I do not own Young Justice.
~Robin~
Robin looked around at the courtyard he had generated in. He had his hero suit on, the same as all the other players around him. He smirked as he ran through the town, he had generated into Metropolis city. "Well, we know which city the developers like most." He cackled as he ran past more players, some in hero gear and some not.
He pulled out his grappling hook once a low enough grip appeared above him. He pulled himself up into the air and began traveling by grappling hook. There wasn't anyone up here so far, so the sky was his. He laughed loudly as he pulled himself through the air, flew, and swung again. This was his favorite method of travel.
He landed on a building ledge and looked out over the Metropolis City Park. It was the perfect place to change into civvies. He jumped off the building and slowed himself down by grabbing branches from a nearby tree. It caused no damage, it had only been two or three stories up.
Robin pulled up his drop down menu and went into his preferences. The 'Secret Identity' Icon was lit up. He tapped the icon and smiled as his hands became bare. He looked down at himself with a smile, black pants, black sneakers, green hoodie, black jacket, and black sunglasses. "Time to check out the shops."
Robin smiled as he walked around the town at a lower level. The shops were having pre-sales and were packed with players. He shook his head as he just walked past them. He didn't need to buy anything. Are he could put it all on the credit card Bruce gave him, but what was the point in that? Buying your way up wasn't a good idea in his mind. Sure not using it took longer, but at least you got the hang of using everything you had and learned new tricks for using them.
*Gong Gong Gong*
Robin looked towards a large bubble clock that was above the main courtyard. It read 1 hour and 30 minutes till official launch. Robin shrugged as he moved on to look around some more. He found one shop that caught his attention. No one was really going in, but he knew from the beta test that it was good to go in. "Welcome Player! Looking for a job?" Robin smirked at the CP. "Please have a look around."
Robin browsed the jobs; reporters, hairstylists, vendors, bankers, and designers were just a few. But all of the jobs were for Metropolis. And as much as he knew having a job would be good, Metropolis wasn't his city. "I'll come back." Robin told the man as he left the shop.
"Come back soon." The CP spoke his programmed line.
Robin looked back up at the clock, 1 hour and 18 minutes. He sighed as he looked around again. "Guess I can log out and do some school work." Robin brought up his player menu, but something was wrong. "Where's the log out button?" He whispered as he opened all of the menus to try and find it. But it wasn't there. He closed his menu before walking off to try and find the reporting desk.
He found it in the main courtyard with a lady smiling at everyone passing by. He rang the bell. "I have a glitch to report."
"How can I help you player?" The woman spoke to the boy with a large smile on her face.
Robin sighed. "I have a glitch to report."
"What is the glitch?" The woman asked as she pulled up a note pad to record his report.
"The log out button is missing." He kept his voice low so no one else heard. There wasn't any point in causing a panic.
The woman set her pad down and smiled at the boy. "There is no glitch to report."
Robin stared at the woman in shock. "Nothing to report?! What the hell!"
"Please keep your voice down. You are disturbing other players." The woman spoke happily. "Please have a nice day. This station is now closed."
Robin watched as the desk folded in on itself and vanished into the ground. "No glitch?" He whispered to himself with a frown. He looked back up at the count down clock, less than an hour to go. "People need to stop coming in. The outside world needs to know." Robin pulled up his player menus again, in the beta-test there had been an option to send messages to the outside world. But it seemed that feature had also been removed. There was no way to contact the outside world.
Robin sent a glare up at the clock. "Well, guess the only place to go is up." He turned and began making his way through the city to the transportation station. But it was closed. "Looks like I'm doing this the old fashioned way." Robin slipped between two buildings and turned his 'Secret Identity' on. He fired his grappling hook up and began swinging through the city to the southern edge. It would be closest to Gotham, which should be where the first portal was.
He got stopped by an invisible field at the edge of the city. He noticed a few other players hanging around by the city limit. They probably wanted to move on as well. He tapped the barrier to get the reason message. It popped up in front of him. "City Boarder CLOSED till launch."
He let out a sigh as he settled down on his perch. He was on top of an old Cathedral. He didn't even know Metropolis had one. "Guess only thing to do is wait for the launch."
~Kid Flash~
Kid Flash zoomed away from the starting courtyard and stopped once he reached the park. "So cool!" He cheered before running off again, heading for the city limit. He got stopped once he hit a wall. "Ouch." He spoke flatly as he picked himself up from the ground. He placed a hand on the invisible wall. "What is this?"
"Boarder is closed till the launch." Kid Flash looked up as a boy jumped down from the roof. "Hoping to move on?" The boy gave him a smirk as his cape fell closed over his torso.
"Yeah." Kid Flash looked out at the open land beyond the city limits. "At least the launch isn't too far away." He saw the boy frown as he looked back towards the count down clock. "Something wrong?"
"Before you logged on, we're there any games leaks?" The boy kept his eyes on the clock as the seconds ticked away.
Kid crossed his arms and tilted his head. "No. Why, something wrong?"
"Yeah, something big." The boy brought his player menu up in front of him. "Do you have a log out button?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Kid brought up his own menu. And sure enough the log out button was missing. "That has got to be a bug. Have you reported it?"
