Chapter One:
The last thing that Kazuto Kiriguya remembered was the room going dark as shadowy figures overwhelmed him. His body getting heavy before falling into nothing. Coming to, Kazuto noticed his surroundings, it looked like a dilapidated motel room, the bed was rough and uncomfortable. He got up off the bed shuffling over to a window still feeling the weight of his sleep on him. Pulling back the crimson curtains, Kazuto's eyes went wide with surprise. His window was a sight to a warzone, a dystopian city in the sand with wrecks of vehicles and armored transports scattered through the streets, some of the buildings looked burnt and bombed out.
This can't be real….. Kazuto tore his gaze from the window and tried slapping himself to try and wake himself up. There was a whistle however that got louder and deeper as he stopped to listen, followed by a thundering explosion that flung Kazuto out the window. The stinging feeling of the blast and landing outside, through the glass window solidified his fears.
"Halt!" A voice shouted, turning around slowly, a few men came up in black and red body armor, armed with assault rifles aimed at the seventeen year old. "Inform the Director we found the target: Kirito." Kirito was Kazuto's moniker from his time in the VRMMORPG Sword Art Online and Alfheim Online. After beating the game and freeing everyone in SAO, Kazuto lived a life underground and off radars of a lot of people for the most part, he'd get roped into some Government investigational work, most notably with the Death Gun incident in Gun Gale Online.
This place definitely reminds me of Gun Gale Online. Almost too much in his opinion, there was an itching feeling in the back of his head that he's seen this before, but he couldn't quite place it.
"Hands behind your head now!" the soldier shouted, fumbling for words, Kazuto slowly did as he was told as he stared into the glowing goggled gaze of the armed soldier in front of him. "The Director wants a word with you." the soldier threw out a drone like device and a hologram of a man appeared, his face was scarred and his hair was silver, but Kazuto remembered those eyes anywhere. The smug gaze of the man that held Asuna imprisoned on the VRMMO Alfheim Online: Sugou Noboyuki.
"Noboyuki?!" he exclaimed "You're supposed to be in jail!" Kazuto's blood ran hot with anger, but a chill of fear ran down his spine as he slowly started to figure out that wherever he himself was, he was now a prisoner to this psycho, and he could bet he'd be a rat in a death trap.
"I was in jail, Kirito but thanks to some new friends and backers, I am a free man." Sugou Noboyuki gleefully explained with a glint of madness in his eyes. Sugou Noboyuki was a chief researcher for the company of RECT Inc, who helped to develop the game Alfheim, however he also was responsible for mind manipulation tests on three hundred survivors from Sword Art Online. Tests to recondition the human mind to remold it into whatever shape they wanted, and given how these soldiers were acting, they were either NPCs or some poor sods who were put under those tests and their minds were gone. There wasn't enough therapy that could properly help the boy cope with what he witnessed Noboyuki do.
"Where the hell am I?!" On the cue of Kazuto's question, Noboyuki started to pose like someone who was ready to show off an exhibit, a twisted art gallery, with a clap of his hand the drone projecting the hologram started to move along with him, circling around Kazuto like a shark smelling blood in the water
"My latest endeavor! A VR training program designed to train soldiers, mixed in with my little testing grounds from Alfheim Online, I've molded these fine Death Troopers into the ultimate fighting force. I borrowed some assets from other games that developers dumped after crowds panned or forgot about it, and you my boy are one of many lab rats…" He was abducted and dragged into another virtual world. By almost similar circumstances as Asuna except here he was at gunpoint by these 'Death Troopers' as Sugou had called them, victims already lost to the madness of this world, reshaped to do his bidding.
"What does this have to do with me? What does any of this have to do with me?!" Kazuto snapped, one of the troopers there flinched as his rifle looked like he was ready to fire, Noboyuki however took one look at the trooper and waved his hand, a shock came through the one that wavered slightly as they howled in pain from the shock.
"You see, Kiriguya. You may of thwarted me and my project, almost killed me. You're here along with many other degenerates, misfits, and other weirdos that the world cast aside or looked away from, you are rats, nothing more than cannon fodder for my wonderful soldiers. You die here," Noboyuki snapped his fingers and made a snuffing sound "You die in the real world. Welcome to the Death Game 2.0."
