Ready Player One: The adventures of Jack

Chapter Eight

GoldDragonZ: I hope people are enjoying this story. I know I am enjoying writing it. It is all coming from my head and heart as I look back on my life. Please enjoy and tell me what you think.

Wade Watts and Helen Harris waited in the boardroom at the OASIS headquarters in the United States at an undisclosed location. As a matter of fact, they lived there now, and were waiting to talk to the head programmers that oversaw what was happening within the OASIS and stop illegal activity from happening. A Japanese woman came into the room.

"Good morning to you both." She said in perfect English. "My name is Akira Tomoyo. I am aware that there might be some questions that you have about events that have transpired."

"No doubt." Helen said. "We were able to find out that someone was able to get their hands on the location of three Easter Eggs. Artemis, otherwise known as Samantha Cook and another person with the name of Jack underscore 100292402 also known as Mark Patel, won all three. It gave them immortality, unlimited ammo, and a boost in speed for their vehicles. Who could have done this?"

"We all did." She said. "We wanted to honor you five as well as other players who could win and be heroes in their own right. I never knew that someone would find out about the eggs and decide to hoard them for himself. It seems that the person who found out about the eggs in the first place wanted the original egg you won for himself. He does not like to share, and so was never accepted into any league or clan. He wanted to rule over everything. His real name is Vladislav Volkovskis. He was born and raised in the old Estonia just outside of modern day Russia. His father was a business man, and his mother died when he was nine years old. He has an older sister who is studying to become a doctor. He is a programmer for a firm that creates programs for little children to learn. He could use his coding to hack into the OASIS and this made it possible for him to find out about the egg before we could organize an advertisement for it. We first came to Samantha with the information about the first egg so that there could be some competition. We never thought that he would become so moved that he would strike out against other players for wanting to compete for the eggs."

"We need to stop him." Wade said. "Halliday had wanted everyone in the OASIS to have fun and equal rights when it came to competing against each other. I don't think he would want to have only one person rule the whole network. Is there a way to stop him?"

"We need to mobilize a task force to strip him of his console." Helen said.

"That might be something to think about," Akira said. "But there is the point that he won everything fair and square."

"He is actively hacking into the OASIS." Wade said. "He's doing things that he is not supposed to."

"One of the people who won the eggs was attacked yesterday." Wade explained. "He was playing normally when Lynx attacked him with a special bullet that took away the abilities that the Easter eggs gave him. Is there a way to undo the breach?"

"He would need to come here with his console for us to look at his profile." Akira told them. "Where does he live?"

"I'm not sure, but per his phone number, it would be somewhere like Toronto Canada." Helen said. "He also has a few friends that he is afraid for. He doesn't want Lynx to come after anyone. His name is Mark Patel."

"If Mark's abilities were taken away, then there is a good chance that Mister Volkovskis will not come after him anymore," Akira said.

"So, Samantha and the rest of the High Five are in danger?" Wade surmised. "We need something from the Research and Development Wing."

"What do you need?" Akira asked.

"Something that can bypass the immortality that one of the Easter eggs gave to Lynx." Wade said. "It has to be magically based. We need to lock down his Avatar and trap him forever."

"With his hacking skills," Akira said. "He might be able to bypass the effects that something with that level of coding could produce. Also, its illegal for us to steal anything really. The amount of money he must have spent in equipment alone could be staggering. His net worth right now is $5 billion in coins alone on the OASIS. The public will not like it if you go against someone who is a top tier player. It could show that you do not want people to compete with you to get the gifts that were left behind for everyone and anyone to collect."

"So, we just let him strip Artemis of her eggs that she won fair and square without hacking?" Helen said.

"Why don't you guys just message him?" Akira asked. "Surely he can be reasoned with before you can come up with something to destroy what he built. I'm sure you both would not like to lose everything you worked for in the OASIS, including Halliday's Easter egg."

"No, we wouldn't." Wade said. "How about this? Bring back the Easter Eggs except for Immortality. Let them be able to turn it on and off as well. That way, the more people win, the more that are against Lynx. He wouldn't know what to do. And put out Skulls that people can collect so that it would make gameplay more challenging. Like, have a skull that hides your targeting symbol. Or one that makes it harder for one player, but normal or easy for other players. Skulls could be something you can use to challenge yourself. And then we will see who the most gifted players would be."

"That's smart." Helen said. "But what if he hacks the system and negates what we put into motion?"

