Apeiron

The city is a large cyber punk metropolis with giant sky scrapers, a turbulent oddly colored sky, narrow streets, dark alleys, graffiti and neon lights everywhere. It has the feeling of a brightly lit dystopia. There are platforms on nearly every block with cylindrical glowing tubes, in which are the teleporters that allow people to enter/move about the game. If one so chooses, they may enter tournaments that feature games like races, mock battles, obstacle courses etc. There is a never ending amount of things to do.

Since the game has been running for a few months now, some players have grown to very high levels and are using their power to throw their weight around Apeiron. The most notorious example being Inimicus, who overthrew the NPC's at the bio upgrade factory and currently owns it. By controlling the bio upgrades, Inimicus has become the richest most powerful player in the game and has proven to be benevolent when it comes to the upgrades' prices and distribution. Beyond this, the lawful forces of Apeiron seem to have a good handle on the criminals and virtual life is going smoothly.

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In a giant blue pulsing dome, stadium seats curved around an oval floating platform. This was one of the many buildings where tournaments were held. This particular tournament was a one on one duel. Two players of similar levels battled on the platform. The audience either waited to battle, placed bets or both.

Mars stood silently on the platform, waiting for a challenger. Enforcers had been breathing down his neck recently. He needed some quick legal cash. In this tournament, the players were only allowed to use a special glowing white sword that didn't drain bios. The rules were, the first player to be hit 10 times had to give the victor half of their money. Mars often wiped the floor in this tournament and he was confident he'd do it again.

Mingling with the crowd, Ora watched the stage with only a small percentage of her attention. Instead of screaming out bets, as her surrounding audience was wont to do, she crept about searching for companions. The money available here didn't interest her as much as the potential for a group that will help her gain experience. Plus the people in this tournament were all pretty high level... and direct combat wasn't her style when she was outmatched. ...although crowds were annoying, in that no matter how closely her wings were folded, they still got jostled.

Aias hung out near the edge of the staduim, refusing to enter the tournament. He earned his money through the jobs he took, and he was currently scoping for his next target. Though hanging around here could be hazardous to ones health when one wasn't being completely lawful. A small smile hovered on his lips as he looked quickly from one side of the stadium to the other. His eyes flew from one person to the next, checking out their stats as he watched.

Skype lurked over most people's heads and checked the surroundings with practised ease, his eye piece flashing over a face every few minutes as he litterally scanned the crowd. He wasn't out for anyone in particular, but these places were always rife with thiefs and assassins. The assassins tended to fight, the theives tended to hang around the stands and pickpocket people. If he could just get a report out on someone he could find a bit more entertainment than these damn idiotic games. I mean really, one on one battles down in the centre? Where was the calculation in that, the planning; snipers were completely outmatched close range... usually.

Zeezaw glided on her roller boots down the back aisle of the crowd. She always had fun watching two players fight to the 'death'. Not to mention all of the weaponry and armor out in the open for her to steal from people in the stands. She skated with ease, holding her hands behind her back casually. She had to be careful though, enforcers usually had this place secure. "Doo dee-daa-doop dee da~" she hummed carelessly.

Katielynn walked around, keeping a careful eye on the theives and assassins. She really hated these gatherings because so many players in such a small area meant a high chance of stealing and such. She could spot the trouble makers before they could start anything, but she was one of the few enforcers who ignored certain people. Katielynn glanced up at the stage, then shook her head, continuing her rounds.

"Oh, excuse me!." Isaac apologized, having bumped into the woman. With a smile, and a gentle toss of his hair, he continued passed her, his smile turning much more sinister as he sped off, mingling in with the crowds easily. That was just too easy he thought, clutching to a small parcel in his grasp, quickly tucking it away before anyone could notice what he'd done.

Grinning as Isaac went by, Katielynn walked up beside him. "I would give that back were I you." She held up her wrist guard, which was blinking. "Before I set off the remote detonator for the bomb you just picked up." She said this casually so as not to attract too much attention. "One word of advice, don't pick pocket an Enforcer. Unless they are a lot stupider than I am." She grinned towards him, taking his stats as she did so.

Tae restlessly tapped her fingers against her knee as her eyes zoned in on the enforcer across the isle who stood mere feet away from where she sat. While Tae usually got jobs very easily, for about a month she had had a hard time finding any decent paying work. She was seriously considering entering at the arena, but now that she had entered... She wasn't quite sure she was willing to chance half her gold over a small dry spot that might get better anytime, but hopefully soon. her eyes flicked away from the scene between the enforcer and the thief, and back to the arena's floor.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." Isaac replied, eyes quivering like a child's as he stared at the woman. Glancing around at the crowd, he figured it better to just play it off for now, no way she'd set off the bomb in a function like this anyway. But just to be safe, he clenched his hand, ready to set off the device embedded within his palm should she really be careless enough to do it.

