Just a friendly reminder, anything in [ ] denotes a word spoken in English! As everyone is technically speaking Japanese.
Kii-bou, I'm going with you!
The large bar shook with heavy electronic music, the smell of cigarette smoke barely able to conceal the smell of puke and what Argo could only presume was urine. The bar was packed with all sorts of ne'er-do-wells and people whom she could really do without having to be around. These were the types that were either too cowardly or 'moralistic' to go into the Slums but still enjoyed engaging in less than upstanding activities.
Argo, you know you can't. He's too strong.
The black metal walls seemed as if they weren't there, rather they were a black void that bordered the foul dive bar known as ‹‹Neptune's Boogie››, the only one like it in Glocken. Found rotting in a dark alley behind a less than reputable gun shop known as ‹‹Badman Bang›› that was only a block from the entrances to the Slums. Neon signs hung behind the bar she sat at, advertising different beers and alcohols and a single widescreen TV hanging from the roof to her left was playing a twenty-four hour news program channel. She scoffed, it wasn't really news. It insulted her pride as an investigative freelance journalist to call it such. It was just videos reporting on programmed events within GGO.
. . .Kirito, please.
The ice in her glass clinked as it shifted inside her orange juice. She'd tried an alcoholic beverage before out of sheer curiosity a few months ago, it tasted horrid, she spat it out the second it hit her tongue. She understood now why her father didn't drink – beyond keeping his body pure for their Art. Though. . . she had to admit being able to drink something that might take her mind off of things would be preferable to now. The same memory ran through her head over and over again. Kirito, you jerk – why are you doing this to me?She scowled, raising the glass to take a drink. She checked out of the corner of her eye if her UI indicated any new PMs – there were none.
It wasn't right, she should have followed him, but. . .she sighed, placing the drink down. She wasn't high enough level to keep up with him. She hadn't leveled as hard as he, choosing to instead focus on her business. She needed to train harder, she had to keep up with him.
Speaking of buisness. . .she glanced around, keeping her face hidden by her oversized hood that only allowed her whisker marks to show. Where the hell is he? I swear the stink in this place is sticking to my cloak.This is why she hated dealing with ‹‹Frontmen››.
"Argo! There ya are babe! I've been looking for that sweet face all night!"
Argo clicked her tongue, before turning with a forced smile that she'd perfected for dealing with these types. "Oi, Voltron. Sorry for being late!" She kept her sarcasm in check. Idiot. If she didn't need to deal with him in order to get information about the ‹‹Slum Lords›› she'd –
"It's Volt, Volt! Whyddya gotta call me by that lame ass name?" Volt's avatar was a man in his late twenties, short slicked back red hair framing a handsome rugged face with a long scar over his right eye. He was dressed in a sharp black suit with a red shirt underneath. She couldn't help but wonder if he ever knew how stupid he sounded, aiming to look like a tough, yet handsome guy yet his voice and way he talked betrayed that he was probably fifteen or younger in real life. Even his mannerisms betrayed his age, thus making him more awkward than the cool he was shooting for. She admitted the avatar might be considered handsome by women, but it wasn't something she liked. An image of a black haired boy passed her mind and almost broke her concentration.
Argo waved at him playfully, "C'mon Voltron, don't be like that. Now sit down, get a drink – it's on me." She really hated this guy, but business is business. Besides, these flirty types were easy to milk credits from. Men really could be idiots at times.
Volt sighed, but shrugged as he put on the most suave smile he could as he sat down next to her on the stool, leaning on one elbow against the bar facing her. "I suppose that's your charm, certainly works on me." With a sly wink, he raised his hand to attract the attention of the NPC Bartender. "I'll take a Macallan Seven Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whiskey, please."
Argo felt her smile twitch, her annoyance kept in check as she watched his eyes scan the bottle perfectly, repeating exactly what he read. But, this is what she usually had to deal with when she encountered these types – White players who were hired by Orange player groups to take care of any and all business in Glocken. Of course they all differed a bit, but the fact was they all considered themselves traditional facemen like one would find in a tabletop RPG. And save for a few exceptions, they were all god awful, only good for the juicy info they liked to share for the right price. If she had been their GM, she'd have taken EXP for horrible acting.
The Bartender came over, a small glass being pulled from the bar below, an ice ball seated within. The NPC took the crystal glass liquor bottle filled with amber liquid and poured it in with the kind of perfection programming allowed.
The song selection switched in the bar, a bass heavy electronic song called ‹‹Andromeda Supernova›› pounding the chests off all in attendance, alternating neon lights flashing with each beat of the song. The players and NPCs that attended the bar all cheered in a loud echo for the popular song and begun dancing in a furious rhythm on the dance floor.
Argo felt Volt's eyes on her and she ignored it, choosing to instead take a drink from her orange juice. She opened a small trade window and threw the credits required to the NPC Bartender, who nodded his head and said a word of thanks before pushing the glass to Volt. She hoped the info was worth the drink, not to mention the rather pungent odor of Volt's overwhelming cologne that was clogging her sensitive nose.
"Go on then, spill it." Argo spoke, leaning in closer to Volt so she could hear him clearly over the music. Regardless of her distaste for him and his god awful cologne – seriously was it made from a dead animal?! This must be what the brand Sex Panther smells like! – what came out of his mouth, most of it anyways, would equal to credits for her.
The self-perceived charismatic ‹‹Frontman›› sipped at his drink, before placing it down in a very theatrical way. He held out his hand, a smug smile on his face. "You know the deal babe. This kind of info doesn't come free."
"How about you let me decide the price?" Oh please start bartering with me.
Volt let out a small laugh, shaking his head. "No can do babe. This is [premo] information, I won't be parting it for any less than say. . . 1,200 credits." His greed was written plain as day on his face. "Of course, there are other ways you could pay me too." His hand crept along towards Argo's arm.
Argo's eyes closed as her grin turned toothy. Bad mistake kid. "I do love a good haggle, [baby]." She navigated her menu quickly, before a window appeared publicly, which she swiped at, causing it to move in a circle towards Volt. "How about you tell me for free – and I don't release this to your bosses, hm?"
Volt's brow broke out into a sweat, his previous feigned charisma gone as the video that played showed a bird's eye view of him chatting with another ‹‹Frontman›› in the large buisness plaza in front of the government building in Glocken. His recorded self handed over a USB, specifically a USB containing all the info of the ‹‹Slum Lords›› weapons caches. "H-How did you. . .?"
Argo's grin grew even wider – checkmate. "Don't worry about the hows Voltron. Now how about that info?" It wasn't much of a secret what the ‹‹Slum Lords›› did to people who betrayed them. Out of all the criminal groups in Glocken, they were one of the few that openly murdered other players. "It doesn't really take too much of a stretch of imagination for what might happen should they see this, right?"
Volt looked at her, eyes wide and jaw shaking. He turned towards his drink and slammed it in one go, the ice ball hitting his nose and then falling into the glass with a loud clink. "Fine." He muttered, looking towards the girl's smile that was anything other than pleasant. "Something big is going down in the Slums. A power grab."
Argo raised her eyebrow. "That's not new. You're all trying to one up each other all the time." As much as she hated to admit it, if they killed each other it would make it a safer place for the majority of the population who were actually trying to survive this game and find a way out without killing anyone.
Volt shook his head. "Normally, you'd be right. But this isn't a fight between the gangs – they're going for Glocken. More specifically, the players."
"But that's impossible. Glocken is a safe zone." Argo stated, the idea of those scummy bastards trying to get their tendrils up here – regardless of possibility – didn't sit well. Something clicked to her, making her business face snap into shock. "You don't mean –?"
Volt nodded, "They're organizing raids in the leveling areas outside of Glocken. They plan on thinning out as many players as they can or preventing them from leveling before the Ballad of Bullets."
"What?!" Argo's shout was unnoticed over the loud, heavy beat of the music, but Volt jumped from it. Just how the hell had such news not floated up from the Slums? It was true she'd been keeping out of there due to Kirito's wishes, but even still.
"There's a new boss – King. I'm sure you've had to of heard of him?"