"Then we keep doing it until he gives up." Wade said. "Put out as many different Skulls and Easter Eggs as possible. What do you think, Miss Tomoyo?"

"It's workable." Akira nodded. "And this time we will make sure that advertisements go out before we place the eggs on the map so that Mister Volkovskis would not be alone in the race to claim them."

"I'm a good programmer as well." Helen said. "Tell me if you guys need my help."

"As owners of the company, I think it would do really nicely if the High Five spent a little bit of time working on the network with us." Akira said. "You would be overseeing everything that is going on within the company and what we are doing. For too long, we did not include you five in what we're doing, and I would like to apologize for that."

"It's not your fault." Wade said. "We just assumed Morrow would handle things for a while, but you are right, we need to start considering everything that is going on and see to it that no one can harm other players. Whoever can afford a console should be able to play on the OASIS without any trouble. From now on, all the Easter eggs and Skulls will be advertised. They should not be too hard to find, however we need to make it challenging as well."

"How about we use different speeches that Halliday and Morrow used?" Akira asked. "Players get to win one million coins for finding and putting the speeches together in the right order."

"Do we get to participate?" Helen asked.

"Unfortunately, this is good for people who cannot afford to buy things in real life." Akira said reluctantly. "It would not be fair for the owners of the OASIS to win more. That might be why mister Volkovskis is angry that Samantha won the egg. I believe that he was watching Mark for a while and found out that Mark is not part of a clan, if I am guessing right. He thought Mark would be easy to defeat instead of going after the High Five. Obviously, he failed."

Just then an associate came in to the room.

"Hello, how are you doing?" He asked, but his face was grim. "Something terrible has happened to one of our most played maps."

"What was it?" Akira asked.

"Someone was cloaked and used elaborate traps to kill players." The associate began. "He made two clans and a few other players lose coins and weaponry. He used a Nuclear Bomb and destroyed most of the map. It was Endor, from Star Wars."

"How did he steal gear?" Helen asked. "I thought we could only take coins?"

"This person was able to hack into players that were killed and take what they had most recently used." The associate said. "Mind you he could not steal everything, but he stole what they were using at the time. Everything that you own is on your console, and only the items you decide to play with would come into action. That was what he stole."

"It was him," Wade said with a somber expression. "He wants to gather as much magic and weapons that he can get so that he can kill us to get to Samantha. He wants her eggs most of all. Mark can't use his right now unless we can find a way to undo the spells or coding that Vladislav used."

"Mark's parents must be willing to come with him or sign a form saying that he can travel by himself," Akira said. "Just like how you five were able to do."

"I'll talk to him." Helen said. "and maybe in the meantime, you can start finding out what you can about the three eggs that Samantha has."

With that, Helen left Wade to speak to Akira alone.


"Hey Mark?" Helen asked into her cell phone.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Mark said from the other side of the connection. "What happened? My brother said that there's been a bombing on one of the maps that kids play on? So many players were destroyed. They lost their coins and weapons. What's happening?"

"We were just informed about what happened," Helen explained. "It happened and we did not know what to do about it. We are still coming up with a plan to deal with Lynx."

"Are you sure it was him?" Mark asked, concerned. "He's insane. I heard people lost their weapons as well as any special items that they had not used yet. Is that true?"

"I can't believe how fast news flies." Helen sighed. "Everything is as you heard. I'm surprised you know so much, are you sure you were not on the OASIS?"

"I have a whole shipload of stuff that I don't want stolen." Mark said. "I would rather wait a few days than let go of all the items I hoarded over the years playing on the OASIS. Why don't we play a different kind of game with this Lynx person?"

"What do you suggest?" Helen asked.

"I know that this is not going to sound good." Mark began as he tried to think of the best way to say what he had been thinking of. "We should put a bounty on his head. Whoever can kill Lynx, the player wearing War Machine armor can win 155 million coins and three special items that no one else has. One of his vehicles is an Imperial Star Destroyer from Star Wars. One was an alien ship from Independence Dayand he has a vast arsenal of heavy weapons that he can use. The High Five can have their programmers go into Lynx's profile and look at what he has, and copy and paste and give the player who kills him everything that he has."

"That sounds like a great idea." Helen said. "And in that way, he becomes everyone else's problem as well. I'll tell Wade about it. We also need to you and your family to fly down to our base of operations so that we can look at your console for the OASIS and see what can be done to reverse what Lynx did to your Easter eggs."