"Oh, I think you do." Katielynn smiled at him. "And if you give it back, I'll ignore anymore minor infractions you may incur while here." She positively beamed at him. "But if you don't...Well, lets just say I'll really have no need to hunt you down. There are assassins aplenty who will do that for a bit of coin." Katielynn had never exactly been a perfect, play by the rules type, but she always followed her own rules.

Activity, at least different activity, was happening on the stands almost opposite to Skype; his headset zoomed in at once, the eye extending slightly to observe the proceedings from a distance. Katielynn, or rather a mystery enforcer to Skype, was talking to a frightened looking thief... Must be something terrible to get him looking like that. Then again head on in the stands with an enforcer was never a good idea for the weaker classes. He cocked his head slightly, noticing that he wasn't the only one who had spotted the two; Tae's brief glance had been enough for her to get Skype's attention... Why would an assassin be not fighting? Surely they were quite strong. Perhaps she was long range like he was... better keep an eye on her.

Spotting the enforcer, Ora had a brief inner debate on whether to steer clear or not, and decided to stay out of direct range. On the one hand, being surrounded by so many assassins and thieves was kind of nerve-wracking, even though she couldn't imagine a target being put on her head and she didn't carry her money so it was easily stealable. Ora figured that an enforcer hanging around could be useful anyway. But... on the other hand, by her very nature, she and enforcers weren't always the best of friends. So she figured she'd hang around the nearest bookie instead. He had a thug there, if something happened she'd squeal and cling to the wall of mass. It usually worked. "Ell eff gee," she murmured, a sort of half-hearted attempt to let people know of her current need of something to do that didn't involve beating people up with lightsabers.

Isaac did everything he could not to laugh, but this was just amusing. An enforcer, who was willing to hire an assassin, just to get a bomb back. Just the mere thought of it tickled the thief to death. "Fine, fine, you got me." He mused out, staring the woman square in the face. The quivering had stopped completely, and those once wide eyes were now narrowed quite seriously. "But, what are you going to do now?"

"You don't seem to understand," Katielynn said, her face becoming serious. "I will arrest you. And if you fight me, I'll kill you. Starting over seem like a good idea to you?" She knew he couldn't see her eyes, so she looked over the crowd and spotted some more enforcers. "And if I can't, then I see several who can. I don't like thieves to begin with, and now you're just irritating me."

Zeezaw found an easy target. A low level 12 sitting mindlessly in a back row. He lacked an inventory protector and Zeezaw couldn't refuse. She glanced around, scoping out the crowd. No one was paying attention. She placed her hands behind her back and skated behind his seat. She seemed to have not even moved to steal it. Perhaps she backed out at the last moment? Zeezaw went on skating until she felt in the clear. Reaching her hands around, she glanced down at the item she had stolen. It wasn't much. A mere chrome dagger with a red leather handle. Smirking, she slid it into her storage compartment on her thigh and skated on around the arena stands.

Now standing, Tae slowly backed away from the enforcer and the scene unfolding before her. Something didn't seem quite right, and she wasn't about to be injured because some stupid thief had attempted to steal from the obviously more powerful enforcer.

Aias chuckled to himself as he saw the enforcer and thief talking. A lower level theif and a medium level enforcer. If it came to blows, the theif would bite it. Making sure his items were all firmly connected and thief-proof, which wasn't hard thanks to the trackers he had on all of it, he started into the crowd. He knew some of the faces, and wanted to make himself known to them.

"You know, you're amusing, but I'm tired of playing now." Isaac clenched his fist, a crackling noise coming from the device he wore before it released a visible pulse of energy. The crowd around went into an uproar, visors and other electrical devices had failed completely, armored players found themselves barely able to move at all, it was utter chaos as the thief started to just walk off.

In the bathroom was a janitor, quietly mopping the floor. What no one could see was that the janitor was actually Anin. He had been following his mark, an NPC, for the past week now and had learned his habits. He should be on his fifth beverage and almost ready to pop. All he had to do was wait till he rushed in here so he could put him out of his clients misery.

Above the platform was a screen advertising different establishments in Apeiron. A pretty NPC nurse talked about the area hospitals, a blacksmith bragged about his swords and of course Inimiucs popped up, accompanied by his usual obnoxious circus like music, ranting about how it was employee's day and he wanted all of his minions to attend his personally funded tournaments for free prizes and fun. Meanwhile, the NPC in charge of the tournament was getting annoyed.

"Will no one challenge this man?" the NPC's voice boomed as Mars stood there, looking annoyed and bored out of his mind.

A simple twitch of Katielynn's fingers hit the detonator, but it did nothing. Mentally searching her repertoire, Katielynn simply and quickly memorized the bio signatures she had caught from him. Since she wasn't in full armor, she could still move a bit, though not at her full speed, which was a bit off putting. She glanced at the other enforcer she had spotted and gestured at him and at the thief.

"I'll challenge him!" The thief's voice echoed over the crowd. Reaching out, and disabling the device he wore, it cut out the pulse waves it was emitting, and he'd long since dumped the now useless charge, so there was really nothing more for him to do. Making his way towards the arena, Isaac signed himself into the fights, and started off towards the coliseum's floor. He probably wouldn't win, but there was no way the enforcers could pester him while he was participating in the tournament.

