The cold air of the night whipped my face as the sliding doors moved aside to let me pass. I checked my bracelet, a hologram emitting from it, showing a map of Bailey. I swiped along it, hoping to find a red dot, an indicating to a glitch threat in that area. I spotted one near an arcade. The description of the enemy was next to nothing, the gauntlet just stating it as an imminent threat.
" Odd. Never done that before." Well, beggars can't be choosers I guess, and with that, I was on my way.
I now have something to prove, not just to them, but to myself. I've seen consciousness in these creatures, and coming from me, that's a lot. I barely see consciousness in the people I see on the streets. It has to mean something.
Maybe glitches were always more intelligent and alive than even we were. It's a possibility. They live on a whole different plane of existence. It's not crazy to think that their level of sentience couldn't possibly be calculated to fit our ways of thinking of it. Perhaps they have always existed long before us, and our only way to see them was through the lens of virtual reality.
Virtual worlds are so much more simple. They tell a story that is linear, sometimes messy, but you always get to the end. Humanity has always just been messy, as has reality. Glitches have proven to me that virtual worlds can be just like our own, just on a binary scale of ones and zeros. They're so alive, and I intend to prove that.
The van skidded as it rushed towards the goal that was this glitch. This glitch that was going to save them, that was going to save me. Hopefully, it was going to save her as well. The pain of watching a creature be broken down into nothing more than code. Vile.
I must prove them wrong, I must prove us right. I must save them. The virtual world has saved me more than enough times and it was time I paid back the favor.
The soft yellow glow of street lamps lit up the parking lot of the arcade when I arrived. It was just enough to see the large, gaping hole in the wall of the closed building. The red dot on my van's scanner suddenly disappeared. Just great.
Some of the lights were still on inside, mainly in the main arcade room. I took my steps carefully, scanning the area with my gauntlet. Once I assessed the situation, I donned my uniform of tech and armor to protect my frail body in case of an ambush. The scanner picked up nothing but residue that a glitch had been here.
" Dammit. It must've scurried off just before I got here." I looked back to the giant hole in the wall, " Well, scurry off might be an understatement."
The glitch appeared to be big, big enough to also leave small dents in the floor. I noticed I was standing in one of them. It was circular with claws on the ends, just enough to dig into the floor a smaller bit than the heel of the foot. I took some more time to look around. Some of the arcade cabinets were knocked over, others destroyed or just busted up a bit. It didn't look like a rampage, just more of a "get me out of here" situation.
I took another round around the area, but couldn't find anything else to tell me where the glitch was or where it's going. Just great.
I made my way back to the van to hopefully get back onto its signal when the ground began to shake. Thump. Thump. Thump. The pebbles around the wheels of my van shook and jumped with each bump. This seemed way bigger than the hole in the wall. It couldn't have gotten bigger, right?
I turned to the wooded area behind the arcade, seeing the birds fly out of the trees as they shook with the ground. Thump. Thump. Thump.
The lights of the street lamps buzzed, flickering along with the earth's movement. The flashing kept me from seeing more than the giant silhouette that began to emerge from the trees. It's large arms and claws pushed the wood aside like it was nothing but a nuisance to the beast. I could make out a large tail, swaying with it as it walked. By the time the lamps stopped flashing, it was just behind the wall of the arcade building, it's body taller than the structure by about 8 feet. The illuminated monster appeared to me in full, terrifying glory as it stood, staring at me. It's one, black eye with many white pupils glared into my soul. It's 2 large, vampiric fangs jutted out from the top of it's mouth. It seemingly had the body of a snake with 2 arms and legs that looked like armor.
My breathing slowed as I attempted to calm myself. Sure, the glitch in front of me was bigger than I anticipated, but that was no reason to fret. It just..got bigger from when it broke out of the arcade, that's all.
" Okay, giant..monster thing. Let's take a moment to think about what we're doing here because I really don't want to fight you and die tonight. Sound like a plan?" The glitch stared with its dead eye, then bellowed a hearty roar as it became angered. " I guess I'll take that as a no."
Suddenly ducking as a tree flew over me, completely wrecking my van.
"Hey! I still have to pay for damages like that!"
