It was a good job all around Tal. I like bringing you on TAP missions." Quinn brushed his teeth as he watched Tal through the thin white curtain.

Tal peeked from behind the curtain, "I love going with you."

Quinn smiled and rinsed his mouth out before sliding into the shower. He wrapped his arms around Tal from behind and moved her hair to one side before kissing the back of her neck.

"Mmm...." She handed him her shampoo, "please help hun."

"Sure." Quinn applied some shampoo onto his hand and then slowly worked it into Tal's blonde hair. Tal moaned softly and pushed backward against him.

She leaned forward slightly, the sight of soapy water running down Tal's back made his pulse race. "I ordered some pizza for.. heavens..." Quinn entered her from behind without warning, Tal moaned loudly as he gripped her hips and pushed inside her. "Quinn.."

It started in the shower, then continued on the bathroom floor and finally ended on the bed. The two lovers lay against each other, covered in only a bedsheet. Their hearts still racing as they kissed in the darkness.

"I love you Quinn." Tal's head lay against his chest, her fingers caressing his skin.

"Are you going to take my last name when we get married Tal?" Quinn had never brought it up before, it really didn't matter much to him.

"Yes, I want to be Talia Riley." Tal kissed him lingeringly.

"Hmm, I've got something for you." Quinn smiled as Tal continued to kiss him.

"Oh?" Tal propped herself up on an elbow. "Is it a panther? Cuz after seeing Leah's and Mojo's ... I want one too."

Quinn laughed and shook his head as he reached for a small box he had placed on the nightstand. He opened it carefully and removed the ring. "This was my grandmother's ring, you can pick out your own ring of course but I want you to have this one."

"Quinn.. that's so beautiful." Tal shook slightly as she extended her hand, Quinn slid it carefully on her finger.

He hugged her close and stroked her hair. "If you like it, why are you crying?"

Tal sniffed loudly against his shoulder, "because I love it."

Quinn nodded knowingly. "Yeah.. that makes no sense."

"Mom the pizza is here!" Ren's voice called from downstairs.

Tal gave Quinn another kiss and then sat up. She started putting on her prosthetic. "Hopefully Ren used the money I put on the island."

Quinn threw on some jeans and a t-shirt, then picked up the lounge clothes that Tal had laid out , and placed them on the bed next to her. "See ya downstairs."


"Nanna!" Quinn hadn't seen her since the afternoon, her smiling face watched as he skidded on the floor, but managed to keep his footing.

Em, Ren, Jinn, Nanna and Ro-Ro were all sitting at the island. There were two large boxes of pizza.

"I'm so hungry. Is two going to be enough for all of us?" Quinn decided he would eat Ro-Ro's share if they ran out.

Tal came downstairs a minute later, she had manage to put her hair up in a french braid. Her flawless skin was completely without makeup. Quinn actually preferred it that way.

Unable to wait, Quinn opened both boxes at the same time. "Nice, a garbage pizza and five meat!!" Quinn cheered as he grabbed Nanna and Jinn's hands.

"Thank you for the food."

"And god bless Quinn," Tal added softly.

Ro-Ro was chatting with him, but he missed most of it as he savored the first bite. "So good!"

"Hey Quinn.. are you listening?" Ro-Ro took a bite of her pizza while trying to grab his ear with her other hand.

"Easy there Ro-Ro... hey, no drinks?" Quinn got up and walked to the fridge. "What's everyone want?"

Quinn grabbed a couple of cokes and a six pack of beer. "Take what you want." Quinn cracked open a coke and took a long drink.

"Really?" Ren reached for a beer, but was intercepted by Tal. "Awww.. mom."

Tal laughed at the act, "nice try hun. The cokes are for you and me."

"Girl... What is that on your hand?" Nanna spotted the ring right away.

Tal held out her hand, "It was Quinn's grandmothers."

**********

An hour later a stuffed Quinn leaned back in his chair. "I ate too much I think."

Tal laughed at him and rubbed his stomach. "Poor Little Q."

He smiled at her teasing and gave her a quick kiss. "Off to bed for me."

The girls decided they were going to hang out and play some cards. While Quinn went to bed.

Quinn drank some water and brushed his teeth again before laying down on his bed. He placed the ceramic disc against his temples.

