Master of Lust-Chapter 336 - -

They hiked for another hour, reaching the tree line where the snow thinned to slush and mud. A small, private airstrip sat in the valley, lights twinkling in the pre-dawn gloom.

A sleek, black VTOL jet sat on the runway. Not a Warner craft. Not an Iron Legion craft. A Corporate Oversight craft.

Johnson stood by the ramp, flanked by four heavily armed operatives in grey suits. He looked impeccable, despite the hour, sipping a coffee from a thermos.

Rick and Sharon emerged from the trees. They were limping, battered, and freezing. Rick was carrying the black laptop case—the real one—which contained the Warner Ledger and the Precursor Core.

"You made it," Johnson called out, a warm smile spreading across his face. "I saw the fireworks from the satellite. Impressive. Truly. You toppled a regime."

"We need a ride," Rick said, stopping ten feet away. He didn’t step onto the ramp. "And a doctor. And a very large drink."

"Of course," Johnson said. "Get on board. The medic is prepping."

He extended his hand. "But first... the case."

Rick looked at Johnson’s hand. Then he looked at the four guards. They weren’t looking at the perimeter. They were looking at Rick. Their hands were resting on their weapons. Their stances were aggressive.

Rick’s Terrifying Presence—or maybe just his common sense—pinged hard.

[System Warning: Malicious Intent Detected.] [Threat Level: Betrayal.]

"The case," Rick said, clutching it tighter. "Right. The deal was: we stop Silas, we get paid, we go home."

"And you stopped him," Johnson agreed, his smile not reaching his eyes. "Silas is finished. Valerius is crippled. You did your job perfectly. Now, hand over the Core."

"The Core?" Rick asked innocently. "You mean the weird rock?"

"I mean the Precursor Artifact," Johnson said, his voice dropping a degree. "The thing that doesn’t belong in a backpack. It’s dangerous, Rick. Radioactive. Unstable. We need to contain it. For your safety."

"You didn’t mention it was dangerous when you sent us in," Sharon said, stepping up beside Rick, her hand drifting to her empty holster.

"Need to know," Johnson shrugged. "Now. Hand it over. And we can all go home."

Rick looked at Johnson. He looked at the guards.

"You’re not going to let us go home, are you?" Rick asked softly.

Johnson sighed. The facade dropped completely. He looked tired. "Rick. You’re a loose end. You’re a civilian who knows about Corporate Oversight, about the Shadow Wars, about the Precursor tech. You have... ’Systems’ we don’t understand. We can’t just let you walk away with a level-up and a smile. We need to... debrief you. Permanently study you."

"And Sharon?"

"Collateral," Johnson said coldly. "She’s a rogue cop who broke the law. She disappears, nobody asks questions. It’s cleaner this way."

The four guards raised their weapons. Click. Click. Click. Click.

"It’s nothing personal, kid," Johnson said. "It’s just business. Give me the case."

Rick looked at the guns pointed at him. He looked at Sharon. She was tense, ready to fight and die, her ceramic knife in her hand.

He smiled.

"You know, Johnson," Rick said. "I really liked that suit you’re wearing. It’s a shame."

"A shame?"

"That you’re about to have a very bad day."

Rick mentally accessed his Inventory. He bypassed the weapons. He bypassed the money. He selected the item he had earned after the Tower quest—the one he had been saving for exactly this moment.

[Item: ’The UNO Reverse Card’ (Legendary Consumable)] [Description: "No U." Reflects any hostile command, intent, or status effect back onto the user or their minions. Rewrites local reality to invert the power dynamic for 5 minutes.] [Uses: 5/5]

"Activate," Rick thought.

A massive, spectral, holographic UNO REVERSE CARD—green, glowing, and spinning—materialized in the air above Rick’s head. It was ten feet tall, crackling with energy.

Johnson stared up at it, his jaw dropping. "What the hell is that?"

The card flashed.

[Effect Triggered: AUTHORITY INVERSION.]

Rick looked at the four guards. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Gentlemen," Rick said, his voice amplified by the System, echoing with absolute authority. "I believe your boss is confused. He seems to think I am the threat. He seems to think he is in charge."

The four guards blinked. Their eyes glazed over for a microsecond, glowing with a faint green light. Then they snapped back into focus. They looked at Rick with deference. They looked at Johnson with suspicion.

They turned their weapons away from Rick.

They aimed them directly at Johnson.

"What are you doing?" Johnson screamed, backing up, his coffee splashing onto his suit. "I pay you! Stand down! Target him!"

"Target confirmed," the lead guard said robotically. "Hostile entity identified: Johnson."

"Shoot him," Rick said calmly.

"NO!" Johnson shrieked, diving behind the landing gear of the jet.

BRRRRRRT!

The guards opened fire on their own boss. Bullets sparked off the tarmac and the landing gear. Johnson scrambled, crawling on his belly, screaming into his radio for backup that wasn’t coming because the radio was now loyal to Rick.

"Get on the plane," Rick said to Sharon.

Sharon was staring at the spectral Uno card fading in the air. "Did you just... play a card game against a government hit squad?"

"It’s a very powerful card," Rick said, walking up the ramp.

He stopped at the top and looked down at the guards. "Secure the prisoner. Tie him up. Put him in the cargo hold. He’s coming with us. He has a lot of questions to answer."

"Yes, Sir," the guards chorused. They dragged a kicking, screaming Johnson out from under the plane and zip-tied him.

Rick walked into the plush cabin of the VTOL. He dropped the case on a leather seat. He went to the wet bar and poured two glasses of scotch.

Sharon walked in, looking shell-shocked. "We stole the plane. We stole the guards. We kidnapped the spook."

"We’re ’Asset Denial Specialists’," Rick corrected, handing her a glass. "Cheers."

He sat down in the pilot’s seat. He didn’t know how to fly a VTOL.

[System Shop > Skills > Pilot] [Item: ’Top Gun’ Flight Manual] [Cost: $10,000]

Purchase.

Rick’s hands flew over the controls. The engines whined. The ramp closed.

"Where are we going?" Sharon asked, strapping in.

"We have a Ledger that exposes every corrupt official in Europe," Rick said. "We have a magic cube. We have a hostage who knows all the secrets."

He lifted the VTOL into the air, banking away from the rising sun.

"We’re going to find a place to hide," Rick said. "And then... I’m going to figure out what this Cube really does."

[System Notification: Chapter Complete.] [Current Wealth: $7,000,000] [Inventory: The Precursor Core.] [Hostage: Agent Johnson.] [Status: Rogue Element.]

Rick looked at the Cube sitting on the seat next to him. The blue lines etched into the obsidian pulsed faster, syncing with the beat of his heart.

"What are you?" he whispered.

The Cube pulsed. And on Rick’s screen, a new message appeared. Not from the System. From the Cube.

[HELLO, USER.] [CONNECTION ESTABLISHED.] [SYSTEM UPDATE AVAILABLE: VERSION 2.0.] [INSTALL?]

Rick grinned.

"Install."