Level Twenty Four: Preparation
AGSO Startup City Competition Hall Waiting Room - May 21st, 2025
Black Fox stood with Kirito as they waited for the day's competition to begin. The final Battle Royale was the part of the competition where people began betting on players, and the moral grey area of AGSO came into play. Sure normally money conversion itself was not exactly a good thing, but in this particular case, more money came into the game than at any other point, and no one outside of the game knew. "Everything's internal, huh?" Akemi sighed.
"What's internal?" Kirito asked, making his partner look up at him. "You scared or something, Black Fox?" he grinned.
"You wish." she replied, looking up at the screen as the countdown meter beeped.
"Just 5 more minutes everybody~! Place your bets~! Once competition starts, all Betting Boards go into lock down until the competition finishes!" the female announcer in a brightly colored outfit exclaimed, looking as chipper as she always did.
"Black Fox." Sinon walked over, causing the kemonomimi to turn and look at her. She froze though, when she saw Kirito. "Oh great, YOU'RE still here. Kirito had let it slip to Sinon on the battle field when they were in competition the day before that he was a guy, causing the girl to slap him hard in the face. The cameras had been watching other players, though, so everyone who didn't already know still thought Kirito was a girl. Black Fox watched as Kirito tried to apologize to the aqua haired girl, smiling a little until she felt someone watching, turning to look around and seeing something that chilled her to her core. Glowing red eyes hidden behind a mask... a cloak that was tattered at the ends... There was a mark on his wrist that most people would just blow off as a tattoo or something. But no, Black Fox knew that mark. She let her scanner analyze it, seeing the reverse image that made her eyes go wide in shock. Florien's symbol glowed in her line of vision. Not a moment later, the man walked away.
"Black Fox?" Kirito grabbed onto her arm, making her jump and turn to him. "Hey, are you alright?"
"Y-yeah, sorry..." she pet his head as the timer counted down. "2 more minutes." she stated, looking to Sinon. "Good luck."
"You too." the girl nodded, glaring at Kirito a little before she stalked off. Black Fox caught sight of Falcon across the room, Kage hiding in a corner and sipping on a drink. The clock continued to go second by second, Black Fox trying to calm herself down.
"Kazuto..."
"What's up, Akemi?" he asked, knowing no one was listening to them.
"... Be careful." she stated. Just before they teleported to the field, she saw Majin looking at her, catching the beginning of his teleportation before she landed in the blank room, equipping her gear and waiting for the mini countdown to go down to zero.
Sinon sat waiting, having taken out 2 other players already. She was waiting for the next one to come along, soon spotting him and taking him out without a hitch. "That's three down." the girl sighed, getting her gun Hecates and heading somewhere she could wait for a short bit until the satellite radar came online. She checked the time and pulled out her scanner, watching as the map lit up with the blips that were the other players. After a few moments of scanning the map, she noticed a player name she was familiar with, seeing a couple of other players following and deciding to go after them. She paused, wondering what Kirito and Black Fox were doing, but deciding not to click on any nearby icons to check, getting upset again at the boy who wielded the plasma sword. She picked up her gear to go find a spot to take out her competition from.
Kirito and Black Fox were travelling along and searching for the one player that had given them both a scare in recent days. Once they made it out of the river and re-equipped their gear, they headed towards the bridge, Black Fox having caught sight of Sinon's icon just before the scan closed out. "The current carried us pretty far so we should be safe." she said, letting him lead the way. "But we have to be ready in case that guy you ran into comes calling."
"I'm gonna end him myself." Kirito replied. He had that look in his eyes that made his partner wonder if he was really going to be okay.
"... Kirito. What EXACTLY did he say to you when he talked to you?"
"... He said that he had killed a bunch of players from the raid on level 72... But because we weren't there, they all died..."
"You know that couldn't have been helped-"
"But what if we COULD have helped?!" he turned to her, looking angry. "What if we could have saved them? What if they only attacked the party because I killed those people on an earlier level-?!"
"That's not why!" she grabbed his arm and pulled him against her. "... That's not why, Kazuto..." she held him there for a moment, making him stare at her. "... I saw him in the hall today... he's here."
"What?"
"... There was a symbol on his arm... I scanned it to be sure, but..."
"But?" Kirito felt her letting go and looked into her eyes as she pulled far enough away to see him clearly. She looked upset... no, more than that she looked scared. "Akemi, what is it?" he asked softly so no one would hear them from the hall.
"That symbol belonged to Florien's followers... the ones he recruited in the Ryuuko Beta..."
"What?" The boy's eyes went wide, having never heard about this until now. "Florien had followers in the beta?"