The black haired kid nodded. "The CP said there was no error and vanished. All other reporting stations have also vanished."
"That can't be." Kid opened the menus to try and find a way to contact the outside, but there were none. "How are we suppose to leave? Other than someone taking the helmet off of us. But then we lose our data."
"I don't think it's that simple." The boy reopened his menu. "Something is going down. And the creators don't want anyone to know about it."
Kid noticed a notification pop up on his menu. He opened it and smiled at the friend request. "So you're name is Robin. Nice to meet you. I'm Kid Flash." Wally accepted and smiled as the name and health bar appeared over the other boy.
"Good to meet you KF." Robin smiled at the brightly colored teen. "You a fan of Flash?"
"Biggest fan ever." Kid Flash noticed the count down clock begin to flash. "Looks like it's counting down the last minute."
Robin watched with the boy as the seconds fell away. The sound of players counting down could be heard coming from the generating courtyard. "Something feels wrong."
"Like the glass is about to break." Kid could feel the tension growing in the air, it wasn't pleasant.
The clock exploded into confetti as it hit zero. Then Kid Flash and Robin found themselves forced back to the generating courtyard. "What the?! Instant teleport? That's a high level skill and item." Kid Flash commented as more players popped into the courtyard.
"Must have been done by an admin." Robin guessed as a dome of red hexagonal panels turned on around the courtyard. "And looks like we get to see the main event."
A large section of the dome turned black. "Welcome players from around the world, to Justice League: Dawn of Justice." The courtyard became quiet as the loud voice spoke. "I'm sure by now many of you have noticed the lack of log out button on your home menu. I assure you, this is no mistake." Cries of disbelief sounded out around the courtyard. "This is a test. A test to see if this world is ready for the next evolution."
More panels changed to show news reports from around the world. "Right now everyone in the world is learning the true nature of this game." A figure dressed in a flowing black cloak walked out of the blackened panels. "You are all trapped here, till you pass this test. If you die here, you die out there." The figure pointed to the news reports. "And if someone out there removes the helmet, you die as well." He dropped his hands as everyone began to get more hysterical. "But fear not, I have told the world of this. Unfortunately, some people didn't believe me." A fountain appeared in the center of the courtyard, words were etched into the base block of it. "Everytime a player dies their name is etched into the fountain. As of this moment, 846 players have been permanently removed from this life."
"So many." Kid Flash whispered in disbelief. "But it looks like they believe him now."
"There are 100 levels to this game. To complete the test, you must pass all the levels." The Admin spoke clearly to the crowd below him. "And as a little present from me to you, I have left something in all of your inventories."
Kid and Robin checked their inventory and clicked on the new item. "A mirror?" Robin asked as he brought it up and looked into it. He froze as he saw his face. "It can't be."
"Woah! How did he do that?" Kid poked at his face before looking at Robin. "Did you get shorter?"
Robin looked up at the teen with a huff, it seemed he was now his original height. "Or you just got taller." Robin notice the red screens beginning to vanish from the ground. "Come on. We should get out of here before the panic really starts to set in."
Kid Flash followed Robin out of the courtyard and down roads. "Where are we going?"
"Gotham." Robin called out as he wove them around to a transport terminal. "It's where the first portal is. Plus it's easier to level there."
"How do you know that?" Kid knew Gotham was the best place to go on any level. The baddies were always harder to beat and gave twice to four times better experience and items. "Wait, are you also a beta-tester?"
"Yep." Robin called as they reached the transportation terminal. It was open. "Come on. Let's go before more people show up."
"Shouldn't we help out?" Kid asked as they walking into the terminal. "Those kids are probably scared out of their minds."
"The faster we beat this game the faster we can all go home." Robin bought a ticket with his start out coins. "As beta-testers we know where to go to level up quickly and how to beat bosses easily. It's our job to use our knowledge to help beat the game. And right now we need to get stronger. We need to go to Gotham."
Kid Flash nodded before buying his own ticket. "We should probably change into civvies. Otherwise we are so getting flagged when we get into Gotham." Kid led the way into the bathroom before turning off his Secret Identity. "Wally West." Wally held out his hand to Robin in greeting.
Robin smirked as he turned his own Secret Identity off. "Dick Greyson." He shook Wally's hand as the kid stared at him.
"Oh my gosh you really are." Wally was shocked to see the ward of Bruce Wayne in front of him. "Well you are going to be all over the news."
"No kidding." Dick led the way back outside and to the train. "Although there is apparently a CP of me. Any important people in society got a CP made of them."
Wally chuckled. "Yeah, my aunt probably has one. Iris West, Central City's top news reporter." They both sat down as the train began moving. "Can't believe we are actually stuck in a video game. I've been waiting to play since the beta-testing ended. And now I get to play it for the rest of my life." He leaned on his knees as he stared at the floor.
"Not our lives." Dick looked out the window and watched as the scenery changed around them. They should be in Gotham within the next minute. "Just until we beat this game."
"How?" Wally asked as he leaned back and crossed his arms. "We only got to level 73 in the beta. Once we pass that though, then it's uncharted territory. They could make it so the world is controlled by slaver aliens that want to eat our flesh!"