"Games have an exit, a goal to shoot for. What exactly is my goal here?" Kazuto's pulse went quick and rapid, pounding his ears drowning out any sound coming from Noboyuki who was laughing at Kazuto's face of numbness and shock, one deep breath in and Kazuto worked to regain himself in that moment before staring daggers at the hologram of Sugou.
"To die. But you know, I'm a good sport, I'm going to give you a ten second head start to run for it, after that if we don't kill you, the other rats might. Now, what was the line from that delightful American film? Oh yeah!" The guns were cocked, Kazuto's vision darted between his two captors before Sugou started to shout mockingly "Run Forest, run!" Kazuto bolted for the door, charging through the Image of his captor and down the hall before the bullets started to fly. Noboyuki's Death Troopers were now in pursuit, taking the first opening he saw he ducked into another room and ran for the outer patio area of the Hotel room, judging his chances to make the jump to a nearby adjacent rooftop. Kazuto took the risk, getting a running start he springboarded off the ledge and landed on the roof not so gracefully, wincing from the impact before getting up onto his feet and limping off to the nearest bit of cover at a stairwell heading down to a greenhouse, distant trudging of boots getting louder.
Christ, where the hell can I go?! Kazuto kept low in a patch of corn which helped to mask his presence in the Greenhouse as soldiers came in with their weapons searching the room. A thunderous cracking of the silence sent a jolt through him as he hit the floor, the sounds shattering of glass followed a scream, then the de-rez of a player and gunfire kept Kazuto to the ground
"Sniper!" one of the soldiers shouted "Anyone see them?!" Peeking out, he noticed one of the enemy's weapons was close to him with the armor laying next to it. Glancing up at the distracted soldiers, he moved to grab the items, the inventory menu popped up a second later to show him the body armor and the weapon.
The Weapon was designated a Submachine Gun, a K-10 Vector, a small video played of how to use it, it's safety switch, it's reload button, Kirito checked the ammo count as a small Augmented Reality numbers popped up on the side of the gun.
Okay twenty bullets out of twenty six…you can do this Kazuto… Taking careful aim, he squeezed the trigger letting the burst strike one of the soldiers in the leg, dropping them to the ground in a cry of anguish, his comrade looking at both where the shot came from and where the Sniper was, he had no time however to pick up his friend as the Sniper picked his head off, a digital spray of red mist before the de-rez of his Avatar into nothing. Kazuto rushed over to the soldier before putting his weight on the wound.
"How do I get out of this place?!" he barked as the barrel of his weapon was jabbed into the man's cheek. The death troopers helmet was knocked off as he stared into the eyes of the male that was trying to kill him, breathing hard and his teeth clenched from the pain of the wound.
"You can't...you heard what the Director said. You guys are just here as Cannon fodder, rats like us…" the man gritted his teeth, looking up with pain but hate in his eyes, there was a small glimpse of fear though in his words "There's no escaping this, for any of us." Kazuto caught the swing of the knife too late and caught a slice in his arm, droplets of blood dripped to the floor as the man made one last ditch effort to kill him, his attempt though was cut short by the Sniper. Kazuto snapped his gaze to the rooftop, waiting for the inevitable end, but nothing, the glint of the rifle rose before the Sniper made a motion holding their weapon above their head before pointing to a direction to his right.
It was possible the Sniper was a potential ally in this mad world, but there was no other choice, he couldn't fight off an army by himself, he wasn't experienced with a gun, the recoil on the Vector was a little much for him.
Well at least there's one gun I'm familiar with... Kazuto took another deep breath, picked up the loot of body armor, a FN 5.7 and headset from the soldier and moved on down the building. The street, was a complete and different story, there were people down below, not dressed in the uniforms of the Death Troopers under the command of Noboyuki, these people looked like criminals, crime lords and scavengers in the midst of this battle royale, the same people who were probably trapped here with him, however it seemed like this place had a community of some kind, a seedy one where there was no rules to follow except don't screw with the heads in charge.
However he stuck out like a sore thumb, heading through a market he grabbed a long coat when no one was looking and tossed it on and moved to blend into a crowd, Kazuto neared an alleyway before he was yanked into the shadow of the alley and his mouth was clasped down firmly by a hand. The sounds of heavy boots passed by him from the Death Troopers that were tailing him.
"There...that should shake them." the person said with a calm and cool female voice, removing the raider mask and goggles she had, a familiar mess of teal hair and sharp eyes stared him in the eyes
"Sinon-? H-how-holy shit it's good to see you." Kazuto blinked, before pulling her into a hug, just knowing of the familiar face was enough to add some ease and comfort to his mind, even if something like this was so out of his wheelhouse of experience. The only other time he's been on a field like this was GunGale Online.