King, she did know. A powerhouse of a character that pumped his ‹‹STR›› high enough to use the most massive guns he could get his hands on. His signature piece was an ‹‹XM214 Minigun››, a monster of a weapon made with six rotating steel barrels that fired a storm of 5.56mm x 45mm ammunition capable of firing up to 4,000rpm. No one knew where he got such a powerful weapon, but he had made his debut by demolishing a small gang and their hide out in less than a minute solo, using that insane weapon.
He leads a group of players called ‹‹Ravenhawk›› calling them a gang wasn't the right word, more like a cutthroat Private Military Company. They were all trained to a high standard, to an almost professional level, giving her the impression that either King was military or he had an instructor who was. She'd heard rumors that they even had a base out in the ‹‹Sea of Sand›› but there wasn't any information to prove that claim. "How the hell did that nut job manage to ring all the gangs together?"
"Fear. The muscle bound bastard has been going around and making examples of anyone who won't bow to him. He's better armed than the rest of us and not to mention that he's actually smarter than I'd give him credit for. When the ‹‹Hellknights›› were killed, he took credit for it – saying he'd both cleared the first floor and wiped out the ‹‹Hellknights›› that were trying to gank him, all solo! It all but removed the doubts others had, even if the rumors that ‹‹The Black Swordsman›› had been true!"
Argo noticed the teen shivering in his adult avatar, just before looking towards her. "C'mon ‹‹Rat››, I told you what you want, now give me the video." There was a real terror in his voice, something that piqued her interest.
"Why should I?"
"Why?!" his demeanor changed as he slammed his hand down and stood, not causing Argo to flinch in the slightest. "Because if I don't get that tape I'm. . ." his words died into a stutter before succumbing to silence.
A smirk popped on her face. "That tape. . . you were selling out your gang to King's ‹‹Ravenhawk››, weren't you?" She hadn't even been the one to take the tape, a hacker associate of hers had known about her dealings with the various ‹‹Frontmen›› and gave her the blackmail in exchange for a pardon on a favor he owed her.
Volt's face froze in horror as he shot to Argo, his hand going to cover her mouth, but she sidestepped him with the ease of a gust of wind. He tripped and stumbled over her stool, landing face first into another player who had been schmoozing up on onto a brunette. "Hey! Watch it asshole!"
Argo gave an apologetic smile, "Sorry, sorry! He's just had a bit too much to drink, forgive him for me!" She pulled him back by his collar, rather funny sight to see for a short girl to do to a much taller man. "There, there." she spoke, dusting his shoulders and arms off.
The player he'd bumped into shot a glare towards the still frightened face and grumbled out an "It better not happen again," before turning back towards his hopeful chances.
Volt turned towards the small girl who still had a triumphant smile on her face. "A-Argo –"
"[It's okay baby]! I won't be handing this over and thereby ensuring your demise and end as a scummy gangster," She paused as he watched him sigh, her grin turning large and toothy again, before putting touching her finger to her thumb and spreading the remaining fingers – the universal sign for money. "At least, not if you got the right price."
Now 1,200 credits richer, Argo found herself on the inner city train that was headed for the ‹‹Business District›› in the center of Glocken, the richest and yet poorest district in Glocken that held all of the top organizations. It was basically where players were allowed to set up offices for their guilds/squads to advertise their services. They mingled alongside NPC business, with the Fuller Corporation and the Yokohama Universal Industries towers looming in the center of the district like steel obelisks that proved their superiority above all.
She'd tried to give a call to the GMPF, which barely sounded better than the actual organization's name, the ‹‹Glocken Mercenary Police Force››. The self-explanatory group had formed around a month after launch, but hadn't picked up too much steam due to the nature of the hundreds of smaller groups in Glocken that didn't like the idea of answering to a larger group. But, as slow as their progress was, Argo believed in their willingness to keep order among the players of Glocken and they were still a force to be reckoned with.
She'd already tried the leader's, Sentinel Blue, personal cellphone but didn't get an answer. She might be outside of Glocken, where the cellphone reception quickly died out and thus radio communication was necessary. She was the type who didn't let her men do all the work, instead constantly out in the field fighting the injustices she felt were there.
It didn't matter much, this wasn't something she wanted to talk about over the phone anyways. This was one of those rare occurrences where the info didn't have a price tag on it, especially when it concerned innocent lives. If anyone could at least have a half decent attempt at providing a defense against ‹‹Ravenhawk›› and a united criminal front, it would be them.
The midnight train was quiet, the occasional glow of neon advertisement lighting up the dimmed lighting of the train from the windows. She was one of the only players on board. A few NPCs were on too, but they all were buried in their own programming, a book or phone crammed in their faces. She was glad for it, after being in that horrid bar she could use some real peace and quiet.
Her eyes glanced again to her PM notifications. Still nothing. She reached up, pulling her hood further down over her eyes. She couldn't help but notice the twisting and gnawing feeling in her heart that she felt, like she'd never . . . no. She wasn't going to start thinking like that. Kii-bou was invincible, he wouldn't leave her alone in this place. She just had to believe that. She'd just have to make his scrawny butt pay for causing her all this grief by chasing after another woman when he had such a prize right there in front of him! She wouldn't give him any quarter in their next spar.
Burying herself back into managing her PMs, she barely noted the occasional shake and spark from the train's magnetic rails as it plunged deeper into the city.
A cloud of smoke escaped a pair of dry lips as Dyne blew out the puff from his cigarette with a frustrated sound. He took the cigarette out and flicked it once, looking straight up from where the morning sun colored the visible sky above him a pale blue through the massive rocky hole. He couldn't help but grumble as he traced the long shaft that led down to where he stood atop a large hill of sand. The shaft expanded into a dome like shape at the bottom, like something had once slept here and then broke through the rock to emerge above ground.
It was amazing to think that this was once a giant whirlpool of sand. It made him wonder if the stories of the ‹‹Sea of Sand›› actually having currents due to the wind was right, or if it had just been some event. It was the only explanation he could think of for there being a raging torrent of sand one minute and it soon disappeared after they were drug underneath. If it hadn't they'd have certainly been suffocated by the sand.
Taking another drag, he glanced over at the still sleeping Klein and Ginrou who were at the base of the hill, against the rock wall. Numerous tunnels lined the circular dome, many of them flooded with sand. The only part that was different was the southern wall; It was steel and a single reinforced door that was split down the middle with a vertical Z, presumably where it opened, with yellow and black striped painted near the split. A small keypad jutted from the wall next to it. Ginrou had spent the better part of the night attempting to hack it but had eventually been locked out by the security system much to the man's displeasure.
In his own words, the "piece of shit doesn't know to open when it should", which in Ginrou's tongue loosely meant: I'm not high enough level to do this efficiently and I'm not admitting it.
Looking at Klein, the multiple bandages he'd been sporting from his failed attempts at climbing the shaft had disappeared. Dyne sighed, the only other option they really had now was to either find someway to blow open the damn security door or try their luck in the tunnels. Of course not a single one of them had a damn flashlight,the one he'd packed in the car had broke from the fall. They did have Ginrou's goggles that had a night vision function, but the idea of having him lead them around in the dark while they held onto the man didn't sit well with any of them.
Dyne turned his attention to the ‹‹Remington M24›› that had been sticking out of the sand pile when they came to. His eyes softened as he felt the worry that had robbed him of a decent sleep come back to him. He shook his head, it was going to be alright, he told himself. That kid – Kirito? – might be with her, they would be fine. It took twenty four hours for a body to despawn, they would have seen it. He tried not to think of what would have happened had they been spirited away down the dark tunnels. If they didn't have any light. . .
Dyne spit out his cigarette, finding the taste bitter to him. He looked over at his totaled car, upside down with it's trunk spilled open, bullets and weeks worth of ‹‹MRE››s scattered about behind it. All those credits, gone in flash due to some stupid goddamn worm. Dyne couldn't help but grind his teeth as he pressed a closed fist against the bridge of his nose.
