Glitch of the Good Samaritan

Chapter 9: Choking on Justice

"Cough! Cough! Oh, great, now my lungs are participating in a Vance Biotech focus group!" Henry yelled, waving his hands frantically through the thick yellow haze. "Jackson, you absolute parasite! This is a serious OSHA violation!"

"Henry! I can’t breathe! This suit is dry-clean only, and now it’s full of industrial poison!" Mr. Sterling wailed, his voice muffled as he buried his face in a plush leather cushion. "I’m going to sue this entire establishment! I’m going to sue your company! I’m going to sue your hair!"

"Just hold your breath, Sterling! And stop worrying about your wardrobe! We have bigger issues, like the fact that I can't see my own hands!" Henry called back, his eyes watering violently. He reached down and patted his breast pocket. "You alright in there, little buddy? Don't inhale the yellow stuff!"

"Mew," the kitten whimpered softly, tucked deep inside the fabric, its tiny nose pressed against Henry’s clean undershirt.

"Good boy, just stay low," Henry muttered, squinting through the dense, sulfurous fog.

Suddenly, a bright red holographic screen cut through the yellow smoke, accompanied by a sharp, urgent pinging sound.

`[WARNING: LETHAL TOXIC EXPOSURE IN PROGRESS.]`

`[CHEST COMPRESSION LEVEL: RISE DETECTED. ESTIMATED TIME TO TOTAL PULMONARY FAILURE: 02:15.]`

`[QUEST ACTIVATED: SAVING THE IT CROWD.]`

`[OBJECTIVE: LOCATE AND RESCUE THE TRAPPED SERVER-ROOM TECHNICIAN. HE SITS BEHIND THE SECURITY REINFORCED DOOR TO YOUR IMMEDIATE LEFT. HE POSSESSES THE MASTER KEYCARD.]`

`[TIME LIMIT: 01:45]`

`[PENALTY FOR FAILURE: PERMANENT SNEEZING THAT SOUNDS EXACTLY LIKE A HIGH-DECIBEL AIR HORN. HAVE A GREAT DAY!]`

"An air horn?!" Henry screamed, his voice cracking as he inhaled a tiny bit of the gas. "Cough! Cough! Are you completely insane, you glowing piece of digital trash?! Every time I get a seasonal allergy, I’ll give myself a concussion! I refuse! I absolutely refuse!"

"Henry? Cough... who are you screaming at?!" Sterling wheezed from the floor. "Are you having a pre-death hallucination? Please tell me you aren't going crazy before you get us out of here!"

"I am not going crazy, Sterling! I am negotiating with a very aggressive user interface!" Henry shouted, his eyes locking onto a bright green outline shimmering through the thick smoke to his left. "Look, stay there, don't move, and try to breathe through your designer socks! I have to go perform some emergency technical support!"

"Technical support?!" Sterling cried out. "In the middle of a chemical attack?!"

"No time to explain! System, activate Hyper-Speed Burst! Let's get moving!" Henry roared, his legs suddenly tingling with a massive, electric surge of energy.

`[HYPER-SPEED BURST ACTIVATED. TEMPORARY VELOCITY STIMULUS: MAXIMUM HUMAN LIMIT. ACTIVE DURATION: 01:30.]`

"Oh, baby, now we’re cooking!" Henry gasped.

With a sudden, violent kick off the marble floor, Henry launched himself forward. The world around him slowed to a crawl as he sprinted through the yellow fog. He moved so fast that the thick gas split around his body like water around the bow of a speedboat. In less than a second, he slammed his hands against the reinforced, frosted-glass door of the server room.

Through the glass, Henry could see a young man in a blue polo shirt slumped over a massive computer console. A shiny gold keycard was clutched tightly in his unconscious hand.

"Sir! Sir, wake up!" Henry yelled, banging his fist against the reinforced glass. "This is not an approved naptime! The company does not pay you to sleep through a security liquidation!"

The technician didn't move. A thin stream of yellow smoke was slowly trickling in through the door's ventilation slats.

"Great, he’s totally out," Henry grumbled, checking the door handle. "Locked, of course. Because why would anything be easy today?"

`[TIME REMAINING: 01:10]`

`[DOOR DURABILITY: REINFORCED STEEL-CORE. STRONGLY SUGGEST USING THE SYSTEM-APPROVED METHOD OF ACQUIRING A KEY...]`

"I don't have time to look for a key, you stupid machine!" Henry shouted, pulling his fist back. "I have +1 Grip Strength and a massive adrenaline rush! Let's see what this physical optimization can actually do!"

"Hyaaaah!" Henry roared, throwing his entire body weight into a massive, high-speed punch directed straight at the door's locking mechanism.

CRASH!

The reinforced metal lock shattered under the sheer force of Henry's speed-boosted strike, sending a shower of sparks and metal fragments flying into the server room. The heavy door swung open, slamming violently against the interior wall.

"Ouch! Okay, that definitely bruised my knuckles!" Henry yelled, shaking his hand out as he rushed inside. "But hey, the door is open! Let's get you out of here, buddy!"