Mars watched Isaac approach, standing stiff and still like a statue. He was a scary bloke, his skeleton tattoo naturally giving him lifeless eerie look.

Isaac would step on a round pad that would immediately whiz up to the floating platform above. He would come in through the floor and a loud suctioning noise would sound as the pad anchored itself into the platform. A clear tube pedestal would slide up from the floor, sheathed in which was his sword. The NPC waited for Isaac to take it.

Isaac grabbed the hilt of the blade starring across the stage at his opponent. He was already second guessing his choice to compete, the man looked a tad bit scary to say the least. Removing the sword from it's tube, he stared on blankly at the man opposite of him, he just knew he was gonna lose.

"Are you ready?" the NPC asked the two men.

Mars slowly shook his head and then shifted his position to an offensive one. He was confident he could beat this guy. So confident, he was a bit offended this thief was challenging him.

Isaac turned to the man "Uh-huh." It was more a fearful squeak than an answer, but a yes none the less. He was completely outmatched, in almost every way and that was becoming increasingly obvious as he waited, but he did have one thing going for him. More than not, his obsession with speed upgrades gave him a pace that only few could match, much less beat, he hoped it would be enough for him to win.

The NPC lifted his hand, but as he did so, there was a sound like thunder outside. He paused and glanced at the dome, looking puzzled but then shrugging it off. There was another boom. Another. One was so close the dome flashed and the ground shook. Apeiron never varied in it's weather, but this seemed like a thunderstorm.

Zeezaw's body vibrated on her wheels as the thunder shook the stadium. "Cool!" she exclaimed, having never seen a virtual thunderstorm in Apeiron before. She was a little disappointed that she was inside right now. She glanced around searching for a window on the stadium walls.

"Ell eff gee", that's what he'd heard, and that's the reason Ora got the words "What the hell sort of communication is that?" coming at her from the headset. Skype had overheard her through her comms, and couldn't help but watch her for a moment; at least that is until the EMP clouded his vision and blocked the radio contact with a hiss of static. He yelped and held the reciever away from his ear until it faded, gritting his teeth slightly as he scanned the crowd. Some weren't moving, some were... definatley an EMP. One was heading for the arena, the caught thief... Oh how he wanted to shoot him... but he couldn't. Not while he was in the battle and not without a bounty on his head.

Ora blinked, ignoring the comment about her communication in the face of... a thunderstorm? This was so much more interesting than explaining to some random guy what 'LFG' was. "What the hell are they planning?" she muttered, trying to maneuver and possibly go outside, the fight forgotten. There had never been really anything she could refer to as 'weather' in Apeiron. Ora was, of course, totally unconcerned. The most she felt was a small tremor of excitement run down her spine. It had been a while since there was something... different.

Completely forgetting the current link to another random person in the crowd, Skype whispered to himself "Dammit he's gone into the ring..." Now if Ora hadn't moved she wouldn't have heard that, but as she shifted just out of the EMP's range the link between the two headsets started up with a tiny crackle. Taking a chance Skype gazed through his eyepiece, finding it wasn't crackley if he looked down into the stadium; there was the guy, waiting for the battle to begin.

There was another deafening crash, much closer than the others and the dome cracked. Two more crashes followed then left side of the stadium exploded. It was a bomb. The entire city was being bombed. The explosion tore through the spectators as they flashed and disappeared but suddenly... it stopped. The ball of fire froze, flashed a few times, but other than that, it just sat there. The bomb had glitched. The floating platform had been tossed and was now dangling awkwardly over the surviving crowd at a 70 degree angle.

Ora had jumped at the comment, her gaze involuntarily shifting to the ring to see what the nameless figure had been talking about, then glancing about to try and identify him. Then the explodey happened, knocking her on her ass but not causing any direct damage. She scrambled back to her feet frantically, not trusting the bomb to stay glitched, and planning on getting the hell out. Had a bomb attacked Apeiron before? Ora was sure it hadn't. She needed to find an exit that wasn't clogged with players, and fast, before the frozen bomb changed its kaboom-y mind. But right now, her way was blocked with all the surviving players trying to run out at once. Some very colorful cursing escaped her mouth, covering up the surge of excitement that ran through her. Something different, indeed!

When the explosion hit, Isaac was knocked off his feet and sent skidding across the platform. Quickly driving the blade he held into the floor below, he used it to catch himself before being flung off the edge. But when the stadium seemed as if it would fall, he started second guessing his action. God, he got away, but only to fall to his death, just not cool.Staring down at the fleeing crowd underneath him, he weighed his options, jump and risk dying, or just wait there for the glitch to be righted, either way, a grim outcome most likely.