"Alright you two, wake up!" Dyne roared out, his anger at his fallen car coloring his tone. "We got light again!" He stared at the two happy looking men who were enjoying something he'd been denied. "Hello! Klein, Ginrou! Wake up!" Seeing his calls weren't reaching either, he spat out a curse. Grumbling, he slid down the hill holding onto his hat, his eyes locked onto the Sleeping Beauties.
"Hehe. . . Oh Sinon . . . I never knew. . ." Ginrou giggled in his sleep as a lecherous blush and smile spread across his face. His hands were roaming around the sand and groping at imagined places.
He stopped just a few inches short of their faces as he crouched down, holding a particular ire for Ginrou as he felt his blood pressure rising. "Klein, Ginrou, I'm quite sorry to wake you from slumber sweet, but," He started out, his restraint wavering, "if you two would be so kind as to wake the hell up it would be appreciated!" He all but screamed into their ears.
Both men shot up with startled screams, slamming their heads into each other. They both held their heads in pain as they rolled back and forth each yelling incoherently in confusion.
"Owww! What the hell?!" Klein's voice broke above Ginrou's as he stared up at Dyne.
"Uaahh. . ." Ginrou whined as he sat up, a large red mark sporting on his forehead. "Why did you have to wake me up? I was almost to the good part!"
"That's exactly why I woke you up." Dyne growled, glaring at the hacker with a tinge of disgust. If he didn't need his hacking skills . . . he let out a disgruntled sigh, remembering to count backwards from ten. "It's morning. Get up and keep looking for a way out of this damn place. I still can't contact anyone from outside and Sinon hasn't shown up. That means we're on our own."
At the mention of their missing female teammate, they both stopped mumbling out complaints and stood. He dusted himself off and put his head skyward again. "So, I guess it's back to what I was trying yesterday."
Ginrou put on his goggles, "I'll try the door again." He stretched as he moved, kinks getting cracked out as he walked.
Dyne had to admit, they both got down to business if they were serious, especially when it concerned a teammate. He placed his hand on Klein's shoulder, stopping the young man as he headed for the rock wall. "Don't. It was enough of a drain on our supplies yesterday with you trying that. We just need to find another way."
Klein's cheeks flushed as he he looked away. The pain and marks may have faded but his ass still held a phantom pain. "I know. . . I just can't stand doing nothing!" He cursed as he looked towards one of the dark caves. "If only we could go in there! I know she's down there somewhere." The only reason they hadn't was because of the car, it had been jammed up against one of the holes and they'd found themselves caught on it.
Sinon's rifle stood proud in the mound of sand and Klein couldn't help but draw parallels to it's owner. Twice now, he'd been forced to do nothing while she was in danger. Twice now he'd been forced to confront how much she meant to him. It drove him insane he could do nothing to help her. He lashed out at the sand, kicking the sand hill.
Dyne watched him with an even look. The younger man reminded him of a much younger version of himself twenty years past, still green on the force and full of passion for justice and his eye on the most beautiful waitress he'd ever seen with a fire in her words to match. He closed his eyes, feeling the hole in his heart ache. Not now, this isn't the time to go down that road. "Klein, let's get Ginrou. Looks like it's time to go into the tunnels."
Klein turned, his face set into a heavy frown. "Are you sure?" His lack of weapons didn't sit well with him. He had a combat knife that Dyne had given him and he could use Sinon's rifle. He didn't have much practice with a rifle though and it felt sacrilegious to him to touch it as he beheld it's shape. In Bushido, it was believed the weapon was the true soul of the warrior, he couldn't just use hers that easily. Besides, the last time he'd tried she almost clawed his eyes out for scratching the finish on the stock.
"We don't have much else of a choice. If we can't get through that door then –" as Dyne pointed with his chin, towards where Ginrou had left, he trailed off as he saw the hacker meddling with wires underneath the keypad. The aged detective watched with curiosity and then his jaw dropped as a low hiss sound broke the silence of the morning and was shortly followed by a victory cheer from Ginrou as the metal doors slid open.
"How the hell?!"
Ginrou spun around with a large grin on his face, looking at Dyne. "Impressed? I didn't want to do it this way, but in the end we didn't have a choice. Really, it's the developers fault for not adding a timed lock out retry feature like in Deus Ex. They had to go Fallout with it but –" He was stopped by a hand on his head.
"Ginrou. Are you telling me you could have done this last night?" Dyne spoke, his voice oddly even for his usual disposition. Klein backed away a few steps.
Ginrou scoffed, "Of course, it's something anyone could do, well to varying degrees – but hacking it grants EXP and is far more sophisticated and less dangerous! Seriously, there's like a ten percent chance to get like I was saying, I tried to quit out of it and retry like in Fallout but nooo, they had to go and make it record the number of hacking attempts. Shoddy game developing in my opinion, why, how else can we – urk!" A hard pressure on his skull stopped his ranting and dropped his HP by two points.
"Just. Shut. Up." Dyne hoisted the hacker to his feet, working on using every last ounce of his self control to not crack his skull in. Letting the idiot go, he turned to Klein, "Grab some supplies. It's time we explore in here and see what's to be found – and don't forget to grab Sinon's rifle." As he heard Klein replying to him, tuning out Ginrou's complaints, he stared into the open door way. A small decompression room was within, and lights were on. So that meant power was still available within. Cracking his neck, he walked over to where he slept by the car the night before and picked up his ‹‹FAMAS››.
Whatever awaited them within worried him. His stomach was tingling in the fashion it enjoyed to do at certain moments. He checked his cigarette box, one was left. Damn, his cure was almost dry. With a huff, he stuffed it back into his coat. He'd just have to save it for a victory smoke.
"What is it?"
Sinon stepped forward, her eyes scanning the punctured steel wall in front of them, the same size as the man sized tunnel. Kirito's light only illuminated a few feet into the hole, but it looked like an actual structure. The metal was bent inwards, meaning that whatever did it came from their side. "It's obviously man made, this might be a way out."
Kirito raised his Beretta, leaving his sword sheathed, stepping closer to the corner of the broken wall. "I'll take point. We don't know what's going to be inside here." He heard her walk behind him, the soft click of her Glock's safety being released. He nodded once, taking a deep breath.
He popped around the corner and swept the room. His eyes strained against the edges of the light where he was most worried of something hiding. The room before them was some type of large sleeping area, rows of bunk beds with rotted linens lining either side of the elongated room. A single destroyed steel bed lay gnarled and tangled a foot from the hole. He edged around the corner, making sure to do as he was taught. Clear.
He moved forward and immediately jumped with a shout as his foot brushed up against something. He hopped back back and pointed down with his weapon finger already curled around the trigger. He stopped short of pulling it as he saw what he touched.
"Kirito?!" Sinon stepped closer and her face crinkled as she saw what was laying up against the wall. "Is that. . . supposed to be a human?" A lone skeleton, it's flesh long since rotted away, was clothed only by a tattered lab coat, stained with blood centuries old. Clothing underneath was the same rotted color and stuck to the bones of the unfortunate soul. The most distinguishing feature, however, was it's lack of a lower torso.
Kirito knelt down, grimacing as he started fishing through the pockets of the coat.
"Kirito! That's so gross, why –?" She stopped herself, "Right, he might have an item we need."
He nodded, a small smile hidden from her, though it was tainted from the disgusting feeling simulated against his fingertips. "If this is a dungeon like I think it is then – aha." He pulled out what looked to be some kind of ID card. He flipped over the dusted item, using his thumb to rub off the picture of a female in her late thirties, a messy bun of brown hair held away from an already wrinkled face. Next to the picture was written in large font in English, Dr. Jane Thomas Level Three Clearance. "I might find a key." He wiped it off once, before stuffing it into his own pocket. "I could have done without the heart attack though."
"Maybe if you paid closer attention," Sinon smirked.
"Ha. Ha. Funny." He made sure to check the floor as he passed each bunk. He believed in the old Chinese proverb and GGO wasn't going to make a fool out of him. It was clear, save for the debris that littered the floor. At the end of the long room, a set of thin lockers lined the wall, along with a two desks that were across from each other on either wall. A closed door broke the line of lockers. Kirito nodded to himself, and relaxed his stance. "Sinon, check the lockers. I'm going to see if there's anything on the desks."