Dick frowned thinking of what they were going to do. "We'll beat it. We have to." Dick looked at Wally as the red head met his gaze. "Today's the day." Dick smirked thinking how this day had been anything but what he had expected.
~Super Boy~
Super Boy looked up at the shop sign, "Wheels". He walked in and straight up to the round ball in the back. He tapped it and smiled when he saw the discounted price. He pressed purchase and walked back out with the ball following at his heels. "Now to get to Gotham."
He didn't have money for a ticket, he had bought a pair of gloves at a shop and was short 30 coins for a ticket. So he decided to get his motorcycle and drive there instead. Well, his super cycle and fly there.
He turned to face the ball and tapped the menu on it. He selected super cycle and smiled as it transformed. Into his three wheeled bike. There were many models of the bike, but he liked the red black and blue version most. "Alright Sphere, let's go." He climbed on and smiled as it floated up into the air.
The cycle turned and aimed towards the outskirts of the city. Super Boy looked down at the map on his screen. He let out a sigh, it was blank. "Looks like I will have to scout around." He lowered the bike towards the ground, away from the main highway. "Let's change." He pulled up his menu and changed into his civvies.
His screen vanished as a screen came up and told him combat had begun. Conner turned and jumped out of the way as a squirrel attacked him. "You're kidding me." Conner stood as the squirrel attacked again. He swatted it away, dealing lethal damage. His screen beeped as he leveled up to level 2. "That was easy." He walked back to his bike as he switched it to a dirt bike.
He got on and began driving towards the direction the road had been. But as it turned and angled down, he guessed he wasn't going in the right direction. He shrugged as he kept going, eventually he would reach somewhere.
After what felt like an hour he checked his map again. According to his map there was a road about a mile to his left. But there was a lake half a mile ahead of him. And most lakes had a town by them. At least that's what it was like in the beta-test. So he continued on to the lake.
He reached the lake and was happy to see that there was a small town, and a road. He pulled his bike onto the road and drove into town. It was small, but it seemed to have everything any normal town would have. He stopped when he saw a kid with an exclamation point over her. "What's the matter?" He asked the CP child.
The little girl looked at him before pointing up the tree. "My cat is stuck." And sure enough, there in the tree was an orange tabby cat.
Conner sighed as he climbed up the tree and retrieved the cat. He climbed back down and returned the cat to the girl. "Here you go."
"Thank you mister." The girl replied as she took the cat from Conner. "Come with me. My mom will repay you for your heroic efforts." The girl walked off a bit before stopping and waving at Conner.
Conner grabbed his bike and followed the girl to a diner. He parked the bike and followed her inside. The diner was bright red and filled with CPs. Any normal player would have a conversation option above them.
"Mom! This kind man saved Fluffy from a tree." The little girl walked up to a lady dressed in a waitress outfit. "Can we give him a reward?"
Conner found his mouth watering a bit as a waitress walked by with a plate of food. "Why don't we give him a meal on the house? The road to town is long." Conner followed the waitress to a table and sat down. She gave him a menu, all the prices said free. "Pick anything you would like darling."
Conner found a burger with fries, onion rings, and a milk shake and ordered it. He pulled his menu up and noticed he had a notification. He tapped on it and saw he completed a quest. Tapping the quest, another screen came up, "Quest completed! You earned 50 coins and 20 experience points!" His screen beeped again as he leveled up to level 3.
The waitress came back and set his meal down in front of him and walked away with a smile. Conner picked up the burger and bit into it. His eyes widened as he took another bite, it had to be the best burger he had ever eaten. He finished off the rest of his meal fairly quickly. The waitress came back with a bill and set it down before telling him to have a nice day. Conner looked at the bill and saw the meal was free. And there was even a note thanking him for helping her daughter.
Conner left the diner and returned to his bike. "Let's see if I can find a map anywhere. Otherwise we are just going to hit the road again." Got onto his bike and drove around the town till he came to a large map. "Perfect." He examined the map, the completed map. He was in a small town called Lake Town. And he was north of Metropolis, and heading away from Gotham. "Let's fix that."
He got back to his bike and changed it from a dirt bike into a sport's car, he was in for a long drive. He got in and set his GPS to Gotham. He drove past the tree to see the little girl playing with her cat under the tree. He smiled as he waved to the little girl, but she didn't acknowledge him. Why would she? Her quest was done, she had nothing left to do until her cat ran up the tree again for another player to rescue.
He stepped on the gas and sped of the town as the sky began to turn red. The first day was ending. The first day of captivity. "Tomorrow starts the fight for our lives." He changed gears as he sped up down the road. Wanting to get to Gotham and away from the peaceful town behind him.
~Aqua Lad~
Aqua Lad Did not like this river. He knew Gotham was a dirty city, but this was ridiculous. He had swam past at least three bodies and six cars. And that wasn't counting animals and other modes of transportation. He climbed out of the river and looked around. The docks were deserted and quiet, perfect for sneaking in.
Aqua Lad pulled up his screen, but it immediately shut down as combat began. He pulled a water bearer off of his back and created a shield. Bullets ricocheted off of it. "What do we have here? Some fishy?" Aqua Lad looked to see who it was, a player or a CP. He sighed as Penguin walked out of the shadows. "I do love fish."