"I can't right now." Mark said. "I have school exams, prom, piano lessons and music exams coming up. Maybe I will come by in the summer after everything is finished."

"That's fine, you're living life," Helen said. "We wouldn't want it any other way."

So, they spoke a little about coding and fixing things online. They really needed to get started on how to defeat Lynx but they wanted to take the time to talk amongst themselves. And then, they decided to end the call. Mark thought to himself that he and Helen had much in common, and should become good friends going forward.


"Dudes." Tom greeted two of his friends who were sitting down together for lunch on a fine Tuesday afternoon. "I just got off the internet in the library. There's something big happening tomorrow. We all need to log into the OASIS."

"What's happening?" Mark asked.

"The High Five are planning to tell us all something." Tom said, excitedly. "We haven't heard from them in years, and suddenly they're back."

"But we met them." John said.

"I introduced you to them." Mark said.

"I know, but this is important because it affects everyone in the world who have an OASIS console." Tom said. "They have something to say to everyone. We need to be there in the front row."

Mark's eyes widened. This said the word 'trap' written all over it.

"Wait guys." Mark said, getting up from the table. "I'm going to sort this out and see what they have planned. This does not seem like a strategically smart plan. Lynx might show up and destroy us all."

"Maybe they're going to make him an honorable member of their group?" Tom said. "You don't know what they have planned."

"I know where I'm going to be." Mark said. "But I have to make sure."

Mark turned his back and walked as quick as he could to the exit with his cell phone. He searched through his contact list and found Helen's number. He pressed call and waited for Helen to pick up.

"Hello?" Helen said.

"Helen, its Mark." He said.

"Hey Mark, how are things?" She said.

"Could be better." Mark felt someone looking at him, and turned around.

Amira was there looking at him.

"Sorry Helen, I'll call you later." He said, and hung up before Helen could give a reply.

"Sorry Amira, how are things?" Mark said, his heart pounding against his chest.

"Who's Helen?" She asked.

"Someone from the OASIS." Mark admitted. "She's part of a clan that I'm interested in helping out. I think they have something planned but I think it's a bad idea. I wanted to tell her that it was a bad idea before it's too late."

"Why, what do you think is going to happen?" She asked.

Mark wanted to tell her. He considered it. What would happen if he let her know about his relationship with Helen, with Art3mis and the High Five? He already spent more hours online talking to people who he did not see face to face. Hanging out with two famous women might not go well with other women in real life. However, Mark did not want to lie, not to Amira. He took a deep breath and remembered his breath training for performing the piano in front of other people. He had performed at a concert every year for the last ten years since he was seven years old. He had performed at two talent shows, once when he was thirteen years old and once when he was sixteen years old. His teacher had taught him and his siblings the art of performing, and he needed it now to talk to Amira. He had to remember who he was. He was captain of his own ship. He was a warrior.

"Amira, you are awesome, and I want you to be in my life." He said. "But there are people who I have only just gotten to know over a few weeks and they need my help. They are the High Five from the OASIS."

"So, wait, you're telling me not only were you just speaking with someone from the OASIS," She said excitedly. "You're talking to a girl whose name is Helen who is just so famous and runs the whole thing? What do you do exactly on your own when you're at home?"

"I fix things for other players." Mark said. "That's how people know me. I only bill people for the time it takes. I use parts I find on the floor after battles. I have robots helping me as well. They are wonderful. Enough about that; Artemis and I have won three Easter eggs. One granted immortality. One granted a boost in speed for vehicles. And one granted unlimited ammo. There is a person with the name Lynx who wants to be the only one. I was playing a game and he attacked me with a special coded bullet that removed the gifts that the Easter eggs gave me. I left him, but he followed and hacked into my ship, which is my base of operations and tried to take things from me. I barely escaped because I used a spell to send him across the OASIS to another location. I have told my friends not to go on the OASIS because of him. And now, it seems that the High Five want everyone to meet at a location in the OASIS to tell us all something. I think that Lynx will try something to kill us and steal everything that we worked so hard to get."

"They did announce that they were going to have a meeting with players from the OASIS." Amira said. "I think they know what they are doing. They do own the whole thing, you know. Have faith in them, Mark. I heard that you spoke to Nick. How did it go?"

"He wants to meet me." Mark told her. "He knows a lot about me, but how did you find out all those things about me to tell him?"