"Roger." She went to the furthest locker on the left, testing to see if it was open – it was. A light illuminated her back, and she turned to see Kirito had placed his clip on light onto the desk pointing towards her. She smiled before turning to comb through the first locker.
Kirito's eyebrow raised as he saw the disarray the desk was in. Scattered papers littered the top of the old blue steel desk. Old coffee cups with caked in coffee were present, along with a variety of office goods. It was odd to see so much paper, it didn't even exist in this game's time line due to information recording turned electronic due to the lack of trees with humanities ascent into space. A smooth corner of plastic jutting out from under the paper caught his attention as he cleared them away. It was a laptop, and one that Kirito actually recognized as a brand from reality.
Interesting. He pulled open the dusty electronic device, pressing the power button. Nothing; it was a long shot but figured he'd give it a try. A particularly loud clang made him snap his head towards Sinon, his heart beating a mile a minute, the sound came from a locked locker that she pried open with her knife. Turning his head back with an exhale as he closed the laptop back up, another object caught his eye. A leather bound book sat at the back corner of the desk. It was out of place to be certain, it has to be something key.
Pulling out the old squeaking rolling chair that was tucked into the desk, he grabbed the book gently and sat down. It had two leather straps that tied it closed. Undoing them gently, he opened the first page and was met with some surprise as the book was written in English. He waited for it to perhaps show him a dialogue box so that it would be translated but there was none. Between this and Miller he was glad that he was somewhat fluent in English, which he'd taken an interest in so he could communicate easier with other gamers and eventually game developers when he became one.
Reading the first page, he was surprised to see the heading.
Jane Thomas, May 21st, 2029
Looking over to where the skeleton was, he felt his curiosity grow, as it always did when dungeons began dropping hints to the lore behind it. This place existed before the Nuclear War that devastated the Earth in 2030. This place, and book, is over seven hundred years old. Mr. Journal, you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention.
"Sinon, I found a book. It looks like it might contain lore about this dungeon. Want me to read it out loud?" The girl gave a solid nod, intrigued herself. Kirito gave a smile before burying his nose into it and reading out loud, though it was a bit slow as he had to translate.
The chance I've been waiting for has finally shown itself. Working so hard under that sleazebag Dr. Herschberg has finally paid off. One of his colleagues, Dr. Solomon, had watched me furiously work on Herschberg's "baby" project of curing things like the common cold. I would never call such work meaningless, but I envisioned myself tacking greater threats to humanity with my doctorate in bioengineering and virology. I had always dreamed of being the one to finally eliminate something like AIDS.
Now, I might just have that chance. Dr. Solomon said that a woman like me shouldn't be slaving away as a research assistant when I could be leading a task force in Germany on the development on a pathogen meant to actually seek out and eliminate other viruses! I accepted right away and quit that evening. If only I had a camera to record what that idiot Herschberg looked like when I told him I'd been chosen instead of him!
June 4th, 2029
I can see now why people have always said Europe has a magical feeling to it, it's nothing like America. I've never traveled abroad before but I have to admit it's quite lovely here. There's a little village we passed on the way to the laboratory. It's such a quaint little place that looks as if it was taken straight from a picture book. I didn't think villages in Europe actually looked like that.
I have to admit I was a bit frightened when I saw armed guards in full armor standing outside the gates, but Dr. Solomon promised me it was just for our own safety. I'll only ever admit here that he's really a stud. The way he smiles at me just –
"Yeah okay, I am not reading the rest of that." Kirito blanched before skipping ahead a few lines.
The facility itself was the definition of high tech. Everything was made from stainless steel and the doors looked like they were out of a sci-fi novel. Every door requires clearance key cards, some even bio-scanners and to my surprise I was granted a level three clearance! That's just under Dr. Solomon's!
When I was first introduced to my team, I have to admit I was nervous. It was a multicultural team, comprised of the best and brightest from around the world. Am I really ready for something like this?
Even though I say that, I know I am. I'm going to be the woman a little girl reads about one hundred years from now as the scientist who developed the Panacea.
Sinon had stopped her locker searching by the middle of the second entry, too intrigued by the reading to continue, choosing to instead sit against the desk behind Kirito. She was surprised at his level of English comprehension, it was probably the same as hers. His translation was a bit off at times, but that came with the territory. "Panacea?" She asked, the term sounded vaguely familiar.
Kirito took a break, nodding at her. "It's a famous term used in games for a cure-all potion like an Elixir, though it's origins I think come from some countries God or another. I'm not really sure."
"Oh, Panacea!" At his blank stare she continued. "Panacea was a Greek goddess who was said to carry a potion to cure any ailment."
"I see. So that's where it comes from." Kirito turned back to the journal. "I wonder how many other cliches they might use. Wanna count?"
June 7th, 2029
Today was. . . odd. After spending two exciting days getting to know my team and dive straight into the first stages of our work, we all decided to take some personal time to enjoy a nice lunch in the little village we passed. Charles was from the area and told us about this wonderful little cafe called Von Iver, he swore it was to die for. When we tried to leave however, we had been stopped by the security. They were polite, until Charles decided that he wasn't going to listen to them.
I've never actually been close to a fight before, save for a few I watched from a distance in high school, so when I saw them strike him with the butt of their assault rifles I was in shock – we all were. I took him back to his bunk in our living quarters and did what I could to fix his nose but, the damage was pretty bad. I filed a complaint with Dr. Solomon right after, but I never heard back from him.
June 15th, 2029
Work has been continuing at a steady pace, with the combination of our scientific knowledge and cutting edge technology that I doubt the scientific community as a whole knows exists we've made leaps in progress unlike anything I've ever known. Everyone here has brought such amazing work to the table. It helps that I've stepped in mid-project where the ground work has been more or less laid out.
Panacea is an amazing virus. It's indiscriminate, attacking every cell it can come into contact with, fusing with it and destroying anything other than itself and yet doesn't harm the host. Furthermore, as it remains with the host cell, it fights off any other bacteria or virus that comes into contact with it. Not only is it a cure-all, it defends a person! It's far from perfect, only working within 40% of the animals we've tested it on. If it doesn't fuse properly it's either ineffective – or worse, it just kills rather than fuses and the subject is killed within minutes.
The others share only part of my enthusiasm. I've had to reprimand them more than once for getting off track, chatting about what happened to Charles. The head of the security came down and personally apologized, but explained that it's necessary to ensure that no trace elements of the virus escapes the lab or any corporate spies get in or out. They would deliver food from the town for us, but that was all. We couldn't leave until Panacea was finished.
You would think that would motivate them, but it only served to scare them. Well, it's of little consequence. I've always felt more at home in an environment like this anyways.
July 3rd, 2029
I've hit a wall.
No matter what we try, we can't push the success rate beyond 53% and the fatality rate on a failed vaccination is 70%. At the current stage over half the human population would be eradicated. No matter, we'll keep trying, we just need to look at this from a different angle.
My team has once again fallen into muttering about this and that. They grow increasingly dissatisfied with the work conditions, especially the odd boxes that have been getting shipped in from what someone told me was Yokohama Universal Industries, the same company that has supplied us our equipment, with the markings for containing livestock.
It's an odd company that was originally Japanese but has since become one of the largest national corporations. It has it's fingers in just about everything. Construction, Transportation, Military, even Pharmaceuticals. The list goes on and on. If they're the ones supplying me with this amazing technology I couldn't care less what was in those boxes.
I also got to finally meet Dr. Solomon again! I was so embarrassed when he made a surprise visit to the lab. I hadn't showered in days and my hair was a mess. He complimented all of us on our stellar work. Oh, if only I could work up the courage to ask him out to dinner. Maybe after all this is over I'll break out that little black number I brought with.
July 10th, 2029
Today, under the supervision of Dr. Solomon and a group of security that looked like something out of a sci-fi novel, we found out what was in those crates.
Live humans.
My team immediately raised the largest ruckus I'd ever heard. I still remember the look on Dr. Solomon's eyes as he raised his hand to silence everyone. He was so calm, so collected. He explained to us that these men were on death row and infected with deadly diseases. They were going to die someday, either by the government or affliction they suffered so it mattered little if they lived or died.