Aqua Lad pulled his other water bearer off his back and threw a wave of water at penguin and his men. His men protected him and went down to half life. He did it one more time and smiled as they all fell to the ground and faded from existence. A screen beside him popped up with multiple beeping sounds, he went up to level 5.
"Look like this fishy has some bite." Penguin aimed his umbrella at Aqua Lad and began shooting at the boy.
Aqua Lad pulled his shield back up, getting pushed back towards the river. He pushed his shield towards Penguin and pushed the man back, knocking the man off balance. Aqua Lad ran at him and jumped up when he began shooting again. A shot hit him and pushed him back.
Aqua Lad pushed himself up as Penguin aimed again. But someone stepped in to help. "You are so annoying Penguin." Aqua Lad examined the muscular boy that seemed immune to Penguin's bullets. "You look like you need a hand."
"Thank you" Aqua Lad looked over the boy curiously, usually people wore a mask or some form of latex suit, but this guy had cargo pants on and a black T-shirt with an 'S' shield on his chest. "I will go around while you keep his attention."
"Think you can finish him off in one hit?" The black haired teen asked him. Aqua Lad responded with a nod. "Then go get him."
Aqua Lad ran around the boy and Penguin, the CP not noticing him since he wasn't attacking. He turned the water on water bearers into blades and ran at the short man. He attacked the man, dealing lethal damage.
Two beeps sounded as a screen came up in front of both players. Aqua Lad looked over at the other teen. "Thank you for the assist."
"No problem." The teen brought up his menu and typed more. "Names Super Boy."
Aqua Lad smiled as a friend request arrived in his notifications. He accepted. "I am Aqua Lad. What brings you to Gotham?"
"Probably same as you." Super Boy pressed another button to called his super cycle over. "The portal is here, most people would be heading here."
"Only beta-testers would know about the portal." Aqua Lad smiled at the boy. "Good to know I am not the only one using knowledge from the beta-test."
Super Boy shrugged. "We got stuck in a death game. Of course we should be using what we know from the beta-test. It means we can get through this faster." He changed the bike into a sports car. "You coming? We should see if anyone has tried to crack the portal yet."
Aqua Lad got into the vehicle. "Thank you for the drive. It certainly is faster than swimming."
"Well for an Atlantean it isn't that hard." Super Boy started the car and began driving into the city. "So you also got the Secret Identity perk?"
"Yes. I believe everyone that participated in the beta-test got it." Aqua Lad watched as the gothic city moved past them. "The portal should be at the center of the city."
"Right in front of Wayne Tower." Super Boy pointed in front of them, a ball of light stood in the middle of the courtyard. "Looks like someone already beat it."
"Then let us move on. First level makes me uneasy. No heroes around or people questioning anyone in their hero gear." Aqua Lad opened his menu and changed into his civvies. "My name is Kaldur Waters. It is nice to meet you."
Super Boy nodded as he changed into his civilian clothes. "Conner Kent. Nice to meet you Kaldur." Conner parked the car and they both got out. "Looks like we can move onto the next level. Should be before the league but with heroes."
"Indeed." Kaldur looked around the area, it was quiet. "It seems no one else has arrived yet. We should announce that the second level is open."
Conner nodded as he brought his menu up. He went to the public discussion page and sent a message to everyone. "Level 1 portal cleared. Level 2 open. Portal located in Gotham city in front of Wayne Tower." He message popped up in a scrolling screen across the sky. "Let's get going. Next portal is in Metropolis, but Gotham is the best place to grind." Conner tapped a button and sent his super cycle to his inventory box.
"Let us get going then." Kaldur led the way into the portal. They had completed 1% of the game, only 99% left to go.
~Artemis~
Artemis sighed as she beat the baddies she had found. A screen popped up with a beep, she had finally reached level 10, and it was only day 2 of being stuck in this damn game. She had stuck around level 1 Gotham to try and level up, but these guys were too easy now. Her last fight had been against 20 baddies, and it had taken her 20 arrows to do it. Mind you having infinite arrows was really nice. But you did have to wait a minute for an arrow to reload, unless you picked it up.
"Let's move on." It was night time, so if she crossed over in her gear she should be safe. She walked through the glowing doorway and into another Gotham night. She quickly ran into an alley and scaled the building. No point in being where the baddies weren't.
She easily traveled across the rooftops till she got closer to the bad side of town, closer to crime alley and the Narrows. She stopped when a figure suddenly appeared out of the shadows. "Oh shit."
"I thought I was the only one that travels up here." Batman spoke to the archer. "Aren't you a bit young for this kind of work?"
"Nope. You going to stop me?" Artemis wasn't sure what Batman was going to do, she had never run into him on this level during the beta. Mostly what she heard was that Batman sent you back to the portal if he caught you.
"No. But be careful. And stay away from the Narrows, it's dangerous there." Batman turned away and vanished back into the shadow he had come out of.
Artemis walked up to the shadow and felt the wall it hid. There was nothing there but a wall. "I know this is a game, but that was amazing. Wonder if he does that in real life?" Artemis walked away form the shadow and headed for the Narrows. That was were the baddies would be. And possibly other players trying to level up.