"Log-On Exodus, TAP Hub."

Quinn entered the TAP Hub and immediately took the gate to Ravenwood. It was early morning still, the sun was shining brightly as always. Leah had mentioned that it rains at the exact same time every night, a few minutes after midnight, but he had never been around to verify that.

The bright Red Dome tents were visible as he walked past the stables. None of the new Silverleaf's were walking around. "I wonder if Yaya is in one of the tents."

Quinn peaked in the first tent, there were several groups huddled around half a dozen cook fires. The general atmosphere seemed a bit dreary. He found Yaya in the next Dome tent he checked, she was sitting with Leah at a table near the entrance. They both looked up when they saw him.

Quinn shook his head, "this is very serious, very serious indeed."

Leah's face lit up when she saw him, "hey Quinn! What's serious?"

Yaya managed a smile, but just barely.

Quinn understood, her entire family had been uprooted and now they were miserable. He put on a serious face. "Lieutenant Fintree, assemble the entire Silverleaf family and meet me in the courtyard in 30 minutes."

Leah gave him a questioning look, but nodded her head. "Yes sir. " She stared at his back as he left the tent.

"What's that about?" Yaya had given up on trying to understand Quinn, she had never met anyone so unpredictable.

Quinn exited the town hall exactly 30 minutes later, as expected Leah had rounded up everybody. "Is this everyone Leah?"

Leah nodded, "every single one."

"Very good. Good Morning Silverleaf family, today is an important day." Quinn smiled at the group of nearly four hundred high elf females. "Pay close attention, the next few hours will be your Exodus orientation."

Leah smiled at Quinn, "what do you need sir?"

Quinn cleared his throat. "Well.. for starters.. follow me." Quinn held out his hand to the pretty redhead, they walked toward the portal. "Our destination is the Exodus Bizarro."

"Exodus Bizzaro? What's that Quinn? Does it have it's own gate?" Leah looked over her shoulder to verify that the group was following them.

"Yes it has its own gate, not so many questions Leah." Quinn pulled her through the gate and selected Exodus Bizzaro.

Quinn continued to walk after leaving the portal, there was a large square filled with different vendors, he stopped in the middle and waited. There weren't many shoppers around yet.

Leah leaned against him, taking in the surroundings. "Is that the place Quinn?"

On one side of the square there was a large building, at fourteen stories it was the biggest in the district. There was a big sign over the entrance that said Bizzaro.

Quinn nodded, "gather around please." He raised his voice so everyone could hear him. "The building in front of you is called Bizzaro. It is a popular destination here in Exodus, the first floor is mostly different virtual arcades. Every floor after that is dedicated to shopping."

Quinn started to hear the faintest murmurs of interest.

"What kind of shopping?"

"Can you buy clothes here?"

"I don't have any money."

Quinn led them through a large set of double doors and proceeded to an area dedicated to spectating. Here you could watch different live events that were being contested on the first floor. There were sword fighting duels, martial arts contests, gambling tournaments and of course the place Quinn brought them too.

"What are they doing?" Leah watched two people line up 50 feet apart.

"It's called the Gunfight Gala, strictly a quickdraw contest." Quinn queued his hud and reserved a place in line.

Leah took a seat and motioned for Yaya to sit with her. "Why are we here?"

"Can't very well take four hundred women shopping if our pockets are empty." Quinn grinned at her and checked his pistols.

The apple princess clapped her hands together in excitement. "We can win money? "

Quinn laughed at her expression. "This is the ten credit game. It's where unranked players start. For each person you defeat you get ten credits, the money you win stays in the pot until you cash out."

"Oh.. What if you lose?" Leah watched the two draw their guns, they seemed very fast to her.

"A loss before you cash out means you get nothing." Quinn hadn't tried it as a fodder since he tried to keep his abilities underwraps.

"Um.. okay. Ten credits doesn't really go far." Leah was starting to lose her enthusiasm.

"Win ten matches and you join the hundred credit game. Win ten of the hundred credit matches and you start the thousand credit game. You get the pattern. If you advance to the ten thousand credit match, you'll start to see some of the better players from Guns and Gore." Quinn watched the match end. The winner cashed out with 900 credits.

"What happens if you progress past that to the hundred thousand credit matches?" Leah's smile was growing bigger, she loved to watch contests.