"People talk." Amira said. "My friends asked your friends what your favorite movie was. I dressed up as Zorro for Halloween."

"I saw that." Mark said. "I guess you have liked me for some time now. How can I make it up to you?"

"Let's go somewhere." She said. "Let's have dessert for dinner."

"How about tonight?" Mark asked. "There's an Italian restaurant close by."

"You mean Fraticelli's?" Amira said, quite happy at the mention of the restaurant. "My best friend Jessica loves going there!"

"We took my mom there once for Mother's Day one year." Mark said. "Have you been there before?"

"We go once a month!" Amira said.

"I guess you like going there."

"Yeah, it's awesome!"

"How about tonight at five o'clock?"

"Sounds good! I'll meet you there."

Amira reached out and grabbed Mark in a hug that squeezed the air from his lungs. He kissed Amira on her nose by accident. Her eyes widened. She closed her eyes and puckered up. They kissed on the mouth for what seemed to be an eternity. They broke for air.

"That was amazing." Mark said. "I have never kissed anyone like that before."

"Me neither." Amira said, pulling away from Mark, shyly.

A teacher shook her head and smiled as she walked past the two teenagers. She was happy for them. She had seen Mark through the four years that he had been at the school. He was always grim when he was not with his friends. He seemed to have found something else that made him happy. She had caught him looking at girls, but she never confronted him about it. He seemed to be behaving himself, however.


"Helen, listen to me." Mark said after lunch. "Don't go through with the announcement. It will not end well. I think Lynx will attack Artemis at the announcement."

"You don't have to worry about us." Helen said. "We will take care of each other and looked out for Lynx."

"I'll be in my ship monitoring the situation." Mark said. "I have infrared scanners and other scanners on the ship. Hopefully I can find him before he attacks you guys. He might go after you and the others who don't have immortality to force Artemis to fight him one on one. He's too powerful."

"We own the OASIS." Helen said. "We have spoken to the programmers. Trust me, we know what we're doing. We would like you and your friends to be there."

"I'll be there." Mark said. "I will not leave you guys alone. I'll talk to my friends and see what they think."

"Yeah, I hope so." Helen said. "Okay, I have to split, but I'll talk to you soon."

"Okay, nice talking to you Aech."

"You too, Jack"


The time had come. Lynx had been playing it too safe to the chest. Now that he had immortality, unlimited ammunition and a boost in speed, it was time that he made the OASIS his world. He hacked into his console, not ready to go into the OASIS yet, but decided to modify several of his weapons using special codes. He looked at all that he had gathered and chose several items and copied them so that there were many duplicates. Weapons such as grenades and mines were duplicated so that he had a huge stock of them to use. He mirrored missile launchers so that he could use two at the same time, one on one arm. For vehicles, he hacked into the codes for them and made it possible for cars and motorcycles to be able to ride on water. Spaceships or planes could plunge into water and run as if they were in outer space or in the air.

Next, he opened the OASIS, and searched for another world like Endor, where more than one clan was playing on. He found a desert world where players were using vehicles to destroy each other. Some were using tanks. Others were using a mixture of vehicles from different movies. Some were using Scarabs from Halo 2. Some were using Goliaths from StarCraft. They were all trying to destroy each other. Lynx flew quickly down to the ground and slammed into the ground, bringing up dust into the air, blocking player's view. He took out his massive Proton cannon and fired at the nearest Scarab. The proton beam slammed into the joint of one of the legs of the massive vehicle. It buckled and almost went down, however the other five legs compensated for it. The Scarab turned around and aimed its primary weapon at Lynx, who ran as fast as he could to the Scarab. It fired its weapon at the lone avatar.

"Scrub noobs." Lynx said under his breath as he took out a laser sword that was attached to his right gauntlet.

He sliced through the opposite leg of the first one that he had destroyed. He launched a grapnel hook which lodged onto the top of the vehicle. Lynx pulled himself on top and enemies started advancing on his position from within the vehicle. Some were Elites from the Halo series. Some were Spartans from the same series as well. There were also several other characters not at all associated with Halo at all. There was someone with the Snake skin from Metal Gear Solid. Someone was Jax from Mortal Kombat. The list went on. Lynx slammed his fist into the face of the nearest player, and fired several missiles from a shoulder-mounted missile launcher at other players that wanted to see what was causing so much commotion. Their shields held, and they surrounded Lynx as he turned one of the enemies around and grabbed him from behind. The player grabbed Lynx's arm. Lynx aimed a machine gun that was mounted on his right arm as he held onto the enemy in his left arm. He fired at the others who were trying to get around him. He laughed as they tried firing back. He used the enemy in his arms as a shield, and they disintegrated into nothing but coins which Lynx picked up. He took out two lasers from his elbows and fired them at the enemies all around. The lasers were so powerful that they blasted away some of the top of the Scarab.