Anin was dropped to the floor by the explosion. The shock knocked his diguise off, but he didn't care. Rushing out of the bathroom he looked around to see what had happened. That's when he realized how lucky he was. The explosion had missed him by about 50 ft. Unfortunatly, it didn't miss the spot where his target was sitting. Cursing quietly, he wondered if he could somehow take credit for the explosion. That's when he saw the situation unfolding on the platform.

"What the?!" Zeezaw slid into a gaurd railing, holding onto it for dear life. She stayed where she was, she tried to anchor herself down onto the ground. As the anchor was starting to crumble, she knew that she had to move quickly and was contemplating logging out but this was too rare and she was curious. Skating quickly and jumping onto the wall, she glided towards the side that hadn't blown up yet.

Aias dropped to the ground, knocking a couple of unfortunate lower levels into the blast in order to escape. Standing slowly, he glanced around quickly, taking in the damage. The platform was askew, and Aias knew that this was a bad place to be.

"Have you ever experienced anything like this before?" Tae asked Zeezaw, since she now found herself clutching the same guard rail as the other girl. "Because I sure as hell haven't." Her eyes scoped the room, as if trying to find some way to safely exit without getting trampled.

Mars clawed into the platform with his metal gloves. Not caring to help anyone but himself, he started to drag his body up to the NPC's controls. He didn't know which button would do what, or even if they still worked. He gave the console a punch and the floaty pads dislodged themselves from the platform and began to descend very slowly. Mars let himself slide down the platform and dug his claws in with a horrible screech. He quickly started scrambling towards the hole, wanting to jump on a pad before it was too far away. 

Isaac was startled so badly he nearly let go of his sword when the pad just above him popped loose, the sound scaring the crap out of him. But when he realized just what was happening, he jumped at the chance, swinging himself to the top of his sword, and pole vaulting off of it, lunging towards the opening. Grabbing hold of it's edge, he pulled himself into the tube, sliding down to the slow moving pad below, landing with a faint thud on his bum. "Ouch!" He whined, moving to his feet the best he could as he waited for his ride to touch down.

A bomb. A glitchy bomb. Could you get anything worse? Whoever set this up must want to level up massively in one go, but surely there were restrictions? Never mind. Skype's head clicked away, almost literally as he finally came to his idea; he immediately began to climb upwards, around the crowds rushing for the door and heading towards the back walls. He climbed higher, grabbing onto railings and edges until he got a good look at Isaac; locked on aaaand... "Listen, thief" came into Isaac's earpiece, also into Ora's because Skype kept forgetting to switch the connection off "That thing stops glitching and you're dead, level one, noob bait. But we can stop it. Got any more EMP's left?"

Zeezaw slow and stood on a small patch of ground where Tae was. "No but isn't it hilarious?!" she pointed dramatically to the glitched pieces of building that where floating in random places.

"Y'know, that sounds like a plan!" Ora said, grinning, certain that mystery man could hear her. "Can I be let in?" Yeah, she had no idea who the voice in her ear was, nor really who he was talking to. But... well, the doors were clogged, her wings weren't enough to lift her to a window, much less fly out, so... she was basically stranded here until the bomb went off or she pooped out a jet plane. Might as well play with EMP's and save people from a death that nobody gets rezzed from.

"That's just a side affect of my upgrade, and the device only has half a charge left." Isaac Jumped, a bit startled by the 'voice in his head', calming down when he realized someone had just tapped into his com line. "So I don't know what good it'll do, but we can give it a shot I suppose. If your little trick fails though, I'm gettin the hell outta here." Riding the lift to the ground, he came out just underneath the platform, looking around for who ever it was speaking to him.

"God, if I die..." Tae mumbled, none too happy with the prospect of starting all over again. "Who do you think did.. Well, the bomb-dropping?" Tae looked to Zeezaw, and clutched the railing she was holding so tightly her knuckles turned white.

"Some low rate hack?!" Zeezaw guessed. "That or someone amazingly hot." she said with no sarcasm. She reached to her hip and brought out a small rod. With a flick of her wrist, blue light erupted from it and a large sythe formed.

Katielynn was jostled by the crowd, but managed to head towards the hole nonetheless. She spotted another enforcer headed towards the hole and followed, pushing other characters aside to get to the area of interest.

Anin saw the Enforcers closing in on the location decided it was time to make himself scarce. He wasn't responsible for it, but he wasn't exactly popular with the Enforcers. Quickly jumping from where he was at onto one of the bleachers, then using their increasing height he jumped from one set of bleachers to the next. Upon reaching the hole he leapt out, free falling for a few seconds before opening his glider, and gently riding the airwaves, made off.

"You can try and leave, all the exits are blocked by the stampede." Skype hissed slightly "I've got an upgrade, lets me target larger flying objects like missiles or grenades and blow them up in mid air. If it's only half charged then I guess it needs to be just that much closer... Aim the EMP, toss it up at the bomb and I'll blow the thing to hell and back; it should knock it out long enough for everyone to escape." He was obvious in the crowd, tall and almost the only one still on the stands that high he could see Isaac looking for him "And you, girl on the other end of the line. You got any experience with bombs? Any explosive maintenance which could be used to stop this damn thing once and for all when it's hit?"