"They players that ambushed you were likely not part of the group, but I'm betting that when they heard you killed three of them yourself, they wanted to take you out... but I guess they could never find you..." she looked at the floor, hand trembling. "I only remember that symbol because... once Ryuuko was open to the public... they came looking for me... two days before I found you..." she bit her lip. "They tried to kill me... they'd managed to hack their higher level weapons and engraved those symbols onto them... they almost tore me apart... and I had to defend myself... I didn't realize what I had done until it was too late... I'd stabbed one through the neck, the other had run by the time I regained my standing in what was at the time our reality..."
"Before you found me... so everyone who died before then was-?!"
"Only if it was by the hand of another player... monsters had no effect until after the first week..." she replied, shaking her head and covering her mouth with her hand. "... I didn't want to have to tell you this, I just wanted it to go away..."
"... But your indicator was..."
"Orange... Because they came after me first, it was deemed self defense and my indicator stayed orange." she felt Kirito take her hand. "I'm sorry..."
"... We can talk about this later." he said, holding her hand firmly in his own. "For now we have to get going. I don't want to chance someone else dying by the hands of whoever the hell this is... okay?" he stared at her until she agreed, nodding back and continuing to lead her along. "... Hey."
"Yeah?"
"... You gonna be okay?"
"To shoot? Yeah." she replied. "To get shot at with the chance of dying?... I'll take that chance if it means we can get this guy out of AGSO and keep everyone safe."
"Atta girl." he stopped walking as they came across a cliff, looking down and seeing Sinon lining up a shot. Black Fox was watching their surroundings and keeping an ear open for incoming gun fire. She followed Kirito down to Sinon's position, stopping the girl from trying to shoot her boyfriend with her handgun.
"Easy, Sinon..." she said. "I know you're pissed, but please... just give us a minute."
"Why should I?!"
"Please." Kirito said, keeping eye contact with Sinon. "If you want to shoot after, then go ahead... but we need to make sure that these players aren't the ones allegedly killing other people." Yeah, he'd let that slip too... But it seemed to get the girl's attention, and she went back to her sniper rifle, Black Fox still keeping watch for any incoming gun fire. For a while, they were watching and nothing involving the masked man had come up... until, that is, he appeared in the shadow nearest to the two players who had just fought. One player had been knocked out of competition, but... the second player was not so lucky. The masked player shot him and his avatar shattered, Kirito and Sinon looking terrified as Sinon lined up the shot to take him out. But he avoided it, Kirito telling her to get up and Black Fox following along after to ensure he wasn't following them.
"What the hell, he avoided my shot! That shouldn't be possible!" She was also panicking a little about the shot having destroyed the avatar. "D-don't tell me that guy really died-!"
"Shh, come on!" Kirito lead them both to a waiting area near the more urban area of the competition map. He was trembling a little until Black Fox pat his head. "Sorry."
"Don't be." she smiled. "So what's the plan?" she asked him.
"... We should wait for the scan I guess... then we can check for his position." he replied, the two younger players sitting down and taking a minute. As the scan came online, Sinon and Kirito checked one third each of the map's blips, Black Fox taking the last bit. She noticed something that made her stare until the map went out. "So we can assume it's one of those two that was on our end of the map that you didn't recognize." he told Sinon, Black Fox standing up. "What's up?"
"You two be careful... I'm going to go take out those guys heading our way while you get over to the city."
"What? But what if-?!"
"Hey, relax." she pet his head. "I've got more than enough ammo to take them out... besides, my abilities will keep me safe... my senses are longer range than yours, and I've got a ricochet boost, so I'll be fine." she smiled. "Go on now. Let Sinon set up somewhere she can take a shot from, and nail that masked player."
"... Got it." Sinon said, Kirito staring at the older girl with a look that told the aquanette that they were more than just in game partners. "Good luck."
"Thanks. You too." she nodded before heading off, the younger pair heading into the city to set up an ambush for the masked player. As they walked, Sinon had to whack Kirito's head to snap him out of his head space.
"Your girlfriend will be fine." she stated. "Those guys heading towards us aren't all that strong. They got in on dumb luck, she'll take them out before they even know she's there."
"... okay." he nodded. "Come on, we'll split up here." he said, motioning to the place he thought Sinon could take a good shot from and explaining the plan more thoroughly.
Black Fox had taken out the two people coming for Kirito and Sinon, but she was in a bit of a pinch now. Majin stood behind her with his handgun to her head. But he did not fire. "... I should shoot so you don't get picked off by that guy everyone said is killing players..."
"But you know if you try, I'll take you out with me." she replied, her own handgun facing behind her, pointed right at his torso. "... Why didn't you tell me you were playing AGSO, Makoto?"
"Because." he replied. "... I didn't want you pulling me out of the game while you dove in alone..." he removed his gun and put it away. "I didn't want to feel useless... I didn't want to lose you like I almost did because of Ryuuko..."