"Time to die." Lynx said in Estonian as he aimed his massive Proton cannon at the heart of the Scarab.

He fired away and the Scarab lifted off from the ground as the blast from the cannon lifted it. Its core became unstable and the whole thing exploded. All the enemies were swept away in the blast, and turned into coins and gear that Lynx scooped up. Lynx took to the air and zipped around the map. He fired a tank missile at one tank. The tank exploded and Lynx scooped up his winnings. These players respawned and had different weapons. Some had the same weapons as before because Lynx was not interested in just taking everything. He was trying to find items that he had yet to acquire. Something like the Scarab would come in handy, so he stole it. He used a sniper rifle and shot someone who was riding a motorcycle. The person crashed and turned into coins. Lynx flew but someone closer to the motorcycle picked up the coins. Lynx became angry so he fired his mini-gun that was mounted on his shoulder at the enemy. The bullets ripped through the enemy. He did not have a chance to retaliate as soon he was nothing but gear and coins that Lynx took. Lynx destroyed the motorcycle completely as he did not want anyone to have anything left unless they fixed what was broken. This would cost them so much that they might stop playing the game for a while so that they could look for a way to make enough coins to fix what was destroyed. And then, five people came together to form the Mega-Zord from The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers Television show. The Mega-Zord was huge and walked slowly towards Lynx. Lynx launched several missiles from his shoulder missile launcher. They bounced harmlessly off the Mega-Zord's hull. He flew backwards as the Mega-Zord walked, and fired his minigun that was on the opposite shoulder. He needed to think of something.

He pulled out his Massive Proton cannon and aimed upwards to where all the players were sitting, in the chest cavity. The beam slammed into the Mega-Zord which stumbled back and as smoke cleared, Lynx saw that what he used had no effect. His anger grew. He pulled out a Fat-man from the Fallout series and took to the air. He flew up and started firing mini-nuke after mini-nuke. The Mega-Zord tried to grab him, but he flew too quickly for the massive behemoth to grab him. He then decided about what he needed to do. He flew past the Mega-Zord's hand and went right up to its face. He pulled out his massive Proton cannon again and fired right directly into its head. Lynx powered his Arc-Reactor and attached it to the massive cannon and added more energy to the weapon as he fired it. He left a massive hole in its head.

However, he had stayed in one spot for too long as the players within the Mega-Zord could bring up its hands and snatch Lynx from the sky. He could not move his arms as they were pushed to his sides, and his massive proton cannon had left him as he needed to use both of his arms to wield such a massive weapon. He activated his missile launcher which was attached to his shoulder and began firing it at random, trying to get the massive Mega-Zord to let go of him. He also activated his boosters in his boots to fly, and activated his small mini-gun which was on his opposite shoulder. He was trying everything he could to break free. However, his one-man armor was no match for this titan that he was facing. Sweat beaded his brow in the real world as he decided what he could do.

He laughed. He was immortal, had all the ammunition, could fly faster, and yet was still not doing well against a few opponents that were beneath him. He activated his Arc Generator that was in the chest compartment of his armor. He stopped all other weapons from firing and concentrated all energy to his chest area. In the meantime, his enemies were trying to smash his skull against the ground. Of course, this had no effect as he was immortal. They were getting frustrated. Lynx could picture them arguing in the chest of the Mega-Zord. They had no idea what they were dealing with. Soon they would find out. He unleashed a massive ray of destructive force from his chest. He broke free from his enemies' grasp and took to the air just in front of the Mega-Zord's chest. He powered up his Proton cannon once more and poured all the power he could muster right into the cannon. He fired it and destroyed his enemies as they all turned into coins. He was not part of a clan so had no use for the Mega-Zord. However, there were other things that the players possessed that he could get from their deaths. They respawned in different places around the map so that they could continue playing.