"That honestly makes two of us Kirito, I was surprised to see you on that rooftop." Shino Asami aka Sinon the Sniper, was a player in the game Gun Gale Online when the two of them met, Kazuto was investigating Death Gun at the time of the Ballet of Bullets, she was a hell of a sharpshooter in that world and knew how to do damage from a distance, if she's here with him trapped, then she's got a better chance at survival than he does
"Y-Yeah, thanks for that." Kazuto panted slightly
"Anyways we better get moving. Agil is going to wanna know about this." Sinon spoke, motioning him to follow her down the dusty alleyway, away from the main road.
"W-Wait Agil is here too?!"
It had been weeks and still no response from Kirito. Asuna has checked her phone, logged into Alfheim Online to see if her beloved boyfriend and long time partner was okay or if something had happened. Scrolling through her contacts she pulled up the numbers for Suguha Kiriguya, Kirito's step sister and dialed it. There was a few rings before the line picked up
"H-Hello?" A yawn came from the phone, Asuna kicked herself mentally a bit at waking her up from a sleep or a nap. It was one or the other
"Hello, Leafa. It's Asuna, sorry to wake you, but has...Kirito called or contacted you lately saying he went out of town perhaps?" Asuna asked, her voice trying to contain her worry and stress.
"No, no it's fine, I was napping- wait... Kazuto's not home or answering? That's not like him to do that though, not to you at least. How many times have you tried getting in touch with him?"
"I tried calling and texting him. But even Yui hasn't seen or heard from him, he hasn't been on ALO for a few weeks now." Her voice was strained "I'm gonna go over and check on him."
"Okay," Suguha's voice got more worried "We have a spare key hidden under a hollow rock that should let you into the house. Just call me if something happened alright? I can be on the first bus back from the Kendo Club trip."
"Alright, I'm just hoping he forgot to pick up or was being dense." She hung up grabbed her coat and shoes and ran for the train station, chomping at the bit hoping that her worry was unfounded. If Kirito was fine and at home then she'd ream him good if he wasn't - You're probably worrying about nothing. I hope… She waited for the first train to arrive and quickly got on board.
It was dark, there was no light, sounds and or movement in the Kiriguya house as Asuna approached, she looked for the rock in mention as she moved to the door however, she noticed that the door was forced open, the lock was in decent condition.
"Hello? Kirito?" Asuna called through the doorway, she tried to flick a light switch on but no light came on. She sighed in frustration before flipping her phone flashlight on and saw the House was in shambles, it looked ransacked and robbed. The worst of thoughts and scenarios played out in her mind as she came through the door, carefully and quietly. Asuna felt her heart going a million beats per second as she came upon Kirito's room. A deep breath, she pushed the door open and looked inside: empty but there was a sign of a struggle, immediately she made a move to call the Police when she heard a faint ping on the computer.
Asuna Yuki. We need to talk.
There was a webcam that looked to be on, so many online chats had happened between them and their friends: Liz, Klein, Agil, Sinon and so many others. Asuna looked at the computer before flipping the chair back up and started to type in the IM chat
Who is this?
She waited for a response for a moment thinking this was insane, the police was still dialed into the phone all she needed to do was hit send, but her hand didn't make a move to hit send, right now
A friend. Right now, you should know that your boyfriend has been abducted and is trapped.
"Abducted…?" Asuna mumbled
By who?
A video came up on Kirito's computer from the viewpoint of the webcam, armed men breaking into Kirito's room and Kirito putting up a small fight before being overwhelmed by the aggressors. Men and women bum rushed him in the safety of his own home, none of the attackers could be identified in the video due to their masks. But there was audio, the sounds of the fight happening made Asuna's stomach churn.
I can't say much right now over this channel, but I can assure you that Kazuto Kiriguya is alive, for how long though I can't say. I'll be in touch.
Asuna was gonna type something but the computer the shut down on its own. Her blood ran cold as the video played back in her head, body was shaking in fear. Grabbing the phone, she dialed up Suguha
"Leafa...you gotta get back here now. I'm gonna get Liz and we'll meet at Agil's bar." She said, shaking, horrified at her discovery of her boyfriend missing. Asuna took a few deep cleansing breaths as he worked to regain her composure; it was barely working.