"Just cut the red wire, right?" Ora snipped back, grinning. "Sure, I got a bit of know-how. It'll be fun." Fun like a heart attack, the last gaming bomb she worked with wasn't frozen in midair and probably didn't operate like this one. She eyed the bomb, already getting closer, moving against the crowd. "And I can make it. It's a jump, alright, but I can get there." Her wings shifted slightly with a small screech of metal. "Why shouldn't we just freeze the thing and then GTFO? Don't think it'll hold long enough?" She didn't care, really, just wanted to know if there was a reason for her suicide mission.

"Unlike you two I am a law upholding character thank you very much. I'd rather defuse the bomb once it's had the electronics knocked out. Then there's less chance we'll all die and we won't have to totally rebuild the stadium. If we EMP it we can even wait for it to land, the effects should still be there. That and I'm sure we'll get some nice rewards for stopping a massive catastrophe..." Skype snapped back, he wasn't really up to explaining every point of his plan; the bomb could land at any minute.

"It's already detonated you blubbering idiot! There's nothing left to deactivate! Yes I have experience with explosives, I tend to use them alot when needed, but there's nothing left to do but run. Hopefully it will glitch until we can get out, but if not, we're all screwed anyway. But this hair brained scheme isn't gonna work on this." Isaac practically yelled into his receiver, the thief fuming as he moved towards the crowded exits.

Faltering in her steps, Ora stopped her assessment of the railing and the best place to launch herself off of. "So... no-go on the suicide mission?" she asked, pausing. Her voice sounded wistfully disappointed.

"Look, it has glitched, it has not exploded. If it exploded you would be dead. We take the chance to disarm the thing while it's in mid air, even a small EMP would do it if we can get it close enough." There was a moment of silence as Skype aimed and the shot rang out clearly in the crowd, missing inches from Isaac's head and ending in a post he'd been passing "Get your ass back there before I have to take you down to level one myself."

Katielynn saw Isaac headed in her direction and almost laughed as she put herself in his way. "Going somewhere, pickpocket?" She couldn't believe that he was actually headed in her direction.

"Oh hells yea!" Zeezaw skated towards the herd of scared pedestrians. Since they were all so frantic. it was easy to swipe some goods. She grabbed item after item right from under their noses. Though she wasn't getting anything good by doing this. She held out her axe to a couple of noobish kids. "HEY! Listen up! Give me your best weapons and I'll be able to teleport you lot out of here. The weapons will be transferred back after departure!"
The group of frantic noobs all nodded and started to hand over their best items. Light swords, health packs, shields...it was all so beautiful.
"Alright!" Zeezaw said, stuffing the items into her storage units. She was just about over-encumbered and couldn't take any more. Stand close together and turn around. Count to ten and you'll be sent into the city hall." Seeing the group do as they were told, Zeezaw skated away, laughing maniacally. "SUCKERS!"

"Oooh, a death threat! Man I wish I wasn't allergic to popcorn." Ora perched on the railing, just wanting to see where this was going, all thoughts of planning to launch herself at the bomb forgotten.

Zeezaw glided down what remained of the stadium, looking for an exit. Most of which were packed with people hurrying to get out. Though she managed to skate through a large crack in the wall while crouched. When outside, she turned around to look at the messed up stadium. The entire thing was a wreck!

Tae jumped, and landed on a section of floor that was still intact. She did this all the way to the nearest exit, pushing people out of her way as she went, growling angrily when someone got in her way.

Ora got bumped a few times before she nervously backed away from the railing, having to work to make sure the crowd didn't capture her in their flow. "Hey, you know, we might do well to forget the EMP plot and just get out," she said, knowing Skype could hear her. "Doesn't sound like we have cooperation anyway, and fighting won't do anybody any good." Whether or not Skype agreed, her wings fluttered a bit, preparing her for a leap over a few heads and maybe running along shoulders. It was possible with the crowd packed this tightly.

"Ah dammit!" Skype growled as he aimed with his sniper rifle again; if he had to pick him off himself he would. He followed Isaac for a while with the scope, finger itching to shoot him down. That is, before one of the last, heaviest Enforcers in the place crashed through the last remaining supports in the stairs below; Skype fumbled, shot, and the support pin of the beams opposite was smashed to pieces. Skype, Katielynn, Isaac and many other people still on the stands were sent plummeting downwards into the emptier bottom ring; the doors were free here, the bottom usually used for illegal transactions or nursing injuries after the fights.

As the stands gave out underneathe him, Aias landed with as much grace as possible. He watched the random others landing around him and grabbed a nearby enforcer, looking her over. "What's going on around here?" he asked, not really sure if she knew.

Katielynn landed in a heap on the ground only to be drug up again by an assassin. She eyed him as he asked the question. "I have no idea!" Wriggling her way free, she spotted another enforcer on the ground nearby. "What gives? This whole place is collapsing." She dodged another beam as it fell and bolted towards the entrance, glancing back to see the assassin following her as well.