The fight was on, the adrenaline pumping. If only it was a smaller glitch, or at least something that wasn't so hostile. I don't recognize this game character, must be something new for the kids, i dunno, something fun for the kids.
The beast roared again, then revealed it's full body from behind the building's wall. It lept up on top of the roof, almost shattering the wood beneath its massive feet. It stumbled for a second before gaining its balance, looking up at me again.
" Alright, Centi, let's see if you can handle something like this." My gauntlet emitted the familiar glow, releasing my Centridom from her room inside it. She prilled, ready for battle. " I want you to take its attention while I try to get in close to see what it is, we'll go from there." Centi nodded, then rushed off. The monster's eyes followed her as she moved around in odd patterns, alerting it to her.
It gave me just enough wiggle room. I swiftly made my way behind the beast, tip-toeing onto the roof, careful not to creak any of the busted wood beneath my feet. With my gauntlet aimed, I was able to get a scan. It said the glitch was something known as a Possessor Glitch, but there was barely anything written other than "HIGH PRIORITY". Not much I can go off of, which is terrifying since the thing is bigger than a building. Dunno how much bigger it might get.
The beast finally realized it was being toyed with and turned to be, enraged. It swung it's tail at me, missing barely as I jumped away, smashing through the roof, sending wood chips in all different directions.
I readied a stun gun, aiming for the body of the beast and firing right before it smacked me off of the roof with its tail. While I crashed into the hard cement of the parking lot, the monster yelled in agony as the stun took effect. My body ached, but at least my armor kept most of the damage away. I pulled myself up. "Centi, do I have time to get back up there?" I called out. Centi scrambled over to the glitch and check the stun timer. It looked at me and nodded in confirmation.
With my air back in my body, I made my way back up to the roof where the glitch monster stood motionless. I took some time to examine it, check for weak spots in case I needed to defend myself again. It had quite a few on it's legs and arms, as the fore arm and leg were much thinner and weaker than the rest of the limb. There also a weak point on its head and in its eye. With that out of the way, I got onto my Centridom, letting her hoist me up closer to the glitch's eye level.
" I know you can hear me. The stun won't affect that. I know that somewhere inside, you know that you're more than just game code, you can learn and feel and think, possibly more than most humans are capable of. Come back with me to prove that, and no one will hunt your kind ever again." I looked into the glitch's many pupils that were scattered along its eye, like it was looking for something to help it from the stun. One of the pupils seemed to move, looking at me more directly than before. The stun was wearing off, and I had only one chance to get this thing on my side before cavalry arrives or I have to actually fight back.
Slowly, the stun finally wore off, allowing the snake like monster to rear it's head back as it unstiffened itself. It shook its head, then looked down on me.
" Uh, you wouldn't by any chance be accepting my offer? Hehe." The glitch took a moment, then its figure slacked a bit, seeming to show it was calming down. Its face neared mine, and with a large wind of air hitting my face, it sniffed me, then backed away. I saw that look again, the look of knowing, of understanding. It could hear me, it could listen. I reached my hand up to it, slowly. I saw a flicker of pink, glitching in its eye. " What are you?"
KABOOM!
I didn't get an answer. In fact, I could barely hear anything after that explosion. My vision was blurred as I struggled to open my eyes. What I could barely see around me seemed to tell me enough of what was happening. Another tech had been alerted to this area and was attacking the glitch. It shrieked in anger and pain as he shot at it with his gauntlet and other blasters. Wood chips were strewn across the ground as fire continued to blaze from them.
I tried to look around for Centi. I saw her curled up, not moving, covered in some of the building's rubble.
" Centi.." I coughed out weakly, reaching for her. My attention came back to the person who did this, who caused this destruction. He was obliterating the glitch. It was weakened when he put in the final blow, but when it was destroyed, it didn't turn into the classic green looking glitch particles, it was pink and alive. What I saw next was the most horrifying of all; there was something else that came out of the glitch. A child. A kid no older than 10 years old collapsed on the ground, lifeless.
The glitch looked at the kid, then met my eyes and rushed towards me, but was unable to make it before getting sucked up by the tech. I finally got to see who did this. Who ruined my chance.
The anger that radiated off of him couldn't contain his usual snarky, confident, attitude. He kneeled down towards me.
" What the hell is wrong with you?."
" Pierce?"