She stopped when a scroll message popped up again. "So they already cleared this level as well? Not bad. Probably should stick around and level up before heading to Metropolis." She jumped down into the alley, gaining the attention of six baddies. "Come at me."
Artemis pulled her bow out and started firing off arrows. It took about 5 arrows to take down one baddy, or one of her shock arrows. But those took 5 minutes to regenerate. She ended up having to use her street fighting skill till her arrows came back.
Artemis looked around at the baddies as she closed off another level up message. "Time to get going." She rounded the corner and found herself in a familiar street. "Two more over and just beyond the narrows and you get my street. Wonder if my building is there?" Artemis began walking in the direction of her home.
It took her ten minutes to walk to her building. It looked just like how it does in the real world. She looked at the key pad and typed in the code for her house, shocked when it let her in. She opened the door and ran up the stairs. She got to her door and hesitantly knocked, no one answered. She reached down and turned the nob, it was locked. A screen came up that said occupied space.
"How does someone already own this? And why this apartment?" Artemis made her way back out of the building. "I need to clear my head." She turned towards the alley and climbed up the side of her apartment building to the roof. She made her way back towards the Narrows. She wasn't sleeping tonight.
~Miss Martian~
Miss Martian was very grateful for her camouflage ability. She may have been part of the beta-test, but she did not like the combat aspect of the game. She didn't want to get hurt, or die. She had to get back to her little brother, he needed her.
"Come on girl, you can do this." Miss Martian reached out and picked up a boulder, she threw it at the bear that was looking for her. The bear froze before shattering into pixels. "Yes!" She cheered as a screen came up. She had leveled up and got an item, bear fur. "Wonder what I can do with that."
Miss Martian continued down the path she had been on. She had gotten picked up by one of those aliens that worked for Darkseid. She didn't like level 5, it was a world ruled by Darkseid. Which meant the heroes would attack them if they spotted them. But thanks to her camouflage she had evaded detection from Wonder Woman.
She smiled as she spotted Jump City at the bottom of the hill she was on. "Finally. The portal should be on the island on the other side of the city." She made her way down to the city quickly, changing into her civilian form as she went.
She walked around as everyone else did, keeping her head down and moving quickly. She got close to the center of the city when everything went quiet. Then a sonic boom filled the air. "Where is the player among you?" M'gan looked up as Superman scanned the area. "You can not hide from me!" He fired his heat vision at a store, blowing it up.
"Hey!" M'gan looked over at a rooftop, an archer dressed in green with long blonde hair was aiming an arrow at the evil Superman. "Chew on this!" The girl shot the arrow at Superman, who dodged and flew at the player. But he didn't reach her, he began falling to the ground as he got close to her. The archer ran in the opposite direction.
M'gan followed after the girl, Superman wasn't going to leave her alone. And soon enough the man of steel flew above her in the direction the archer had gone. M'gan ran through and alley and changed into her hero form and flew off after the pair.
She reached them in time to telekinetically move superman's head so his heat vision missed her. "Leave her alone!" Miss Martian glared at the evil man of steel as he glared back at her.
"All shall kneel to Darkseid." Superman flew at the Martian. But once again found himself becoming weakened as he neared the archer.
Miss Martian quirked an eye brow towards the archer. The girl gave her a look that said she would tell her later. "Flying will be faster to get to the portal." Miss Martian got a nod from the girl before she picked her up and they flew towards the lone island in the harbor. "I'm Miss Martian by the way. What's your name?"
"Artemis. You a beta-tester? I can't imagine anyone other than a beta-tester daring to come through this level under level 10." Artemis spoke as she spotted Miss Martian's level, 8. She herself had only recently hit 9, and that was after a lot of grinding.
Miss Martian nodded as they flew. "Yeah I was with the beta-testing. You?" She saw the girl nod. "Nice to meet you, Artemis. Looks like he's back." Miss Martian could sense the anger coming off of the man following them. He was keeping his distance, but he also had heat vision. "Got anything that can throw him off?"
"Only if it hits." Artemis pulled an arrow out of her quiver. "Do you remember what the distance was for him catching things instead of dodging or smashing?" She tried to think, but it was slipping her memory. She hadn't shot at Superman for the past 6 months.
Miss Martian shook her head. "I can hold him telekinetically for a few seconds."
"That's all I need." Artemis notched her arrow as the Martian stopped them. "Hold him." She took aim as the Kryptonian stared at them in confusion. He convulsed as he attempted to move once Artemis released her arrow. The arrow hit his skin and the top layer peeled off, revealing the glowing green ore beneath it. "Kryptonite arrow, see ya big guy."
Miss Martian watched as Superman fell down towards the water. His life bar was down to half and dropping. But he probably wouldn't die. "We should get going." She continued flying them towards the island. "Did we ever have to kill one of the Big 7 during the beta-test?"
"No." Artemis hoped she hadn't killed Superman, Darkseid just brainwashed him. "We always tried to avoid it. But we may not have that option this time."
The two remained silent till they reached the island and found the portal in the center of the island. But their menus were still in combat mode, they couldn't go through the portal. "Looks like we kill him." Artemis pulled another arrow out of her quiver. The Kryptonian arrow had been hard to get, and it took an hour to regenerate. They would have to stall.