Opening her wings as the stands gave out, Ora glided, landing neatly next to the spot Katielynn had previously occupied. She had to move lightly to keep out of the way of falling debris but started running off towards the doors in more or less a straight line. And oddly enough, whistling the whole time.

Isaac Let out a girlish squeal a he fell, landing on his feet like a nimble cat. Heart racing, and teeth bared, he pulled his weapon loose, the gun aimed at Skype and his finger twitching against the trigger. "You Blubbering buffoon! You try to shoot me cause your plan's a bust, then you nearly kill us all!" He headed directly towards the fallen sniper, weapon held steady out infront of him. "I should shoot you now!"

"You wanna die, fine" Skype sighed, fading from sight; invisible from the naked eye he took off running across the rubble, jumping and skidding towards the exit. He could snipe the thief outside, they had to get out now. The small message of "Don't thank me for saving your life then" came through Isaac's earpiece before the link was severed.

Everyone who had gone outside was met with a very different landscape then they were used to. All the buildings were charred and twisted black. The sky was gray. It was like a gothic post apocalyptic scene. Almost everywhere had been hit except for one specific building. It's red lights blazing through the ash was the upgrade's factory, owned by Inimicus.

Mars had glitched when the platform was activated. He burst through the nearest transporter into the chaos of frightened players running in the streets. He looked around, baffled.

Zeezaw, too busy looking around at the landscape, slammed into Mars. Some of the weapons she had stolen popped out of her storage unit. Zeezaw tumbled to the ground and rubbed her head. "Oopsy!"

Mars was knocked to the ground as well. "Idiot..." he seethed, then he remembered the situation. "What is happening?!" he barked at her.

Zeezaw hustled to pick up the items she dropped. "No clue. Looks like the mods are painting this place a new color and forgot to warn people?" she said, half-joking. "Black is slimming, didn't you hear?" she mocked her own statement. She looked around and noticed that the upgrade factory had the highest power right now according to the visor scanner on her eyes. "You think it will stay like this if we log out then back in? Maybe it's a huge error?"

"What if we can't log out anymore?" Tae said, sighing heavily as she leaned against the nearest stable object. "I mean, has anyone actually attempted to log out since all this happened? For all we know we're stuck here until this is fixed."

"I'm not logging out, no way," Ora said, having made her way to stand next to the others. They were way more level-headed than the n00b's still running about like chickens with their heads cut off. "I'm not risking being logged out permanently until this clears over. It's some kind of amazing. No way is this an error. Not with these graphics. A hack, maybe?" She squinted, picking up the sight of the undamaged building. "Huh... Inimicus' place seems to be okay. No way that's coincidence." She grinned.

"What, do you think we should all just go there? No one's that stupid." Isaac shook his head, weapon having already been lowered when the bounty hunter fled. "I say we try to get away from the arena, too many people concentrated here, it's bound to be another target if they attack again..."

Isaac felt a small "tok" from behind as the barrel of Skype's gun poked him in the back of the head, however the sniper wasn't looking at him directly but at the world beyond. "But what's the point in all this? I mean I bet a bunch of people have logged off, if not died suddenly because of this" he gave a small chuckle "But relax theif, your not exactly high priority right now."

One of the hundreds of advertising screens floated damaged and malfunctioning in the air until all of a sudden, it righted itself and flickered on. Through the damaged screen, gray shapes moved until there was an explosion of music. Obnoxious circus music. Inimicus's music. His face burst onto the screen.

"Heeeeeeeey!" Inimicus screamed. "How is everyone doing? Not too cooked I hope! Man, was that something else, with the bombs and the... other bombs..." he flicked his hands around then paused, as if this all suddenly struck him boring. "Anyway!" he yelled with new found enthusiasm. "I'm sure all you lucky ones are wondering what in tarnation is going on! It's quite simple really... you die, you return to level one... you don't die, you keep everything and all of a sudden you are leaps and bounds in front of the recently deceased competition!" He switched his voice to the shrill pitch of a little girl and spoke out of the corner of his mouth, "We all know that, but this is unfair! Did you plant the bombs? That's cheating!" He snarled and snapped back behind him like someone was there. "Shaddup! Let me explain...."

This was being broadcast everywhere. There was no way to speak back to Inimicus, only watch him be... what ever form of crazy he is.

"...that man is a bag full of batshit insane," Ora said, shaking her head in an almost admiring fashion as she studied the screen. She had wondered before if the guy was part of the game or just an insanely powerful player... and now he seemed to be both. "Oh em gee. Hacks. Does this mean we either defeat him or... give up playing?"

"Well, I for one do not want to go back to level one," Tae said, stretching out. "So I suppose we fight then." She chuckled a little, thinking on how cliche this was becoming. However cliche it was, she was itching for a fight, and wouldn't mind leveling up in the process.