His pragmatism was something all men of science should aspire to and I of course agreed wholeheartedly, which granted me a smile. He explained to my team that if they had a problem with it, they could leave the project. To my faint surprise, Charles along with Lamar and Alice asked to be let go. They were some of the weaker links in our group so I wasn't too sad to see them go. They were promptly escorted out by security and I haven't seen them since.
By the end of the day, three of the subjects survived the immunization. The other seven perished. It was good information, it seemed the virus had a lower success rate in humans.
July 11th, 2029
I don't even know where to begin with today. Cleo is dead.
Just thinking about it turns my stomach. But I must record it.
Today, we were doing tests on the prisoners who survived the immunization, taking blood samples to see if everything was still going smoothly. Then, the subject began to spasm wildly, as if he was under the effects of a seizure. Secruity rushed in to restrain the patient, but he broke free from his restraints like they were nothing more than paper and killed the guards. Cleo tried to run but that -thing- grabbed her and tore her apart. The heavily armed security came in soon after and killed it, but it didn't die until after almost two full magazines had been emptied into it.
I've never seen anything so horrifying before. What could have caused such an inhuman change in the patient?
And if only that had been the only tragedy, I would have been thankful. Abraham had been so overcome with regret and fear that he smashed a jar containing the virus onto the floor, screaming that what we had created was an abomination onto his Almighty God. Thankfully the virus isn't airborne, but was still terrifying to think that the virus was free from a controlled area.
We were able to decontaminate the lab, but a decent portion of the virus may have escaped into the drains we have set up throughout the lab. Dr. Solomon assures me that the quarantine team will ensure it doesn't survive in the drains and that any waste that does pass through is safely deposited within sealed containers underground. At least we avoided an outbreak.
Abraham was taken by security, it was for the best. A man of God was not someone we can have on a team like this.
July 12th 2029
Someone has tampered with Panacea. I confirmed this with my own two eyes after running extensive tests on it. This wasn't the virus that my team and I had built. Panacea was supposed to stop at taking over the cells and defending them from other pathogens.
Now it's actually -controlling- the cells and somehow coordinating with the other Panacea virus cells to make them manipulate the host. They can even do this in a dead body, the prisoners that perished had reportedly come alive! Not only that, but it appears that with their control over the cell structure they can warp or change the body through radical changes that mutates them into something horrifying. This goes beyond my understanding.
I don't understand how that's possible. It's a fact that viruses are in fact a type of life form due to it carrying genetic material, the ability to reproduce and it evolves through natural selection. But they are incapable of anything close to what we know is life, incapable of acting outside of their programming, if you will. So then how do they make the host stronger, faster, and remove it of all sentient will beyond what the virus directs it to?
It doesn't help at all that there have been tremors since yesterday and they've been growing stronger. Dr. Solomon ensures me it's just small tremors from an earthquake but I don't buy it. I don't have time to worry about that now. I need to go back to lab – figure out what the hell happened.
This is no longer Panacea, this is Pandora.
"Hmm. There's no date on this next part, looks like it was written with haste." Kirito announced, absorbed into the text.
I don't believe it. Nanomachines. Someone implanted them into my virus and they're capable of replicating just like Panacea. They're what's been directing the virus. Who would do this?! They can't be operating on their own, they were created by someone but for what purpose?!
I need to confront Dr. Solomon right away, he's the only one outside of my team with the clearance required to enter the labs. If he's somehow involved with this, then this will be the only record of it, I'm sure.
The journal ended there. Kirito closed shut the journal and put it down. "That was rather interesting."
Sinon looked towards him, her arms crossed from where she sat against the desk. "Interesting? This place sounded horrible."
"True, but if you were paying attention we've managed to stumble head first into the birthing ground of the biological weapon that created all the monsters in GGO." He waited for a moment to see if she said anything – she didn't. "Which means this place has gotta be loaded with some solid loot!"
"That might also mean this place is full of strong monsters too." It was a common enough theme she saw repeated in GGO. Areas that were just minor to explore tended to have weaker enemies. But a scientific laboratory where a weapon that wiped out half of mankind was created would be certain to have dangers she probably never faced before.
Kirito nodded, reminding himself he wasn't soloing he had to keep an eye out for someone else. "In theory we shouldn't run into anything we'd need more than a small group for. This game is primarily a PvP game, with the bulk of it's group PvE in the labyrinth under Glocken. But don't worry – I'll keep you safe even if it turns out to be something big." He gave her a wink and a thumbs up.
"Heh," She laughed, "as long it's not a skeleton we shouldn't have a problem."
Kirito blushed and stood, ignoring the grin on her face. "Forget about that already will you?"
"Nope." She couldn't help but grin at the reaction she got from him.
Scratching his head, he looked down towards the journal. "Anyways! We should try and find the security office first." Seeing her questioning gaze he pointed towards the book with his nose. "You know, not all lore is just fluff. It can contain hints to the area you're in or even passwords and stuff, pretty standard RPG stuff. It mentioned there was some security that was packing military grade equipment, or suggested it I should say. Our pistols are going to be okay for now, but if we run into mutants that take two full rifle magazines to down, 9mms aren't going to do much I imagine."
Sinon was impressed, she hadn't thought that much into the journal, but it made perfect sense. "You must really know a lot about role playing games."
Kirito puffed out his chest, hitting it with his fist. "I'll have you know it's all types of games. Not only do I have the speedrun record for Final Fantasy XX, I also have yet to be defeated at all the fighting games at the arcade."
Sinon bit her lip as a small snort left her, the only hint that she tried to hide a laugh.
"What?" Kirito protested, looking almost insulted.
"Nothing, I've just never seen anyone look so proud about themselves concerning holding a title on a game." She waited a moment, before loosing her self-control, "Dork."
"Well this dork is gonna make sure we get outta here safe and sound. Let's finish checking all the lockers, might find something worthwhile." He pulled out his shortsword, heading to the nearest locker that hadn't been opened. Sinon followed suit, going back to checking the locker she hadn't fully searched before stopping for the story.
Besides making too much noise for his comfort, Kirito found nothing of note. The developers had actually been rather detailed with the lockers, pictures of the scientists families had been included and they looked rather real. Maybe they were some of the American developers families? At the last locker however, there was a rather nice pin up of a curvy Asian beauty with shoulder length black hair, her eyes a hazel brown, and she wore the smallest white bikini he'd seen in a while with a most impressive set of –
"Kirito, find anything?"
Kirito slammed the locker shut, his face red. "Nope! You?"
Sinon raised her eyebrow, but decided against asking any questions. "No, beyond a few pictures and some dirty clothes."
"Alright, I'm not too surprised. Guess we won't find random ammo boxes in containers." Looking towards the closed door he felt his mood somber some. Back into unexplored territory. Grabbing his flashlight, he clipped it back onto his harness. "Alright, let's head out – same formation as last time." Heading to the door, he saw it was electronically controlled. It would be a long shot but just maybe – he pressed the door open button, with a small hiss it slid open. Must be some sort of emergency power, odd the lights aren't on then. Must be a hell of a generator to stay on for almost seven hundred years, if that's even the case. Could just be video game logic.
The outside hallway made him stop for a moment with worry. Across from the door was a steel wall, scarred with a single massive claw mark, three slashes indicating three fingers, dried blood rusting the wound. He stepped closer, making sure to clear left and right, the sounds of the steel floor echoing through the long hallway. He reached out, tracing the claw marks with his fingers. It was almost two inches wide, and looked at least six inches deep. It was almost the same size as the claws the strange human abominations that had lurked the first floor of the labyrinth possessed.
Sinon traced the claw mark with her eyes, coming to the same conclusion as Kirito. Her hands ached for the weight of her Remington, this Glock wouldn't stop something like that. She saw at the base of the claw mark was another skeletal corpse, though it lie in a crumbled pile like it had been dismembered.
"Just stay close to me, Sinon." He watched her from the corner of his eye. At her nod, he lifted his gun again to turn, when the faintest sound of gunfire echoed through the dark hall. "Was that –?!" Kirito hissed out, looking around. A small tremor of an explosion was felt more than heard, putting them even further on edge.