"Asuna, what happened? Is Kazuto okay?" Suguha's voice was concerned, worried, and panicked, much more alert than before when she called her. Asuna's fist's clenched in worry, in anger.
"No. I'll explain."
Sinon tossed a shemagh around to Kirito to help disguise him a little better, as soon as they got to the bazaar. The inner city was the Wild West here, safe zones weren't a thing, but some of the people trapped here came to an agreement and a status quo had been reached.
"There is a few groups you gotta watch out for here," Sinon began to explain "55 Ronin, a Player Killer syndicate controls most of the upper North side of the city and the jungle area, they don't kill for sport but if you cross them they won't hesitate to kill. Word on the street is that they were Orphans in China lost in the sea of the system."
"What kind of players are even trapped here?" Kirito asked as they bobbed through the crowds and into alleyways cutting through some traffic and prying ears
"Orphans, criminals, and anyone who would probably be overlooked in the world. The other group is the Kozak. Mostly Eastern European with some Americans and English in the mix. They run guns here." The dusty alleys of the war torn city echoed with the sounds of people and distant gunfire. No one was flinching at the sounds or the explosions around them as if it was common place, to these scoundrels and criminals, it probably was.
"You'd think with a force of people like this with an access to guns they'd stand up to Noboyuki," Kirito commented, heading down some stairs into an abandoned industrial park "Find some way to fight back."
"We've been trying since we've got here, looked for flaws in the build, glitches, bugs to exploit to try and make it harder for the asshole to work in here, but when it comes to people who the world deemed dangerous, a risk, or expendable and you're left in a world with no rules and laws of course they're gonna make it a paradise for themselves. They don't wanna leave." Sinon slid open one of the hatches leading down into what seemed to be catacombs. "We're almost there…"
There was a sudden flash of light, Kirito lost sense of direction and Sinon as the lights were absolutely bright. The generator of the flood lights let out of loud but low hum as the sounds of guns were moved and drawn, but not fired.
"Freeze motherfucker, hands!" a voice shouted over the generator.
"Klein goddammit it's me! Turn that generator off!" Sinon hissed. The light didn't turn off for a moment before the guns were lowered.
"Holy shit, Kirito?!" The lights went down to a much more tolerable setting. The man that held them up was Klein, another survivor of Sword Art Online, and one of Kirito's best friends. Klein looked definitely right in the setting, scruffy looking militiaman with a Russian Assault rifle and a rocket launcher on his back.
"Klein!" Kirito said with a smile that immediately faltered, it turned to slight fear as his mind started to work "Wait...how many people who are connected to me are here? Asuna isn't here is she?"
"No, she's not," said Klein as his expression turned to one of stress "We don't know if she's here or not, but...almost everyone from the gang is here. Agil, Sinon, Lizbeth, Argo and myself here, we all woke up and found that we got dropped in to the same place, had handguns set for us before the head-honcho threw us into a literal meat grinder, his dark armored soldiers came at us but Sinon and Agil pretty much kicked their asses and it gave us enough time to run, we got a nice little set up down there."
Klein lead them into the hideout, there was a small community down here, a lot of unfamiliar faces, but there were some that were able to pick him out from the crowd. A pair of eyes were able to pick him out from the entourage.
"Yo kid!" Argo the information broker was another survivor and friend to Kirito rushed over, still sporting the usual whisker like marks on her face, sporting an outfit you'd see on some kind of smuggler. Argo threw an arm around Kirito placing him into a headlock, whispering into his ear. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say all this business with us being here has something to do with you?"
"Hey Argo, go easy on him. The asshole practically threw him against the wall with an elite Death Trooper squad." Sinon placed a hand on the broker's shoulder. Argo let go a little.
"Sorry, it's been a bit hellish. Worlds like this aren't really my favorite, not to mention since we're playing by SAO rules here, I'm really not looking forward to getting shot."
"Trust me Argo, if I had any say or control none of this would be happening." Kirito said with a shuddering sigh.
"Oh no, I know. Doesn't mean I can't give you crap, kid." Argo said with a cheeky grin before turning around looking towards the head of this little hideout community. "Hey Agil! Guess what the battlefield spat out?" Kirito glanced up and met his eyes with Agil, a brief moment of surprised came upon his face before he headed over to him, Kirito going forward meeting him half-way.