"See," Inimicus went on. "Me and my associates thought it would be oh so lovely if we could become the most powerful players in the game, so together we formulated this little plan. And before you all start pointing fingers, no cheating was involved. Nooooo! Geez guys, really? The mods would screw me..." he pulled on his collar. "No, after much hard work and luck might I add, I have pulled this off one hundred percent legally. So there'll be no mod intervention. Which leaves, why, you! And that seriously doesn't bother me. See, I have my strongest goons guarding all the surviving teleporters... anyone logging in who is above level one will get shot to high hell, and uh, if this hasn't struck you yet... at some point, you're all gonna need to log out. To eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, tend to your real life, whatever. When you re-enter..." he stuck out his fingers like a gun and shot at the screen. "I guess what I'm trying to say, is planning a revolution is pointless. I'm not setting up a little game with me as the antagonist... I'm rebuilding apieron. Once you're all level one, I'll let you gain levels again and business will continue as usual. Except you'll all have to call me Lord Inimicus." He looked up and tapped his chin before he laughed and said, "No no, LORD INIMICUS, MASTER OF THE DIGITAL UNIVERSE! L-I-M-D-U... ok, nevermind. That does not spell anything awesome. Just Lord Inimicus, the whole master part only if you're trying to suck up. Which I suggest you all start doing. So, surrender, log out, see you in a few. I'm putting this message on repeat so I hoped you enjoyed it! Kay, bye!" He swiped his hand by his head in a silly salute and the message started up from the beginning.

"He's kinda cute." Zeezaw said, twirling one of her purple dreads with a finger. "So it's fight and die or... log out and die. Hmm...we can't juts like- hide in a sewer or something til this crap blows over?"


"This is not good." Isaac just swiped his hand behind him, eyes glued onto the screen. Oh how he hated that arrogant bastard. When it cycled back to the beginning, the thief turned to the rest of they're small group, expression looking almost mortified. "So, we're all screwed. No one's strong enough to beat off his lackeys, much less the bastard himself..."

Katielynn would have kicked something, except she was too busy staring at the large screen as the message repeated. "Well, technically he's right, he did not do anything wrong. Except screw everyone over." She really wanted to kick something. She glanced at Isaac, then shook her head. "None of us is strong enough."

When Aias stepped forward, he looked at Isaac with a grin. "Not alone, we're not strong enough. But how many of us are there, little theif? Enough to fight back should he try to kill us, right?"

"Have you ever come across one of them before? Have you ever seen them in action? They're all freaks, they have seemingly unattainable levels, not to mention all the upgrades from Inimicus. Even as a group! We wouldn't stand much of a chance against one of them." Isaac practically blew off the thief's idea, shaking his head in disbelief. "I think we should go with that girls idea and just hide..."

Mars was completely silent. The rage was boiling in him at dangerous levels. the he realized something. He looked at the teleporter he just came out of. "... He doesn't know about the glitch..." he said to no one in particular.

Still snickering at the 'beat off his lackeys' comment, Ora sidled up to Aias. "I wouldn't say we couldn't beat them. They should all have their weaknesses... they are just players. I wouldn't challenge them to an arm-wrestling competition but if we're sneaky and work together..." She looked at the building. "Besides, what are our other options? A few hours of wasted game time or... the hours we put into our characters getting them up this far, thrown away." Ora wished she sounded more motivating, but whether she won or lost this battle, it was just something to do. "I have a lot of free downtime lately. I'll go. Anybody who doesn't want to, well, might as well log off now. You can't really do anything else." She began to whistle again, waiting for people to make up their minds.

"Great, I'm titled- 'that girl'...lovely" Zeezaw rolled her eyes. "I wonder if that guy can read where we are though." she countered before looking at Aias. "Go team 'users'!" she exclaimed, putting a hand in as if waiting for others to join. Despite the situation, she was hyper as usual.

"All right, look, if we're going to 'band together', so to speak, we should probably get out of the open and into some cover, wouldn't you agree?" Tae gave an open handed gesture and she let the other rest in the crook of the opposite arm.

"Do you all have scan blockers?" Mars piped in urgently.

"I wouldn't call myself a thief without one." Zeezaw said, blissful that someone else put a hand in.

"I say we work in the team name, but I'm in, and I... yeah, I guess I have one." Ora took off her glasses to see if she had included that particular upgrade in them.

Aias looked at Mars and rolled his eyes. "An assassin without a scan blocker isn't an assassin for long." He glanced over at Zeezaw. "At least he got your gender right."

"Congrats your not dead" Skype said to Isaac without really thinking as he listened to the insane ranting. When it was done he turned his gun over Isaac's shoulder and shot; the bullet smacked into the screen and made it spark slightly but not much else. Being the more observant one of the group, Skype turned to Mars as he appeared "Ok... what glitch? And yeah, I've got a scan blocker."

Mars gave Skype a look that could melt stone. He looked back towards the building they escaped from, the explosion still flickering inside. He didn't bother explaining. "Inimicus doesn't know this transporter is still functioning... he said he had people guarding the teleporters, but because of the glitch, he doesn't have anyone here..."