Sinon strained her hearing, the sounds of the gunfire so dim it was only able to be heard thanks to the dead silence of the hall. "It sounds like it's coming from above us," she continued to listen, until a single muffled crack made her eyes widen. "That's my Remington! I'm sure of it!" She took two steps forward before looking back towards Kirito. "Come on, it has to be the others!"
Kirito nodded, before starting to hustle down the hallway, the sounds of gunfire continuing to echo and grow stronger as they ran.
Klein cursed as he slammed back around the corner of the cross shaped intersection, a hail of automatic fire chewing up the solid steel corner causing sparks and tiny shards of steel to hit his face. The thunderous roar of the multiple ‹‹Scar-H›› battle rifles drowned out anything else in the enclosed hallways as the 7.62x51mm shells swarmed through it, seeking their targets.
"Goddmmit! Klein, we can't let them pin us down!" Dyne screamed, his voice barely audible through the din of the muzzle report. He cursed, the words lost in the sounds akin to a metal bee swarm as he blind fired a burst from his ‹‹FAMAS››.
"That's easy for you to say!" Klein shouted back as he tried to tried to take a quick peek at their attackers, his ears ringing from the shot that almost hit his head. That last grenade lob had almost done them in, if it had been even a foot more towards the center of the intersection, he wouldn't have been able to kick it back. He snapped his head back before they could fire at him.
The grenade did nothing, beyond almost making him deaf with the massive echo, they had some kind of deployed cover from the looks of it. Made from some weird material that withstood the force of their rounds and the grenade. He snapped his head across the hallway, where Dyne continued to fire to try and keep them pinned while Ginrou was furiously hacking at a locked door behind them. He had an open hallway behind him he could retreat from, but if they got pushed back the other two would –
"Klein! Get your damn head out of your ass and return fire!"
The Samurai shook his head, pulling the bolt back to eject the spent cartridge and loading a new round into the now scopeless ‹‹Remington M24›› before popping around the corner again, taking aim as fast he could, firing at one of the armored soldiers. A loud clink sound echoed through as the 7.62 smashed through the metal face plate and blood spouted from it as the soldier collapsed.
Klein spun back into cover just as an angry shout was heard, a bullet soaring past his face close enough that he heard the bullet cut through the air and hit the wall across from him. A small notification window appeared, showing him EXP gained. He felt relieved, before turning towards Dyne. "They're NPCs for sure!"
"I'm glad your conscious can be free from having to kill something now! But that still doesn't change the fact that we're fucked!" Dyne popped around the cover and sprayed a line of bullets, making the NPC soldiers duck for cover. "Ginrou, tell me you have good news!" Another swarm of bullets slammed into the wall, sounding like hail striking a metal roof that echoed in his skull, making Dyne flinch away.
The hacker's brow was covered in sweat. "The level of encryption on this terminal is worse than the previous door! I've got some idea the pattern, but it's sixteen lines long! Whatever asshole designer made this freaking thing sucks!" He did his best to keep up with the mini-game that played out across his PDA, he wasn't going to let himself get beat by this program a second time!
"I'm just going to take that as a no because I didn't hear a goddamn thing you said!" Dyne replied, his voice raising to a yell as another wave of gunfire passed by. A bullet ricocheted off the corner in front of him to hit a few feet from his head, a shard of metal scratching his face. He cursed and blind-fired again until the last bit of his magazine ran dry. Ejecting it, he put it back into his coat and grimaced as he felt his last magazine in his pouch. "Goddammit!"
The suppressive fire stopped, as a massive roar overcame the sound of the firefight. ‹‹Black Dog›› all froze as the roar chilled them to their very bones. Muffled shouting from behind armored helmets sounded, and the sound of the ‹‹Scar-H›› sounded off again as massive footsteps hammered through the area, sounding as if a car was bouncing along.
Klein caught Dyne's look, and the redhead peeked one eye around the corner. All five remaining fighters were firing down the left side of the T intersection, One of them looking like he was barking orders. They had completely forgotten about them, but why –
A massive sickly pink figure appeared, a sound of steel cutting through the air sounded, and three of the soldiers disappeared in a spray of blood and gore as they were torn through like soft butter. Klein's eyes widened as he saw the lumbering nine foot behemoth that had to weigh near a ton due to the massive muscle it held. It looked like an exaggerated human, sexless and skinless to reveal it's grotesque muscle structure. It's right arm ended in long three foot blades, almost scraping against the floor, now coated with blood. They looked like it was perhaps bone, but glimmered like steel. It's other arm was normal enough, but still probably possessed enough strength to punch through steel. If the devil could take human shape, it would probably appear like this.
The remaining three continued to fire until their magazines ran dry, but the monster cared little, the 7.62mm nothing more than pebbles against it's hide. It's left hand shot out with a backhand with the force of a hydraulic piston and hit the closet soldier hard enough to deform it's head into a cresent shape as his neck snapped with a horrible crack and was sent flying into the wall, denting it with an explosion of blood splatter.
The other soldier screamed as it turned to flee, but the demon shot out with it's elongated right hand and skewered him through the waist, his visceral screams reverberating through the steel hall. The thing grabbed the soldier by his head, and in a simple pull, tore the top half of him from the bottom, flinging it across the hall the land with a sick thud right between Dyne and Klein, blood splattering as it's guts spilled out of it's exposed ribcage.
Klein stumbled back, only sheer terror keeping a scream at bay as his eyes focused with wild fear at the gruesome sight. One that shouldn't exist within GGO. His stomach turned and Klein held back the urge to vomit, or at least the mental want to.
The only remaining survivor of the team, the one who Klein supposed was the commander, fled terrified from the massacre. ‹‹Black Dog›› remained perfectly still from behind their cover and out of sight. Ginrou's hacking attempt was forgotten as the mini-game had long since been lost. The hacker hadn't seen any of this, never turning around, but there wasn't a point, the sounds were enough to understand.
Klein swore the thing was looking at them, that it would forget the soldier and leap over the barricade and charge them. But in what was only two seconds of stillness, the beast let out another roar and kicked off the steel plated hallway to give chase after the prey that fled it.
Klein's heart hammered in his chest as he risked a fast peek around the corner, the sound of the beast dying away inside the compound. Besides a gore stained hallway and wall, they were alone. He quickly ran across the hall, sidestepping the severed corpse of the soldier, avoiding looking at it.
Dyne's eyes skimmed over the sight, used to such things, his own mind wondering why in the hell those enemies bled. Everything that could be fought or killed in this world only had damage marks. The only gore came from immortal objects that could be considered something that would always be there, and even then it was more or less benign. So why –
He clicked his tongue, now wasn't the time to be pondering mysteries when something like that was stalking the halls. "Ginrou, get that door open ASAP." He whispered, and then saw the hacker was frozen stiff. Klein was looking green in the face himself, he wasn't surprised, whatever sick bastard designed that was rather through in his detail. The damn blood was even steaming.
Blocking the hackers line of sight, he put a hand on the shaken boy's shoulder. "Hey, Ginrou, look at me." The younger man was still in shock, but managed to pick his head up. "Listen to me, that wasn't real. I know you play all sorts of games and have seen shit like that. It looks real, but that was just an NPC – a very fucked up NPC but that's all it is, okay?"
The eyes that could just be made out from behind the visor blinked, and Ginrou shook his head with a long breath. "T-That was . . . I never. . . I've seen pictures on the internet, but that –"
"It was realistic, I know." He'd seen his fair share of mutilated corpses. "Get your head back into what you're good at, don't think about it." At the hackers nod, he looked towards Klein. "Keep your eye on Ginrou, I'm getting you a weapon." He ignored Klein's small protest, striding across the hall to where the cooling body of the soldier lay.
His mouth set into a grim line as he knelt by it, the ‹‹Scar-H›› still hanging by it's shoulder strap unharmed. Dyne pulled it off the body grimacing as the organs shifted from the movement. He tore his eyes from the sight and examined the gun. It was painted black, only a few scratches marring it's coat. The magazine was empty – no surprise there. With a heave, he rolled the half-body over, ignoring the squelching sound it produced, and saw that while the combat harness was cut, the magazines he had stuffed in the front pouches were undamaged. Picking one up, he grumbled, blood had gotten into it – no good for now. Three others were like that, unsurprising considering the wound, but two at least were dry.
