Chapter 4
Time went on. Kirika became familiar with the game.
Due to the random nature of the multiplayer game lobby, one wasn't guaranteed to come across a certain player at any given time. However, Kirika eventually came to recognise some names that appeared consistently, depending on the time of day.
One player in particular got her attention: ~1337-TrUeNoIr-1337~
The username. True Noir. Could it have a link of some sort to them? Doubtful; according to Mireille, the name Noir had been thrown around a lot by various guns for hire. That was why she had chosen it; it sounded ambiguous and creepy, and it also hid the fact that there were two of them. Chances were some gamer had gotten wind of the name. Maybe not even that; they probably just thought it sounded cool without knowing it was also a name used by contract killers.
Still, it bothered her somewhat; the word, French for black, was one of a few things Kirika remembered upon awakening in her bedroom a year ago. It was significant; she still had no idea why. Seeing it here, and in this form, piqued her curiosity.
This player consistently scored at or on top of their team's scoreboard at the end of their round. Kirika kept a casual eye on the corner of the screen that showed who killed whom, and they seemed to get an awful lot of knife kills, too. Maybe they had the Commando perk. They also eschewed the thrown hand grenade, instead favouring a throwing knife.
The map was of a small grassy field, with a small hill with three tunnels dug into it leading into a central room stocked with supplies. Impassable bushes grew on the hill. Surrounding the field was a small cottage on one side, and a graveyard on another. Trenches lined with wooden planks were dug into the ground on one side, leading to the tunnels.
Kirika had found herself in one of the tunnels, looking out from the central room. In front of her, a fellow soldier dropped down into a trench. She glanced at the green text over his head: TrUeNoIr.
In front of her, TrUeNoIr whipped up a throwing knife. The avatar was about to throw it. Probably just a reflexive attack, Kirika thought. She did it all the time, firing on anyone who entered her field of view. With friendly fire off, as it typically was, it would be merely a waste of a knife.
Suddenly, red entered her vision. She was being attacked from behind!
"Oh, shit," she hissed.
The attack stopped as soon as Kirika turned with the mouse. She left-clicked reflexively, firing a burst from her submachine gun.
No need. Her attacker lay dead. TrUeNoIr had killed them with the throwing knife.
To her left, TrUeNoIr had pushed past into the tunnel, turned to his left, and fired. Kirika turned again to watch the opponent collapse into a heap at another entrance to the central underground room.
The screen turned grey. The round was over.
VICTORY!
pillaroftruth: truenoir hax
n00bslayer: good aimbot noir
blacktiger: fuckin hax
knight101: camper dick
wolfeagle: turn off hax
~1337-TrUeNoIr-1337~: gg assholes
Once again, TrUeNoIr had demonstrated his skill.
She didn't have much time to ponder it, though, because they were finishing up on packing their bags, and Kirika was only sneaking in a round or five. It was now nearly six weeks since the job in Africa; she had sufficiently healed to take on jobs again. Mireille had spent the past two weeks researching a job in New York City.
Kirika exited the game lobby, went back through a few submenus, and exited the game.