"... Makoto..."
"I... didn't want my sister to die..."
"... Come on, I'm stronger than that." she replied, putting her own gun away as well. "Besides..." she turned to him, smiling. "I've got backup." Two figures appeared nearby, Majin looking up to see Kage and Falcon.
"Should've known it was you." the man sighed to himself. "Your play style is much cleaner than it used to be though... Guess I missed the cues."
"Old man, you couldn't beat me then, what makes you think you can do it now?" he retorted, Kage walking over and looking at the boy before she looked to Black Fox.
"So... you said you needed help? With what?"
"We need to take out a player who's endangering real life people behind the players of AGSO."
As Sinon and Kirito rode out of the city after Sinon nearly got killed, the masked player tried to follow them when a Sniper shot clipped his shoulder, causing him to run into the shadows and activate his cloaking ability. Majin pulled back and went to take out other players in the area, needing to get somewhere he could catch the scan from without being seen, Black Fox's little brigade waiting so they could find this guy and take him out before someone else got hurt. Black Fox was the most agile, and because she had signed up for this, she was more than ready to be the one in the line of fire. But as the time came for the scan, her communication system fell offline with the other players, and the building she'd walked into locked down. "Shit." she looked around, seeing a bunch of signal jammers. She'd just walked into a dead zone...
Kage and Falcon went to locate Black Fox after the scan, since the girl had dropped off the map, Majin staying hidden with his ability as he tried to get into contact with Kirito. "Come on... come on..." he complained, needing him to answer. What was he doing? Where was he? Akemi needed him, and he was nowhere to be found. "Goddamnit Kazuto, answer..." he fired off message after message, hoping that the boy would notice. But he froze, hearing a resounding gun shot from inside a building, eyes going wide. "Akemi-nee..." every cell in his body was screaming at him to go and find his sister. He got up and removed his cover, hurrying towards the building that the shot had come from, praying that whoever had gotten shot was not someone he knew.
Kirito had gotten a bunch of messages, checking them over now. They were all from Majin and seemed kind of frantic. He paused, staring at the last one. "Ake-nee needs you, get over here now!" and GPS coordinates. "... Makoto?" his eyes went wide. "Akemi..." he stood up and started their vehicle. "Sinon, get up!" he stated. "We need to go back!"
"What? Why?"
"Black Fox found the guy, and he's going after her!"
"How do you know?"
"Her brother just sent me a message, come on!"
"Brother?" Sinon got on the buggy and they headed back towards the city. Whatever was going on, after the talk they'd had, Sinon was ready to join the fight... No way she was going to get that scared again... she was prepared now. She wasn't going to back down... Though this whole situation was insane and crazy, she somehow found comfort that Kirito was with her.
Majin arrived in the building where the shot came from but thankfully it was not Akemi he found. It was just another player who was soon sent back to the hall. He went about clearing a couple more buildings, every shot that was not his own making him exponentially more worried for his sister. He went back to a new hiding place as the scan started up one more time, the boy realizing that the number of people on the map had been depleting so quickly, it was way faster than the last BoB. He wondered what was going on, hearing a buggy riding down the road and seeing Kirito's avatar driving. He got the boy's attention and the three began to talk, trying to figure out what was going on. "So what you think these guys met up IRL to take out people who were in their way?" Sinon asked.
"According to Black Fox, that's not too far out of bounds..." Kirito replied as Makoto sat and listened. "If they did, it would explain what happened to those players who died IRL...The masked player shoots them, and an accomplice does something to kill them... then they get disconnected from the system and they vanish."
"So they're working to make it look like it's happening cause of the in game shot... but it's really the guy IRL who's taking the person offline..."
"That's right."
"So what do we do? How do we know where they'll strike next?"
"Well..." Kirito looked to Sinon. "That guy was going after you last time... So one might be waiting for you to get shot..."
"What?" she looked a little scared at the thought of someone being in her home waiting for that. Kirito turned to Makoto. "What about you?"
"I never give my real info, even in game..." he paused. "The registration for grand prizes."
"What?"
"That's how they find out where the players are IRL, they're plugged into the Grand Prize page." Makoto froze up. "Shit, I put Aunty's address down!"
"What?!" Kirito looked shocked. He and Akemi had agreed not to. But Makoto looked shaken. There was no way to contact anyone about this... if these guys went to the house looking for Makoto, there was no telling what they would do to the family that lived here. As they were trying to figure things out, another shot rang out. This time really close by. They looked out the window and saw Black Fox running, the building having been broken into bu Falcon and Kage. And following them out was the masked player.