"Can't we force a surrender?" Miss Martian didn't want to kill the man of steel, she didn't want to kill anything.
Artemis shook her head. "It's either we kill him and get the special rare item, or he kills himself for Darkseid and tries to take us with him." She saw Miss Martian nod in grim acceptance. She didn't want to kill the CP either, but it was a CP, not the real guy. Whereas with them, if they died, they died, both in game and in life.
The man of steel landing in front of them heavily. His life bar was in the yellow and still dropping, the Kryptonite arrow still in his chest. "You can not escape." Superman flew at the two girls as fast as he could.
Artemis easily jumped away and shot at the alien, her arrows taking chips of his life away. She pulled out a shock arrow and fired it at him. The man stopped for a moment as he lost a good portion of his life, still in the yellow though.
Miss Martian tried to get into his mind, but Darkseid had a strong grip on him. She then tried to hold him still as best as she could. "I can't hold him for much longer."
Artemis pulled out another of her long regenerating arrow, her quantum arrow. She lined up the shot and fired. The dust cleared and Superman still stood, his life almost gone. Superman began to glow red. "Shit! He's gonna blow!"
Miss Martian reacted on instinct and reached towards the man of steel and grabbed him with her telekinesis. She picked him up and slammed him down into the ground. A screen popped up, "Congratulations! You have defeated Darkseid's Superman! You have received a super rare item!" Miss Martian opened her menu and looked at her inbox. Inside was a box labeled Bioship.
"Good job Miss Martian!" Artemis cheered at the girl's success. "Let's get going before anyone else shows up."
Miss Martian followed after the girl through the portal. They came out on the island and still in a forest. "It's thanks to you that I was able to beat him. And we both leveled up pretty far." Miss Martian noticed their levels had both increased by 4 levels. Which put her at level 12 and Artemis at level 14, and it was only day 4 of captivity.
"Thanks." Artemis stretched leisurely, that was a hard fight. "So what did you get?"
Miss Martian opened her menu again and found the Bioship under transportation. "It says Martian Bioship." A small red and black pod appeared in front of them. "It says I can communicate with it telepathically." She reached out with her mind and smiled as the ship responded and grew into a decent sized space ship. "Looks like we have a ride to Central City. What level is this again?"
"Level 6 is the gender bender level. Everyone else has switched genders." Artemis still found this level odd, but it's not like she developed the game. She followed the Martian onto the ship and whistled when they reached the cockpit. "This is one nice prize."
"Yeah." Miss Martian sat in the pilot's seat with a smile. "Since it looks like we are going to be sticking together," Miss Martian morphed into her civilian form, automatically shutting off her Secret Identity. "I'm M'gan M'orze."
Artemis smiled at the girl before changing into her civvies as well. "Still Artemis, Artemis Crook. It's nice to meet you M'gan." She looked forward again as the ship took off into the sky. "This certainly beats walking, running, or driving."
M'gan chuckled as they flew on. "No kidding. If you like flying, why did you pick human?"
"Only humans can get the archery skill." Artemis looked out the window in thought. "I like dealing with things from a distance, hurts less."
"Oh." M'gan shrank back in her seat. "Do you think we will meet up with anyone else?" M'gan opened the level 6 conversation board on a screen in the cockpit. So far there was nothing written.
Artemis shrugged as she looked at the conversation board. "Maybe they already cleared the portal?"
"But there hasn't been a message." M'gan angled the ship to correct their course. "Flying a ship is much different than flying on your own." The rest of the flight was quiet as they came closer to Central City. "Landing outside the city. We can approach on foot from there."
"Good plan." Artemis got up as the ship landed on the ground. "Hopefully nothing too bad is waiting for us."
"Like an evil member of the Big 7?" M'gan laughed as she put he Bioship back into her inventory. "At least it would be The Flash and not Superman. I was just glad it wasn't Wonder Woman."
"Yeah, then we probably would have died." Artemis shook her head as she pulled out a health bar. "You need one?" She bit into her bar as the disguised Martian shook her head. "That last hit from Superman took a quarter of my life."
The two walked into the city to find it quiet and silent. They both slipped into an alley and changed into their hero gear. They both snuck up to the rooftops to continue on. They reached the Central City Park and found the glowing portal. Along with a Flash, but this one was clad in yellow.
"So we have to deal with The Reverse Flash." Artemis did not like dealing with speedsters. But they were always cocky and catching arrows. "Any ideas?"
"I got one." Both girls turned to find a boy with black hair and a cape with another boy in a yellow and red suit with red hair. "Want to help?"
"And you are?" Artemis asked as she stepped away from the edge so she could stand without being noticed by the evil speedster.
"The name's Kid Flash. And this is Robin, the boy wonder." The yellow and red clad boy spoke as he zoomed between the two girls. "And you two beautiful ladies are?"
Miss Martian giggled a bit as she stepped away from the red head. "I'm Miss Martian. And this is Artemis. you two beta-testers?"
"Is it that obvious?" Robin asked as he examined the two. "And I'm guessing you both are as well." He got a nod from both girls. "Good. So you both know the trick to beating The Reverse Flash?"