Three tanks of different worlds made their way to his position. They thought that he had used up all his reserves. While retaining energy was an issue, he still had other weapons that did not need energy. He pulled out a missile launcher that were standard in other games that was not attached to his Arc Generator. He fired missiles at the three tanks that were coming to get him. At first the missiles seemed to have no effect. He decided to switch tactics. He pulled out a laser sword that was not attached to his suit and began running at the nearest tank. They tried firing on his position but their attacks did nothing to him. He leapt onto the machine and went right to the top hatch, which opened. A soldier with a shotgun tried firing at Lynx, who just grabbed the weapon, yanked the soldier from the tank, and threw down a grenade. The grenade exploded. The tank kept moving. This time, Lynx went into the tank and fought with two players who were still alive in the tank.

He killed them and took control of the tank. He aimed and fired a round at one of the enemies. They fired back. Lynx closed his eyes, and activated his Heads- Up Display and made this tank his. He started driving the tank at full speed to the other tank that was to the left of him. He needed someone to fire the primary cannon at the enemy, and unfortunately, he had no one. He could only drive the tank, or stop and fire the cannon, but he could not do both. He decided to ram the other tank, and hopefully flip it over or something. He braced himself for the impact. His tank was so sturdy and resilient now that it was his. The other players' tank did not flip over easily. Lynx got out of the tank and pulled the Arc Reactor from his chest compartment. It needed to recharge. Luckily, he had 100 spares and so used one. He activated his Proton Cannon once more and fired it at the tank. He melted the tank and killed the four players that were inside.

Suddenly, the ground shook and Lynx was blasted to the ground. The last tank that was still there had fired upon him. Lynx gritted his teeth. He used an attack called World Destroyer which allowed him to shoot several missiles into the air and they rained down upon the tank and the players that dared to attack him. He fired a tank busting rocket at the tank, and it opened with flames, coins and gear that Lynx then gathered. He was about to leave when there was a loud sound. Lynx looked around and saw that a Gundam from the Gundam Wing series had landed close to him. It had a massive rifle on its left arm. It raised its weapon and aimed it right at Lynx.

"Fuck." Lynx said as he was blasted away from the Gundam.

He slammed against a cliff and in the real world felt sensation all over his body from the X1 suit that he was wearing that he had won by winning the race to find Halliday's first key to get his fortune. Lynx was about to get up when a massive fist slammed into his avatar. His Avatar was stuck in the cliff. He tried wiggling his way to freedom however the rocks would not let him. He swore under his breath and opened his Heads-Up Display to look for something that could help him. He activated something from his utility compartment in his abdomen. A green piece of plutonium fell out. Normally, he would have needed a special device to harness the power of the radiated material, but he decided that he would try something. He activated his massive proton cannon and it broke through the cliff that he was in, freeing his arms. He shot at the Gundam while finding the plutonium. He shot it with his right arm's repulsor beam and it exploded. It wrapped him up in a green inferno which would have killed him. He turned on the flight mode in his suit and tried to maintain control as he flew through the nuclear fallout storm that raged on. He was unharmed as he was using the Easter egg that he had won. The Gundam was nowhere to be seen. Even coins were missing. Maybe they were destroyed as the blast had changed the map forever.

Dark clouds formed as the fallout spread throughout the map that Lynx was playing on. Lightning and thunder became evident as the sky lighted up, and then there was the boom that followed. Lynx laughed as he saw other players come out with different vehicles. Some had tanks, others had other vehicles that either walked or drove but were different from tanks as they had upper humanoid bodies that could turn and pick up items, or use massive machine guns. They aimed rocket launchers and mini-guns up at him and fired at will. Lynx used his increased speed to zip through the air erratically, flying straight, then turning 90 degrees, then changing direction and fired tank missiles at his enemies. Tank treads exploded. The vehicles got shot down and burned. Lynx picked up their gear and coins and continued destroying those that came back to attack him.

He found that someone had an upgrade for armor piercing rounds. It was a modification and since he would never run out of bullets, he applied it to his avatar. He started firing his mini-gun that was attached to his shoulder and his bullets pounded into the vehicles of the enemies he was facing. He fired several other tank missiles and successfully destroyed his enemies. Lynx laughed as one by one the players left as he had taken most of their coins and whatever specialty items that they were planning to use during their match. Lynx looked at all if his items that he had claimed. He had successfully collected heavy duty powers that should have been used to defeat tank-like enemies. He could destroy strong opponents with the items that he had stolen. He also had a lot of coins that he could buy some things instead of scavenging for them. He decided to do just that as he left the irradiated world.