A plethora of other items were still attached, including two ‹‹M67 Fragmentation Grenades››. He had a feeling they'd need these if that ugly bastard reared his head again. In fact, he could probably get some more from the others –
An echoing scream cut through the building, followed shortly by an inhuman roar.
"Never mind." Dyne mumbled before turning back around to Klein who had his back turned. "Here." He spoke, pushing the gun against the Samurai's chest.
Klein fumbled with it a moment, still in shock, and almost jumped when a loud error siren came from the gun. "What the -" He looked down in confusion, and saw a little LCD display just above the trigger that read ID LOCK. "Ah crap."
"The hell is an ID Lock?" Dyne growled as he stared at the insolent gun.
"It's a fairly new tech in reality, still in the testing phases for the military." Ginrou mumbled, as his fingers darted across his PDA, his tone subdued. "It's a system usually installed in the grip to read biometric data or an RFID signal so that only the registered user can fire the gun."
"You gotta be shittin' me." Dyne spoke, looking down the long hallway, swearing he heard a faint footstep.
"I can hack it later." Ginrou mused, his concentration starting to wane. "But only after – fuck!" The terminal lit up with red bars the words LOCKED across them. "Stupid peace of faulty tech!" He punched it, cracking the screen.
"Oi! Shh!" Klein whisper-shouted, holding a finger to his mouth. He nervously glanced back down the hallway. "Just do what you did outside – and be quiet!"
Ginrou shook his head. "I can't, the area under the terminal is solid steel. Only reason I could do it out there was because there was a maintenance hatch. Gah, the realism was cool in this game, but now when our lives are on the line it –"
A hard footstep brought all their gazes behind them, where down the hallway Klein had been taking cover, roughly sixty feet away, the monstrous demon had it's pupiless stare on them.
Ginrou's eyes widened. "Oh fuck."
The thing roared with enough force to vibrate their bodies, as it began sprinting.
Dyne pulled up his ‹‹FAMAS›› aiming for the creature's massive head.
Click!
"Oh fuck!" He hadn't reloaded.
The thing was almost on them, having cleared twenty feet in almost three seconds. Klein dropped the ‹‹Scar-H›› as he scrambled for the Remington that still hung from his shoulder. Thirty feet away. He raised the gun, not really needing to aim. Twenty feet. Crack! The rifle shot went high and over it's shoulder. Fifteen feet.
Dyne's hand dropped to his side, where his ‹‹Mateba Autorevolver›› was holstered and drew it in a flash. Pow! Pow! The bullets didn't even make it flinch as they broke against it's skull.
A sound of doors sliding open alerted them all to movement behind them, and pure instinct driven by fear made them all run as a bestial roar followed them. ‹‹Black Dog›› threw themselves through the opening into the darkness of the hallway.
"The hell is that thing?!" A male voice shouted in surprise.
"Shut it now!" A woman screamed.
The doors closed just as the monster's claws were thrust forth. A loud clang sounded followed by a massive thud as it felt like the very earth shook from the force of the things impact, the solid foot of steel able to withstand the blow.
The hallway they had thrown themselves into was slanted, and almost pitch black save for the single bright light that was coming from what Dyne guessed was a flashlight. "Sinon!?" The voice sounded just like her.
"Dyne!"
The older man sat up, about to say something more when he saw Sinon's face about six inches from his own, her slender hand on his shoulder with a concerned look on her face. He felt a small tick in his old hardened heart and gave a sarcastic smile. "What's with the long face?"
Sinon smiled, "I was worried about you, you old coot." At the annoyed look to the mention of his age she gave a grin.
Kirito kept his eyes on the door a moment more, hearing the protesting roars that came from behind it, but no more slamming. He glanced down to where Klein and Ginrou both were starting to sit up, groaning as they nursed what ever they landed on.
"Crap. . . that was way too close." Ginrou spoke, readjusting his goggles. "This game isn't fair, I'm telling ya." Looking over, remembering he heard a female voice, his face lit up with joy as he saw his missing crush. "Si -"
"Sinon!" Klein called out, looking towards the girl, his hand rubbing his backside where he'd landed on something hard. "Are you okay? How the hell did you get down here?"
Sinon gave him a small laugh, "That should be my question! You were the ones making all that noise and getting chased by something out of a nightmare! We fell down into some caves down below yesterday. We just found our way into here less than an hour ago."
Ginrou stared at Klein, his teeth about to start grinding when he caught Sinon looking straight at him. He suddenly felt like a deer in headlights, as the girl had the same simple smile on her face. "Ginrou, I'm glad you're okay too. I was worried about you all."
"I. . . I. . ." Ginrou started, his mind cranking out like rusted gears. His face steamed red as a small giggle escaped his lips, making Klein back away. She was worried about me. Eheh, hehe, hehe!
Klein waved his hand in front of the hackers face. "Oi, Ginrou? Yo, Earth to Ginrou, you home buddy?"
Kirito watched with a bitter smile on his face, he couldn't help but feel jealous of the group. He saw the happy smile on Sinon's face, as she looked between her teammates, wondering what it must be like to have that kind of connection with other people. The connection he'd only seen and never felt. Maybe if he had stayed with Klein that day – A low growl that cut through the closed door wiped the look from his face as he turned to look at the door, knowing the monster was right behind it still.
Looking back towards the others who had stood, he pointed with his thumb behind him. "So what's the story with the Resident Evil ripoff?" Everyone had broken from their happy talks at the sound of the grotesque thing's unpleasant growl of frustration.
Dyne stepped forward, giving Kirito a rather rough appraising look. "Let's swap stories somewhere else, we have a lot to catch up on and this isn't the best place to do it."
The weight of Dyne's look caught Kirito a bit off guard, he nodded hesitant, suddenly feeling like he was being sized up. "Alright, we passed what looked like a lounge on the way here. Follow me."
Dyne opened his mouth to argue but shut it, Kirito was the only one with a working light. A small nudge in his ribs made he look down towards Sinon, who held a serious look on her face.
"It's okay Dyne, he's a good guy, you can trust him." She spoke in a low tone looking towards Kirito as she spoke of him, the ghost of a smile on her face.
"Hmph." Dyne pushed down his cowboy hat, hiding the non-existent look of embarrassment that he could possibly hold. He watched the girl beside him with a hidden smile. How she reminded him of her. It probably explained why he felt like a father on prom night. "You need to stop getting lost with strange men."
"Compared to the company I usually keep I'd say I'm not doing too bad." She smirked at him.
"Keep talking girl, we'll see your tone change come next pay day." He looked back ahead and saw Klein had jumped ahead to stand next to Kirito, the two talking with smiles on their faces. Dyne snorted through his nose, if Klein and Sinon liked him, he might not be that bad of a guy.
"Are you serious? Blood and actual gore?" Kirito asked, his brows knit together.
The small lounge was lit up by Kirito's flashlight, they still hadn't found any sort of other lighting yet. Dyne, Sinon, and Klein all sat on a long faded beige couch. To the right in a single seat, Ginrou sat, his focus on Klein who had stolen the middle seat between Dyne and Sinon. Kirito sat across the three on a beige love seat with a particular large hole in the backrest besides him, a coffee table separating the couches, his flashlight on top it.
Dyne nodded, a cigarette dangling between his lips. Screw a victory smoke, he needed a fix after all that shit. "It was as detailed as it was in reality, even had the physics right. Klein confirmed they were NPCs when he killed one too." He saw the look Sinon gave him and ignored it.
Kirito sat forward with his fingerless gloved hands interlocked, staring at the coffee table with a troubled expression. "That. . . is worrying."
Klein sat forward himself, his arms resting on his legs. "How is that even possible though? Why would everything else have a rather simple avatar system and now these things come out with such realistic features? That's not how it works."