"Yeah. Electricity will knock her out long enough for Star Labs to get her to a lab that can neutralize her super speed." Artemis pulled an arrow out of her quiver. "Give me a clear shot and I can distract her."
"Um... Isn't the line usually that you can hit her?" Kid Flash asked as he scratched his head.
Robin chuckled. "She has the right idea. Reverse Flash will catch any projectile thrown at her." Robin pulled out his collapsable bow staff. "But an object like this won't get detected."
Miss Martian smiled at the three other players as she pulled up her menu. "Then let's party together." She sent them all a request, they all accepted. "Oh wow! You two sure are strong." She commented as she saw they were both past level 20.
Robin shrugged. "We been beating the portal bosses. You two aren't doing too bad yourselves."
"We ran into a bit of trouble last level." Artemis looked down at The Reverse Flash. "We had Darkseid's Superman after us. Miss Martian here beat him."
Miss Martian blushed as the two boys stared at her in disbelief. "I did what I had to. He was about to blow himself up." The two boys gave her thumbs up. "We should focus. The portal isn't going to open on it's own."
"I'll go distract. Miss Martian you coming with?" Kid Flash asked as he pulled his goggles down over his eyes.
Miss Martian nodded firmly. "I will do what I can." She looked over at Artemis and Robin. "Good luck to you both." She pulled her hood up and went camouflaged before flying off of the roof towards the yellow clad speedster.
She stayed hidden till Kid Flash ran past the woman and punched her twice. "So someone has come to try and stop me? I'm surprised The Flash didn't come herself."Kid ran past again and landed three more punches before running off. The Reverse Flash tried to follow, but Miss Martian was holding her in her telekinesis. "So you have a friend? Let's see if you can hold something at my speed." Miss Martian began to struggle as the Reverse Flash vibrated herself.
The yellow speedster managed to get herself out of the telekinetic hold. She spun around and caught a sparking arrow that nearly hit her. "Nice try, child." She spun around again and caught Robin's sparking bow staff. "Nothing you do can stop me." In a blink of an eye everyone in their party was down below half life and paralyzed. "Now this is too easy. Perhaps I should kill you as an example to Flash. No one but her is a worthy opponent for me."
"What about this?" Reverse Flash turned as a fist connected with her chin and sent her flying back a bit. A boy in a black T-shirt with Superman's shield on his chest stood ready to fight her. "Come at me." So she did, but her hit didn't even budge him. "Super Strength perk, speedster's only deal quarter damage when moving at enhanced speed." The boy landed another punch on the villainous woman. "All yours Aqua Lad!"
A wave of water wrapped around the villain before it began electrocuting her. Another teen with a near shaved head and bare feet walked towards the woman. "You are finished." He released the woman as she landed on the ground.
A screen popped up above the villain. "Congratulations! You have defeated The Reverse Flash! Portal to level 7 now open!"
A blur of red ran onto the scene. "You kids okay?" The Flash asked as she looked around at the teens. "No one died, that's good. Zoom isn't into sparing anyone, especially people that try to help me." Flash pulled something out of her suit, a healing crystal. "This should put you all back to full health." She crushed the crystal in her hand. Miss Martian, Robin, Artemis, and Kid Flash got up, back to perfect health. "I'll take her to Star Labs. You kids should get home." With that said, Flash picked up her yellow double and ran off.
"Thanks for the help." Miss Martian smiled at the two new comers happily. "We would have been dead otherwise."
"It was our pleasure." Aqua Lad stated as he offered his hand in greeting. "Super Boy and myself have been trying to catch up with you."
Robin chuckled as he looked around. "Well you came at just the right time." He looked at the portal with a smile. "Next level is the utopia level. Easiest to pass and hardest to level up on." He looked back over at the two that had just arrived. "Teams work best against the boss."
"Should we make a team then?" Kid Flash asked. "Team option only comes up in level 7. We could totally become the best team and win the game."
"And set everyone free to go home." Aqua Lad liked the idea. "I am assuming we were all apart of the beta-test. Otherwise we would still be back at level 1 trying to get stronger."
"Level one was cleared of all baddies." Miss Martian stated. "I heard about it while I was in level 3. Most likely though people will stay below level 5. At least until the rest of the Big 7 is defeated."
"Well Robin and I took care of Darkseid's Flash." Kid said as he pointed between the two of them.
"Miss Martian and myself took care of Darkseid's Superman." Artemis crossed her arms as she looked over at the two new comers.
Super Boy nodded. "So that's why we didn't see him. We took down Darkseid's Wonder Woman." He looked over the rest of the group. "So we going through and making a team or what?"
Everyone followed the bulky boy through the portal into level 7. They found people walking around happily, some dressed in hero gear and some not. Utopia level saw heroes and civilians living in harmony.
"So who is going to be team leader?" Robin asked as he brought up the team building menu. He sent everyone an invite to the team. The invite included a voting system for deciding team leader. "Any volunteers?"
"I believe Robin would be the best choice." Aqua Lad spoke up as he accepted the invite and cast his vote.
Miss Martian did the same. "I second it." Everyone else did the same till it was just Robin left. "Well leader, what's the name of out team?"