He got out of the OASIS and used special programming that copied some of the code from the Easter eggs, which he scanned and used the coding to give his Avatar unlimited fuel. He could now fly for a longer period. He looked at all that he had gotten and ranked them from strongest attacks to weakest. He looked at what could come in handy with a fight against someone like him; immortal. He made sure that these items could be brought out into the OASIS with a press of a button. He went back in, and wanted everyone to know that he was on the loose; ready to defeat the High Five and their allies. There was a map where players were dancing to their favorite songs. He burst in through the roof and let down some bombs which exploded on contact. Several players transformed into coins, while others ran as they were not the battling type, or had no access to their gear at the time. Lynx activated his shoulder mounted mini-gun and began firing into the crowd as he crashed to the ground, landing on his feet. Three players unlocked their fighting skins and looked at Lynx.

"What the fuck are you doing?" One person asked, dressed like the Punisher.

"You know no guns are allowed in here, don't you?" Another person said, in a skin that they made their own with armor and weapons.

"I've come to draw blood." Lynx said. "I will be the one."

The nearest person pulled out a golden gauntlet and tried smashing his fist into Lynx's face. Lynx blocked the punch and slammed his heel into the player's abdomen. He opened a laser pointer-like weapon in his wrist and shot a small laser into the eyes of another player. The player brought up their hands to shield their eyes and they tried shooting a pistol at Lynx, who took the bullets head on. He did not bother ducking, or flying but instead walked right up to the player and placed two mines on his chest. The mines exploded, turning the player into coins, which Lynx picked up. Other players just turned back into their normal avatars and escaped from the dancehall. With no one to oppose him, Lynx decided it was time to end other people's fun. He looked through his inventory and found that someone from the previous map had planned to use a nuclear bomb on a Scarab. He would have jumped or land somehow on the Scarab and plant the bomb and get off before the Scarab exploded. Now, it was in Lynx's hands. He made sure to use his copy codes so that he could use this device more than once. He placed one bomb in the dance hall and flew out the hole in the ceiling that he had come in from. He counted down, and then the whole place lit up like a small star.

Now armed with these types of bombs, Lynx now sought to spread all throughout the OASIS, killing players, stealing their items, and laying waste to all that they held dear.


Mark held up a piece of paper that he had printed off the computer. It was the address for Nick Harvey's office. He had printed off the directions to the office and used a bus to get there. He had gone home when his classes were finished, and for once did not stay back to help clean the school for Community Service Hours. He changed his clothes and made his way to the office. It was a sunny day, so he wore blue jeans, and a black dress shirt with short sleeves. He also wore casual brown dress shoes and a silver watch his aunt had given him for his birthday. He opened the door and saw that he needed to go up to the third floor. He used the stairs because he preferred to be active and not use an elevator. He saw that the office was at the end of a long hallway. For some reason, he felt dread creep inside his stomach as he walked down the hallway. It wasn't a dark hallway. There were several doors leading to other offices and they were all lit and had small windows on the door for people to look through. Mark found himself standing in front of the door. What would happen when he walked through the door?

Well, he did not come all that way for nothing. He opened the door and found a waiting room with no one inside it. There was a middle-aged woman sitting at a desk, looking at files on a computer screen. Or she might have been playing Solitaire. Mark could not see, and did not want to call her out on it. He cleared his throat.

"Hello." The woman said, looking up, smiling. "Do you have an appointment to see the doctor?"

"Ugh," Mark replied lamely. "I didn't know I needed to make one to see doctor Harvey."

"Doctor Harvey?" The woman asked, raising her eyebrow. "Nick's no doctor."

"I thought he had a PHD?" Mark said.

"He does, but he's not practicing now." She said. "He needs to get more experience before he feels he is ready to become a full-fledged doctor. I'm talking about Doctor Dundas."

"I'm just here to see Nick," Mark said. "But I didn't make an appointment so I guess I should go home then."

"Hey, you must be Mark." A man's voice said from behind him.

Mark turned around and saw that his head was at the man's chest. Mark had to look up to look in the man's eyes. He looked just like how he was in the pictures that were online. This was Nick Harvey. Mark nodded his head.

"I'm a friend of Amira's." Mark said.

"Yeah, I know, you and I have already spoken on the phone." Nick said, and then turned his attention to the secretary. "Carol, do I have anything left for today?"