Henry scooped the unconscious technician up, hoisting the heavy adult male onto his shoulders in a textbook fireman's carry.

"Wow, what do they feed you IT guys? Pure carbs?" Henry groaned, his knees clicking slightly under the sudden weight. "You weigh at least two hundred pounds! My lower back is going to have words with me tomorrow morning!"

"Did you... try... turning it off and on again...?" the technician mumbled groggily, his head dangling near Henry's hip.

"Excellent professional advice, my friend, but right now we need to turn off this gas!" Henry said, reaching down and snatching the master keycard from the technician's limp fingers. "I'll be taking this. Consider it a consultation f*e for my services!"

He spun around and sprinted back out into the lobby, his legs burning as the Hyper-Speed Burst began to wind down.

`[QUEST COMPLETED: SAVING THE IT CROWD.]`

`[REWARD UNLOCKED: TOXIC RESISTANCE +50% (PERMANENT).]`

`[BONUS REWARD: SYSTEM GRACE - AIR-HORN SNEEZING PENALTY DEACTIVATED.]`

Instantly, the suffocating pressure in Henry's chest eased. The air, which had tasted like a mixture of burning plastic and battery acid, suddenly felt manageable.

"Ah... oh, thank the heavens!" Henry gasped, taking a deep, clear breath. "That is much better! It still tastes like a terrible cafeteria lunch, but at least my throat isn't actively melting anymore!"

"Henry... cough... help... I'm seeing the light..." Sterling’s weak voice drifted from near the high-limit roulette wheel. He was currently crawling across the carpet, dragging his bespoke trousers through the dust. "And the light looks like a very expensive seafood buffet..."

"Get up, Sterling! No dying on my watch!" Henry yelled, jogging over and dropping the unconscious technician safely onto a plush velvet sofa. "I just got fifty percent toxic resistance, and I'm sharing the positive energy! Here, take this wet apron and put it over your face!"

Henry ripped off his stolen kitchen apron and tossed it onto Sterling’s head.

"It smells like garlic and truffle oil!" Sterling complained, though he quickly pressed the fabric against his nose and mouth, his breathing instantly slowing down. "But... cough... actually, it's quite soothing."

"Keep it there! I need to find the manual override!" Henry said, sprinting toward the main security terminal near the sealed shutters. He swiped the technician's master keycard through the reader.

BEEP.

The terminal screen flashed: `[SYSTEM LOCKED. MANUAL OVERRIDE REQUIRED FOR EMERGENCY DEACTIVATION.]`

"Manual override? Where is the manual override?!" Henry yelled, tapping his foot frantically. "System, help me out here! Where is the lever?!"

`[ADVANCED DETECTION ACTIVE. FOCUS VISUALS ON THE RIGHT WALL PANEL.]`

Instantly, a bright blue, glowing outline materialized behind a small glass box mounted on the marble column. Inside the box was a heavy, industrial-sized red lever.

"Aha! The big red lever behind the glass pane!" Henry cheered, running over. "Advanced Detection, you are officially my favorite utility! I am never calling you useless again!"

"Henry! What are you doing?!" Sterling yelled, squinting through the yellow smoke. "Is that the exit?!"

"It's our ticket out of here, Sterling!" Henry yelled back. He clenched his fist and smashed the small glass cover with a swift, confident strike. "Alright, Jackson, your little corporate lockdown is officially canceled!"

He grabbed the heavy red lever with both hands, bracing his feet against the marble floor.

"Down goes the barrier!" Henry roared, throwing his entire weight downward to pull the lever.

The heavy steel gears inside the wall groaned, and for a glorious second, the massive security shutters began to slide upward, letting a thin sliver of cool, fresh night air into the lobby.

"Yes! It's working! We're free!" Sterling cheered, stumbling toward the rising shutters.

But before the shutters could rise more than three feet, a deep, terrifying rumble vibrated through the floorboards.

BOOM!

A massive, deafening explosion rocked the building’s basement, sending a powerful shockwave through the marble lobby. The floor rolled like water, throwing Henry and Sterling violently onto the plush carpet.

The lights instantly flickered, sputtered, and died, plunging the entire sealed casino into pitch-black, suffocating darkness, saved only by the dim, pulsing red glow of the emergency backup indicators.

"Whoa! What the hell was that?!" Sterling shrieked, clutching his head in the dark. "Did Jackson just blow up the basement?!"

Henry slowly pushed himself up to his knees, his heart hammering against his ribs as a new, highly alarming pink notification box materialized in the darkness.

`[WARNING: CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE.]`

`[AN EXPLOSION HAS OCCURRED IN THE BASEMENT POWER GENERATOR. ALL DIGITAL AND MANUAL SYSTEMS COLD-LOCKED.]`

`[EMERGENCY BACKUP POWER DETECTED: 0%. TIME TO TOTAL CASINO COLLAPSE: BEGINNING.]`

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Henry whispered, staring into the red-lit gloom. "Jackson, you absolute maniac, you didn't just lock us in... you just took the whole building down with us."