"Ake-nee!" Majin jumped out of the window knocked Black Fox to the ground, avoiding the bullet that might have killed her. He then proceeded to shoot back, landing 3 shots in his opponent before he pulled his sister's avatar out of the line of fire, Kage and Falcon backing him up. the group of 6 hurried away from the area, moving elsewhere so they could recover. Kage and Falcon were the first to leave, heading out to take out the rest of the competition so that they could focus on the guy in the mask.
"You idiot!" Black Fox was yelling at her brother's avatar. "You could have gotten hit what were you thinking?!" she was practically crying. "I told you I'd handle it!"
"I know this game better than you, I can help!"
"You're going to get killed, Makoto!" she wrapped her brother in her arms and began to cry. "... I don't want to lose you like we lost mom... please, Makoto... I don't want you to die..." she shook her head, burying her face against her brother's shoulder. Kirito and Sinon gave them some time, waiting for another scan to come overhead. The scan lit up and Kirito noted Falcon and Kage taking out the remaining players in another area. Sinon, however, caught sight of one player she hadn't seen all competition.
"There, this is him!" she stated, pointing out the name of the one player that she hadn't recognized from the last BoB. "This is the guy I haven't seen all game. It's gotta be the guy in the mask."
"What's his handle?" Majin asked, still being held by his sister.
"Sterben." That made Majin stare.
"Are you sure?"
"You know him?"
"That's the guy who offed himself last time in BoB when I was in competition... He did it so he didn't have a loss on his record."
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah, I remember cause he was winning... but when I sniped him, I took out his weapon so he was at a complete disadvantage... so he offed himself so he wouldn't have lost." Black Fox finally let go and stopped crying, Majin patting her head. "I still wanna know how the hell they got the addresses."
"I think I can answer that." Sinon said. "... That camo coat he's wearing... it's an ability useable out of battle... kind of like the enhanced senses of kemonomimi or the items that aren't used for fighting." she stated. "So it's entirely possible they were watching from a vantage point and spying on the people as they wrote up their addresses for the prizes." Majin looked bothered by that.
"Damn it..."
"What's wrong, Makoto?"
"I put Aunty's address... if they go after them I-"
"Oh, I already took that into account." Black Fox said, patting his head. "Don't worry. Aya took the twins out for the day... and Aunty and Uncle are busy with other things." she smiled. "Not to mention I had our father put in some... extra precautions."
"You... what?" the younger ones looked shocked, and seemed awfully confused.
"Why didn't you say anything?!" Kirito exclaimed.
"Mostly because I knew you'd get way more reckless." she sighed. "And besides, you said it yourself. The possibility of something being done to the AmuSpheres was nearly impossible, and with our being checked, double checked, and being cleared by the government techs for us to use, I just assumed that it wasn't going to happen that way and I threw caution to the wind." she said, Kirito about to say something but refraining, looking a little miffed but knowing that she was right.
"But... how?"
"Aya isn't a hacker for nothing, you know... I had him looking into the forums and stuff and he managed to dig up some stuff once Kirito gave me the names of those players Sinon didn't recognize. And you know Aya, he stops at nothing to figure things out." she smiled. "How else would my gaming contacts be such a wide circle? It's certainly not because of me. I'm not that good." she added.
"... Not that..." Majin shook his head. "... You... actually asked dad for help?" Black Fox stared for a second before nodding, smiling a little bit.
"Heh, believe me I hated it... but these guys are hurting people, REAL people... he isn't in the Security Division of one of the largest Technology Moguls in the world for nothing." she stood up and stretched. "Call it... an obligation of his." she shrugged. "Mind you, he was pissed when he found out I was in this game... and he remembered that you asked him to get you the decals for GSO, so he knew you were playing too... that's why I knew." she mumbled. "He remembered..."
"... you told him that it would be okay?"
"I told him if you were put in danger, I would sooner die than let anything happen to you... but I also told him that you were the one who won this thing last time around... and that no matter what we wouldn't lose..." she stated simply. "... That we weren't going to let this guy scare us. Because Kirito and I are safe elsewhere, father has guards posted at home for you... and at aunty's house..." she looked to Sinon. "And we'll make sure you don't get hurt, Sinon..."
"... Huh?" the girl looked up at the kemonomimi. "... Okay..." they spent some time planning how to take out Sterben and checked the scan, seeing that Kage and Falcon had taken out the rest of the competition. "Your friends work fast."
"Haha, they always do... Kage's a little trigger happy, and Falcon likes to speed run everything." she replied, making sure her weapon was ready and that they were all prepared before they headed out. The scan showed where Sterben was...
"So are we clear about this? What the plan is?"
"Yeah, we're clear."
"No way is he getting away with this..."
"Alright then." the four of them headed off towards Sterben's last known location. It was time to end this death game he was playing.
((Ahaha choppy chapter is choppy I'm sorry- ; v ;'''
I hope you guys enjoy it...
-Winter Cheshire))