"Just the normal paperwork." The secretary, Carol said.

"Ok, so Mark, I have time to see you." Nick said. "Follow me."

Mark waved good-bye to Carol and followed Nick to his office. Nick ushered Mark in.

"Did you want some green tea?" Nick asked Mark.

"Uh," Mark said shyly. "Yeah sure."

Nick poured two cups of tea from a teapot on his desk. It was a small office, but the view was spectacular. The office was close to the lake. There were pictures and statues all over the office. It felt like home. Nick sat at his desk which had a laptop on it as well. There was a printer in the office. There were several files on his desk which he would be going over later. Mark saw that Nick had his University Degree hanging up on the wall next to a picture of him and his wife with their son. Nick offered Mark the cup of tea.

"I'm sorry, did you want sweetener with your tea?" Nick asked.

"No, its fine like this." Mark said. "I like your office."

"Thanks man, my partner came in to give it life, because she has better taste in design than I do."

"Was the secretary your partner?"

"I mean my wife, I just don't like calling her my wife because for a while we lived together but had not considered getting married. I prefer calling her my partner because it's an equal relationship."

"Oh okay. And is that your son in the picture beside your degree?"

"Yup, his name is Liam. He will be five years old in August. They are my pride and joy."

"Amira only mentioned you the other day. I admit, I did look you up based on your phone number. I saw that you have a few pictures online as well as what you did before starting to work here."

"Yeah, I used to be a cop. I decided that the late shifts and time away from my partner was not for me. It was not right for us as I wanted to spend as much time as I could with Liam. When he was born, my partner took Maternity Leave, and then when her time was up, I took Paternity Leave. He was never alone for the first few months of his life. Eventually I had to trust someone, though. We signed Liam up at a daycare which was in the neighborhood for two decades. People never complained about it so we signed him up. He's gotten so big now, he's heavy to pick up. But enough about me. Amira said that you are quite the piano player."

"Yeah, I've been going to piano lessons for almost a decade now. My siblings and I all play the piano. Some people in my grade think I'm gay because I play it…"

"How do you know that?"

"I hear them laughing. I heard one guy tell their friends that I was gay because I dressed business like so that I could play the piano for them for the talent show."

"You respect your peers, and they spit in your face. Trust me, you don't want these people in your life. They are toxic. Focus on the good, although right now it might be hard since you see these people every day, but think of Amira. She does not believe any of the rumors that are going around. People can make up their minds for themselves, and not let others dictate how we live our lives."

"And that's another problem. My parents are forcing us to focus on school right now. They are saying that we should not focus on getting girlfriends or boyfriends because they won't last forever. My parents think the same way about friends. We should only do the work for now so that we get a stable job in the future."

"While I agree with your parents on some things, you can't just live like that. Humans are social animals. We need contact with other people. Just give your friends a hug next time you see them. Better yet, give Amira a hug, so then no one will think you are gay."

"I feel so lonely. But I don't want to go against my parents. I don't know what to do."

"I get the feeling that these issues have been present in your life for a long time now. It won't be easy but you need to talk about these issues with your parents. You need balance in your life. You're not the type of person who would just skip school all day with your friends. You honor your parents and try your best."

"I'm also not that smart. I only have College grade courses. Amira is in University courses. What if she graduates from high school, and while she goes to University finds someone whose more her equal?"

"Something like that can happen to any of us. I work out, I live an active life style, and I work. I can meet other people who work out as well. Hell, I can talk to Carol. But, Wendy, my partner, must have faith that I will not cheat on her. You need more confidence. I suggest you start taking Martial Arts studies. This would relieve stress and get you out there. I know you probably use the OASIS, but that's no way to live. You need human interaction. Martial Arts can help you."

"You've given me a lot to think about. Thanks for the tea."

"Any time. Listen, if you need me anywhere or anytime, I'll be there for you. You can trust me Mark. You're a good guy."

"Thanks Mister Harvey."

"Just call me Nick."

Mark nodded and they finished their tea. Mark left the office with the feeling that a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He headed to Fraticelli's to meet Amira. Change was inevitable. He felt that this might be the calm before the storm…

GoldDragonZ: I wish my guidance counsellor talked to me like this. I wish we could just go somewhere and talk to someone who would give us advise. There doesn't seem to be anyone though…Please enjoy this story as I write it.