Robin smirked as he finished setting up the team. "We will be The Team." He laughed as everyone rolled their eyes. "What? Everyone else was going to try and take it. We should post that we opened another portal." He opened the message board box and sent out the message. "Should we get going? We have lots of levels to go."
"Can we get food first?" Kid Flash asked as he raised his hand. "Speedster here needs food. And this level gives you free food."
"Sounds good to me." Super Boy stated while stretching.
~Level 7: 1 week later~
Crowds of players wove around the CPs. Once level 5 had been cleared of the Big 7, players had fled past the blocker level. And now most players were settling down in levels. At least until they were strong enough to help clear levels.
Here in the Utopia level, everyone tried to live as normal of a life as they could. Some even got jobs to occupy their time. "It's another beautiful day here in Central City. I'm Conner Kent and this is Central City news." A large TV in downtown showed the news report to the players there. "In recent news, level 10 was cleared last night by The Team. Players can now move on to reach the level 11 portal." Conner smiled at the camera. "Next we send it to our field reporter in Gotham city with the latest coverage on the Player's Olympics. Iris?"
The screen changed to a red headed woman in a gymnasium. "Thank you Conner." The woman acknowledged her co-worker. "Today is the last day for the woman's gymnastics event. Last night the gold medal was won by Player Dick Greyson." An image of a black haired boy being awarded the gold medal was shown. "The silver medal was won by Player Jason Todd, and he lost gold to Greyson by less than 10 points." And image of another black haired boy was shown, but this one looked to be a few years younger than the gold medalist. "Bronze was won by CP Dick Greyson, the ward of multi-billionaire Bruce Wayne." An image of a much cleaner cut Dick was shown accepting the bronze medal with an unhappy look on his face. "We will have more coverage on our sport's network later this evening. Back to you Conner."
"Thanks Iris." Conner came back onto the screen. "In grimmer news, the player team, Black Death has been caught and is currently being pursued in court on level 7. Lead attorney Artemis Crook is persecuting the player murdering team, and she is fighting to have them permanently paralyzed till the game is completed." An image of the team symbol, a black skull and crossbones, and an image of a blonde haired woman appeared on the screen beside Conner. "So far the Admin has listened to both sides of the case, but has yet to make a decision. For now the members of Black Death are being held and paralyzed till a decision has been made."
"Man that is such a shame." Kaldur looked away from the tv screen to the player in front of him. "But at least those killers are locked up." The guy picked up his loaf of bread happily. "Do you get paid for working in a food store? Isn't all the food free?"
"I do get paid." Kaldur responded with a smile. "And it also helps me increase my cooking skill level."
The player nodded before walking away. Kaldur looked back up at the Tv screen, Conner was talking about a new science skill that Wally had unlocked for all players. It still surprised him how easily they could all work as the team and blend so well into society. Even to the point were people questioned who The Team was and if they even existed.
"How's work going Kaldur?" The tanned teen looked over as one of his red haired friends walked up to his shop. "You being kept busy?" M'gan asked as she ordered a sandwich for lunch.
Kaldur set about making the sandwich. "As busy as I normally am. Business is starting to slow down though. Almost time to move to a different floor." Kaldur finished and handed the sandwich to the girl. "How is teaching going?"
M'gan smiled as she stored the sandwich for later. "It's going great. I'm getting a lot of first time players. I guess no one told them that learning from a teacher shortens the time for skill upgrading." M'gan giggled thinking of how many students were stunned when she explained what a teacher did. She looked over at the large screen of Conner, he was talking about an epidemic for cats that made them want to get stuck in trees. "We've certainly learned how to settle down."
"Yes. But next portal is suppose to be one of the harder ones. We are moving into the next set of levels." Kaldur sighed thinking how hard the last boss had been. "We were lucky that Superman had a healing crystal to use on us."
"I thought it was every even level that a hero showed up after the boss with a healing crystal?" M'gan asked as she leaned on the counter.
Kaldur shook his head. "No, it is a chance event. In the first 20 levels there is a 50% chance of the event occurring. The next 20 have a 40% chance, then 30%, then 20% and only a 10% for the last 20%. And there is a 1% chance of it occurring before you go to challenge the final boss after level 100."
"Wait, there's a boss after level 100?!" M'gan asked in disbelief. "I though we only had to beat the 100 levels?"
"The final boss is the last part of clearing level 100. Since there is no portal to open." Kaldur clarified for his teammate. "Are you going back to work?"
"Yeah." M'gan pushed away from the counter. "See you tomorrow? I'm going to go to level 10 to find a job. Since level 10 is the next peaceful level. Even if it is a world where the League controls the world."
"I will meet you at the portal at 10 am." Kaldur smiled as he waved good bye to the girl. He looked back at the TV to see that we were back to Iris West, she was showing the winners of the woman's gymnastics event. "Time to move on."
Have I mentioned how much I love SAO.
Yes this story is very much influenced by it, as well as most of the DC universe. A lot of the levels are based on what-if scenarios that I have come up with. If any of you have any ideas for levels, feel free to leave it in the comments. If not, leave a comment anyway. I love hearing back from my readers.
Thank you for reading. And stay tuned for the next chapter.