"Kirito, I guess the gang's all here." Agil said hand clasping together with Kirito's giving an affirming squeeze and a grin, Kirito tried to meet him with the grip but he lacked some of the strength Agil had.
"Not everyone. Asuna isn't here, nor Suguha- at least I hope to god they're not in this hellscape." Kirito let out a sigh "I'm gonna assume you got some kind of plan forming on how to get out of here?"
"We've kinda got a plan…." Agil rubbed the back of his head "It's kind of a long shot but it's currently dead in the water." Agil brought out some maps and photos of a complex, looked to be high security with a lot of the Deathtroopers lingering around. "From what Argo's dug up, this is the central hub for all things ran by Noboyuki here. A ton of security, personnel armed with AEK-971s, Vectors, DSR-1s and a few weapons we haven't quite placed yet. They have machine gun emplacements, a few tanks on the outside but that's not counting for what might be inside there."
"How the hell did Argo get this info?" Kirito inquired before Argo herself chimed in, feeling rather chipper
"I wouldn't be a good info broker if I didn't have my ways, kid. I went with someone out there and nabbed a guard to get some intel on the security before we had some guards on us. We got photos of the complex and a general idea of the area surrounding the joint"
"The problem though, is we don't have the manpower or resources to attack the place." Agil added in there "We've got some guns and people, but not enough for a full on attack."
"Even with the firepower and people, they still have firewalls and other things protecting that fortress. If by some miracle we find a way to get the walls down it's a suicide mission."
"So many criminals and misfits here, you think there'd be a hacker or codebreakers to get past that wall."
"If you wanna go talk to them Kirito you're more than welcome, however they're not the kind of people like we are here." said Sinon
"If we are looking to get out of here, I don't see us having any other choice." Kirito sighed
"If you wanna risk it, go with Klein and Philia, she's our loot/gunrunner and thief, if anything she'll be valuable to have there." Agil spoke. There was someone with dandelion blonde colored hair sitting in the corner where Agil motioned to. The gunrunner Philia eyed Kirito cautiously before getting up from her spot and moving close behind him. "Oh and Kirito, be careful with these guys, some of them are hooked on digi drugs so they might act unpredictably."
The term digi drugs started to make way when hackers and other programmers started to tamper with the NervGear and AmuSphere, two pieces of hardware that allowed people to do fulldives into most of the VRMMOs like Sword Art Online and ALfheim Online. Only difference, the NervGear was dangerous, it was the gun pointed at the head of everyone who played Sword Art Online on launch day, you died in that game and it would microwave your brain.
Philia followed Kirito out as she checked her gear over. She kept a relatively light loadout with her consisting of a Russian made VSS Vintorez or 'The Thread Cutter' as it's known, a sniper rifle with a integrated suppressor for quiet and low-profile kills, she had some iron sights on the side of it for closer ranged combat and her weapon was the Glock 18, a standard and popular choice for most snipers in GunGale Online.
"Don't do anything reckless here, hero." Philia commented as they headed up to the streets with their cloaks and gear on "The last thing we need is a four way gun fight between the 55 Ronin, the Kozak and the Deathtroopers."
"I'm well aware." Kirito sighed, trying to blend in with the crowd and be one among them. The area around them was the only safe zone in the place, however given the nature and behavior of everyone, it was best to keep to yourself in this situation. Criminals, Warlord look-a-likes, and wanderers walked among the bazaar, Kirito and the others shortest way to meet with one of the heads of the 55 Ronin who frequents on of the club areas of the battlefield sim. His stomach however started to form knots when Noboyuki's scarred face appeared on some of the giant monitors hovering above the bazaar and the TV screens in the marketplace
"Ladies and gentlemen of 'The Killing Fields', my name is Sugou Noboyuki, your god and ruler of this world. I have come to extend a once in a life-time opportunity, to you fine rats and waste of space of the world. There is a target of opportunity out in the world, his name is Kirito. He is a twenty year old male and is among you rats. Kill this HVT and I will guarantee one of you immunity, a chance for you to leave this world or to work alongside me. Happy hunting, and Kirito? Good luck." Noboyuki's grin was the last thing the screens saw before he disappeared. The patrons in the Bazaar's behavior changed up, they started to pack up most of their stuff and bought more lethal gear.
"Well that's unfortunate…" Klein sucked air through his teeth before Philia started to move quicker. Kirito kept the hood up as he followed behind feeling the pressure build up more and more on him as they ducked into the club.