"Not entirely true," Kirito looked up at Klein. "I'm sure you've played an MMO before where the game is more advanced in certain areas, usually owning to patches or expansions that increase the graphics or character models right?" Klein gave a hesitant nod, still looking confused. "What I'm getting at is that what dictates the 'rules' of a character model is the data that it draws from. A game can't just create something out of thin air like that, it has to be operating off of resources that existed in the first place."
Sinon took her turn to speak up. "So what you're getting at is GGO has always had the capability to have those types of graphics, but they didn't use them for whatever reason – except those enemies are using the code that allows for those graphics to show."
Kirito smiled, "Right."
Dyne blew out a plume of smoke, the light that pointing straight up from the table lighting the smoke in a strange way as he pulled the cigarette from his mouth. "Alright, so let's say that's true. Why would these programs use those graphics? They're not sentient, they have to run off of programming."
Kirito nodded, his expression serious, "There's only a few things I can guess. The developers might have intended for those graphics to be with the game at launch. However, even most games these days with close to realistic graphics have limited gore due to rating restrictions plus outcry from conservative groups who would demonize such a game and effect it's sales. So it's possible that this event somehow got passed up by a patch program meant to change the models to what we currently use."
"It could also be some sort of thing purposely left untouched by a developer or programmer who resented the fact that the intended graphics weren't included." Kirito added as he leaned back into his couch.
"That's a solid theory." Klein spoke, crossing his arms. "But you're relying on the fact that it was intended to be released with the game. What if it was just some rogue developer who snuck it into the game as a joke?"
"That's not right," Sinon spoke, looking towards the Samurai. "Something like this requires a large team effort from multiple artists, 3D graphics designers, programmers, so on and so forth."
Dyne gave a nod, "Your theory is pretty sound kid. But it's lacking evidence to really back it up," he gave a self-depreciating chuckle, catching himself in his old ways, "But not like it really matters of course."
"The Cardinal System."
Everyone looked toward Ginrou, who had been quiet up until then.
"That again?" Dyne asked, taking a draw from his cigarette. "Isn't that the system you were telling us was behind that NPC – what was his name again?"
"Nero, the CEO of the Fuller Corporation remember?" Ginrou replied.
"What?" Kirito spoke, looking at Ginrou, incredulous.
Ginrou put his hands up, feeling a bit weirded out by the wild look on Kirito's face. "Uh. . . Nero, he's the NPC that gave us the quest to hunt down ‹‹The Black Swordsman››. It was generated by the Cardinal System."
Kirito's brown tightened, as he looked back down the coffee table, his brows knitted. He rubbed his closed fist, his mouth set in a grim line.
"Kirito?" Sinon asked, looking concerned, until a moment of clarity struck her. "Wait a minute –!"
"Yeah," Kirito replied, looking up at her, thinking the same thing. Seeing the confused looks, he went on to explain. "It's a long story, so I'll give you the short bit that matters. I followed Siegfried – the Black Swordsman – to the Fuller Corporation's building once. He entered it."
Dyne frowned as he sat forward. "You sure? That building is off access to players." At Kirito's nod, he cursed. He pulled his cigarette out and rubbed the end on the coffee table, before placing it back in the empty carton. "What the hell is going on. . ."
Kirito shook his head slowly. "I don't know, but it's not something to be considered at the moment. But if the Cardinal System is to be blamed behind these mobs, then that's something that worries me. I followed the development blog while GGO was in alpha. The Cardinal System doesn't just generate quests, it governs the entire game. If it think there's an imbalance it'll change it on the fly, like if monster respawns are too high, or they're giving too much exp. If a player obtained a bugged weapon it can fix or delete it."
"It can even access the internet and create new and inventive quests with data gathered. Remember how I joked about that thing being a Resident Evil rip off? It's possible the Cardinal System created that monster from ‹‹Tyrant››, it's something that is intended."
"If I had to give it a title to relate it to what it means in this world, I would call it God. It's the omnipotent system that controls every aspect of this world unseen and unheard. And if it's glitching to where it creates a quest using models that bleed, it's not a good sign."
Everyone grew silent at the implication presented to them. No one understood the exact ramifications of just what a system that could be called God malfunctioning was, but it was unsettling.
And just what does it mean that an NPC from the Fuller Corporation gave a quest to them to kill a player who entered it's building when no one else could? Is this Nero even an NPC? Why would the Cardinal System design a quest given by a CEO to kill a player – something isn't adding up here. Kirito rubbed his temple, this was getting out of hand.
Then, the lights in the lounge sputtered on, making everyone jump and cover their sensitive eyes. Various cries were shouted out and weapons were drawn. Kirito pointed his Beretta to the doorway – nothing. He carefully moved up to the door, it was still closed like they left it. A single shade was drawn over the window that was on the top half, he reached out and lifted the side of it carefully as he heard the others moving behind them. Nothing was visible in the hallway, but all the lights were on out there too.
"Is the power back on?" Ginrou asked looking around. "I thought you said that everything was cut except emergency power to the doors?"
"It was. Someone turned it back on." Kirito dropped the shade, looking back to the others. "Look, it's obvious something that's way above our heads is going on right now. But we need to focus on getting out of here before anything else." At the nods, he returned it before continuing. "Most of you are either out of ammo or don't even have a gun," he motioned to Klein who had a sheepish look on his face, "There should be a security center somewhere close –"
"Let's go then." Sinon spoke, taking a step forward.
"No." Kirito replied, and continued before she could say anything more, "If more of those NPC soldiers are out there, we'll be sitting ducks in these tight corridors, especially when we wouldn't be able to engage them without running out of ammo."
"So what do you suggest we do?" Dyne asked, irritated. "I still got my ‹‹Mateba››, it's more than enough. And Ginrou has his ‹‹P-90››."
"Then use them to defend everyone here. I''ll go alone and gather up weapons and ammo for us."
"You don't even know if it's there, hell even if it's stocked!" Klein protested, stepping forward with his hands held out. "Kirito, you have to let us come!"
Kirito shook his head. "My ‹‹Stealth›› is my highest skill. I won't get caught." He walked up to Klein, putting his hand on his shoulder, making the older man look surprised. "I know it's a lot to ask – but I need you to trust me."
Klein looked down at Kirito with a troubled expression, "Kirito, you know I trust you, but. . ." having a hard time to find an excuse when Sinon walked up to them both.
"Alright Kirito, we'll trust you." She spoke, giving him a serious look. "Just be quick, if enemies really did get the power back on, they might let that thing into this section by accident or get to us before you do."
Kirito looked at the girl with a hint of surprise, "Sinon. . ." he then gave a smile and serious nod. "I will!" He was then surprised when she held out a closed fist.
"If they don't have any rifle ammo, bring me something nice, okay? Preferably a submachine gun." She spoke. The teen gave her an appreciative smile, and tapped her fist with his.
"You got it."
Dyne sighed, but reached into his coat. "If you're insisting on going alone – take this, it'll come in handy." In his outstretched hand was a round ball shaped weapon with warning labels on it. Kirito recognized it immediately.
"A ‹‹Frag Grenade››? Are you sure, those are kind of –"
"Kid, just take the damn thing. Besides if I used it in here we'd all get blown up. You can return it after if you're that worried about it."
Kirito smiled and nodded, before taking the grenade and putting it on his belt. "We'll see – a grenade is something I rather like to have on hand after all." Reaching up to his chest harness, he unsheathed his ‹‹Mk.3 Navy Knife››, holding it in his left hand in a reverse grip. "I'll be back. If I don't return in twenty minutes, start figuring out an escape plan." At their nods and words of good luck, he turned towards the door.
Taking a deep breath, he opened it and swept both corners before stepping out and closing the door behind him. "Showtime." He whispered to himself.
Things are getting hot and heavy and I'm cutting loose with the plots! I hope there' not too many threads here for people to follow but trust me, things WILL make sense at the end. Doesn't it always though?
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed, and please, please do give me any and all criticisms you have. That's the stuff that makes each chapter better.
Agent, I hope you enjoyed the little easter egg I nestled in there, a shout out to a certain German swordsman. I couldn't help myself.
Like always everyone, favorite and review!
Until next Time,
Shinobi no Ryu