"Hmm.. we should see some of the big dogs then." Quinn bent for a quick kiss and walked over to his spot.

Exodus System Message: You have two guns that are compliant with this game, their damage output will be negated for the duration of this contest. Do you wish to continue?

"Yes."

Leah leaned forward, her grip on Yaya's arm tightened. "I'm nervous."

A lit billboard counted down from 3, both players drew their guns. The losing contestants side went dark, while the winners side lit up.

The entire group jumped at the sound of Quinn's guns. He smiled over at Leah and gave her a thumbs up.

"Oh.. that was fast, hey that's ten credits." Leah pointed to the billboard that had Q written on it.

Yaya started explaining the rules to her family members who were starting to crowd around them.

"Leah why are there two sets of numbers?" A younger girl had squeezed next to Leah, her name was Ru.

"No idea, I'll ask him during the break." Leah read the billboard again. It said 90/45, she wasn't sure what the second number meant.

Quinn won his 10 match, and was given the option of moving on to the hundred dollar matches. He was given 5 minutes to rest.

There was a smattering of applause from the high elves that were watching. Quinn didn't blame them, he knew things would get warmer.

Leah jumped from her seat and kissed him when he approached. "Great job!"

Yaya was watching the billboard, "What does the second number mean?" It currently read 100/50.

"It shows two different types of currency. The first is in-store. That means if I spend it at any shop in this complex, that is my credit amount. If I choose to cash out and go home, I leave with the second amount." Quinn checked the time, still three minutes, being late meant cash out.

Leah nodded, "oh I see. Who pays for this ?"

"Bizarro pays until the ten thousand credit rounds. After that, the proceeds from the gambling covers the costs." Quinn pumped his fists once and clapped his hands together. "Come on guys, I want to hear some noise!"

Quinn won ten more matches and elected to skip his break and advance to Thousand credit rounds. The counter stood at 1000/500.

Leah cheered loudly after every win, slowly the others started joining in. By the twenty eighth match, others in Bizarro had started to notice that the Gunfight Gala area was getting quite loud. The counter was at 18000/9000 when they started streaming the event.

Two more wins and Quinn was asked to move to a different stage, one that was more centrally located. The entire group followed him and found seating quickly.

Leah held Quinns hand as he waited patiently. "Better competition now Quinn?"

Quinn nodded, "mid-level rankers will start challenging now."

A smiling high elf girl was tugging on Quinn's sleeve. "I'm Ru! You are so fast Quinn, that was amazing."

She spoke so fast that Quinn had a hard time deciphering her words, the big smile on her face made Quinn laugh. "Thank you Ru."

Quinn continued to win, the counter advanced to 90,000/45,000 before the first ranker came out. A tall muscular man with ridiculous sideburns.

Milo Benz sneered at Quinn, "going to buy lunch with that 100k, then use the rest for a tip."

Quinn laughed at his posturing. "Shut up clown."

The streaming cams picked up the interaction between contestants. The screens in Bizarro's were filled with images of the event. Half of those screens were focused on the nearly four hundred screaming women that were stomping and clapping after each round.

Yaya grabbed Leah's arm and pointed to the billboard. "What's the numbers on the bottom mean?" Quinn's said .24 and Milo's .20.

"It's the speed of their fastest draw." One of the contestants from an earlier round answered the question, "I've never heard of your friend, but Milo is a ranker from Guns and Gore."

"Hey what's your name?" Ru's pretty face smiled at the young contestant.

"I'm Tera Gram." The young man had a pile of curly black hair and was slightly overweight.

"You can sit with us if you cheer for Quinn." Ru grabbed his arm and pulled him into the seat next to her.

"I can? Okay.." Tera secretly thanked whatever lucky star was shining on him.

"Mr. Gram, is there a big difference between the two numbers?" Leah seemed a bit worried.

"Call me Terry please.. both of those are faster than me. I'm sure he'll be fine." He actually thought that Quinn was about to get beat badly, but there was no way he was going to say that in front of these women.

3...2....1... FIGHT! A moment later Milo's ramp darkened.

Quinn smiled at Milo and waved goodbye to him. He winked at the Apple Princess who was jumping up and down. 100,000/50,000 Q .18 and Milo .19

"Woah.. sub 2. That is fast." Terry clapped loudly, Milo had always been a bit of a prick to everyone. No one cried to see him taken down by an unranked gunfighter.

"Quinn's the best." Leah clapped until her hands stung.

"Wait... that's Q?" Terry froze in place, you'd have to been living under a rock to not know who that was. Exodus Arena Champion, he glanced at the red head beside him. "You're Leah Fintree."

Leah nodded, "didn't I introduce myself? Sorry about that Terry, just call me Leah."

Terry activated his guild-chat and used his hud keypad. " I'm sitting here at the Gunfight Gala. Q just put down Milo with a sub 2. Leah Fintree is sitting right next to me."

Guild Chat:Inferno: "Bullshit Gram."

Guild Chat:Inferno: "Whatever Gram."

Guild Chat:Inferno: "That's a joke right? Gram?"

Terry closed his hud and continued clapping.

Quinn would continue to beat one mid-ranker after another until the count stood at 900,000/450,000.

"Wow... that guy never comes here." Terry stared at the person who walked up the ramp to face Quinn. A short, slender man with a shaved head.

Leah frowned, "who's that? Is he really good?"

Terry nodded, "that's Tru Medows. He's a top ten ranker. Number nine to be exact."

Leah stared at the numbers on the screen. Q .14 and Tru .11

"Impressive run." Tru smiled pleasantly at Quinn."it's your bad luck that I find myself short of credits."

Quinn shrugged. "My girlfriend is watching, so losing isn't on the table today."

"Oh?" Tru glanced over at the spectator area, his eyes widening a bit. "Woah... which one of those ridiculously hot women is your girlfriend?"

"The redhead." Quinn caressed the smooth handles of his pistols.

Every screen focused on Leah, she was waving wildly at Quinn and didn't notice.

"Isn't that Leah Fintree?"

Quinn nodded. "Yep."

3...2....1... FIGHT! An eyeblink later, the top ten rankers ramp dimmed. Q .09 Tru .11 1,000,000/500,000

Tru looked at the numbers. "A sub one... I didn't think anyone but Chainy could do that."

Quinn bowed his head slightly, "good match Tru."

Leah met Quinn as he stepped down from his ramp, she wrapped her arms around him squeezing tightly. "Cashing in now?"

Quinn nodded and headed to the audience seating.

"That was awesome Quinn!" Yaya hugged him while jumping up and down.

*********

Thirty minutes later, each member of the Silverleaf family had a card worth 3 thousand credits. They stood at the top of the escalator on the second floor.

"Okay ladies, have at it... Don't spend it all in one place. There's clothes, shoes, jewelry, beauty salons and all sorts of things you haven't heard of." Quinn smiled at all the excited faces. "We are meeting out front in the square in three hours."

Leah was standing next to Yaya, "I'm going with Yaya for a bit."

Quinn shook his head, "give me a few minutes first please."

"Hmm?" Leah looked at him questioningly. "Okay."

"I'll have her back in a bit Yaya." The time mage nodded. Quinn grabbed Leah's hand and moved toward the escalator.

"Where we going Quinn?" Leah removed a band from her wrist and used it to tie her hair up.

"Seventh Floor." Quinn led her to the seventh floor, nestled in the far corner was the shop he was looking for.

Leah stopped in place when she looked through the window, "Quinn..."

"Pick whatever kind you like." Quinn smiled at the look on her face.

Leah spend several minutes picking through the different styles of rings. The attendant who assisted her gave some very good suggestions. In the end Leah chose a ring with two sapphire dolphins.

Leah held out her hand expectantly, and Quinn slid it onto her finger. "It's beautiful Leah." He pulled her in close and kissed her.

After settling the bill, the two walked hand in hand back toward the escalator. Leah was staring at Quinn the entire time.

"Hey Quinn.." Leah leaned against him as they took the escalator down.

Quinn kissed the top of her head, the hint of apples making him smile. "Hmm?"

She looked up at him, her green eyes serious. "I love everything about you."

"That's very sweet. I didn't know you said such nice things." Quinn brushed his lips against hers.

Leah spotted Yaya in one of the shoe stores and turned back toward him. "Hey Quinn..."

"Please don't ask me to shop.. "

Leah nodded, "can I have some credits please?"

**************




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