"I'm sure it won't go unnoticed for long, maybe we should use it while we have the chance. Get what we need to do done then log back in here before they find it." Isaac suggested nodding when he was asked about the scan blocker. "It's a part of this little thing." He spoke, tapping the device on his hand.

"...sweet." Ora grinned. "Hopefully it will continue to go unnoticed for as long as we need it. In case one of us needs to log off." She finally tapped the right part on her glasses, the area around her shimmering for a second before she put them back on. "Sadly, stories of the glitched bomb will probably reach Ini's crazy little ears. Soon, in fact. He might be sending people to scope the area right now. Shall we get a move-on?"

Zeezaw nodded. "Sounds good." she said, giving a thumbs up. "We should hurry before anyone else hears about this.."

Tae firmly nodded. "Agreed." She quickly pulled up a map of the area, her eyes scanning over it, looking for a good place for the group to head to. "Well..."

The Map itself had changed, looking dark and ugly. Oddly enough, in one of the buildings there was a little animation of a small man, with a blinking "help me" next to it.

"Well..." Skype said, his one covered eye concentrated on the blinking Help signal as he looked at the map "We've got a survivor... or a trap." He also noticed that the landscape change made a lot of his old routes unusable, high ground and low ground having had a rather sudden shift over the last few seconds.

"I vote 'trap.'" Zeezaw said, swinging her scythe around like a baton. "How about we just trust our group and not take second chances?"

Mars pushed through to look at the map. Having no life in the real world, he knew what it was. ".. That's an NPC's building..." he observed out loud.

"Yeah," Ora agreed, not doubting the information because she already knew it to be true. "Unless they hacked into the system itself, the distress call is real. And..." She bit her lip, wondering whether to voice her concerns out loud. "It's a long shot, but the mods might want to try and give players a way around that crazy guy. Staying within the rules themselves, of course. Might not be true, but it's worth checking out aside from the obvious quest redeeming features. I think it's legit. And if we stand around here chatting about it, we're wasting valuable time." Ora was already walking to get to the building. If anybody started following, she'd pick up the pace, but she was checking this out with or without backup.

"But if they hacked- wouldn't that be considered cheating?" Zeezaw brought up, skating backwards until she was in front of Ora. Still moving however, she continued talking, "I mean- he said that he didn't cheat and remained within the game's rules. I'm pretty sure hacking is a form of cheating." She spun around and skated quickly next to Ora now, "Then again- he doesn't seem like the character that would tell the truth to begin with. What with- erasing everyone and making this place look like some gothic metropolis." she shrugged.

"Exactly. It would be hacks and that is cheating and that's why I don't think he did it, thus the reason I'm heading off to a legit distress call." Ora raised an eyebrow at Zeezaw, but her smile showed she was more cheeky than critical. "He's just wiped out most of the game and is obviously psychotic and tripping balls with power. People in that position like to brag about what they've done and what they will do. They don't tend to lie." She darted around Zeezaw and hopped over some debris, wings fluttering to make her jump higher and longer.

"She's right, I've hacked into enough theif transmissions to know people like that love to brag about what they've done. God the number of assassins that leave a calling card..." Skype said, watching Ora accend quickly; he wished he'd had enough for an upgrade before this all happened. Then again he might find some new weapons lying about now... "He also wouldn't see the purpose of lying a trap down, he's self centred and maniacal; he thinks he can defeat everyone with power so he won't go back to being sneaky."

"Let's just go for it then." Issac spoke up after a moment. It didn't really matter, one one side, they got assistance, and on the other, they risk dying which was probably gonna happen anyway. "I mean, if nothing else, we might be able to find some new toys along the way, something that could help us if we were to come across one of Inimicus' goons..."

Mars rolled his eyes at all the discussion and started off in the building's direction. He didn't feel like giving his two sense, though he basically came to the same conclusions as everyone else. He walked along side them, not even bothering to look at them.

Tae sighed softly, her fingers brushing the hilt of her weapon lovingly. She never knew she'd have to use it for something close to survival. Her eyes flittered around nervously, as if she were afraid something would jump out of the shadows and grab her at any second.

Skype was wincing slightly as he moved towards the building, not because of physical pain but because the area had changed so much. "How could he do this legally? Seriously I'd check the terms and agreements if we didn't have to keep moving.

"Um...I think we are past that point, love!" Zeezaw shouted back at Sype as they continued. "Besides, it's either give up and lose....or fight and- probably lose." She smirked and kept on skating, practically skating circles around the group backwards.

Coming up to the front of the building, Ora also winced, probably for the same reason as Skype. "Erm. Anybody for good old fashioned breaking and entering? Where's the door?" Ora took off her wide orange glasses and cleaned them, squinting at the mess once more. The building wasn't totally collapsed, obviously, but the graphics certainly weren't inviting at the moment. "...oh, there it is. ...might need some muscle to move that beast." She raised her eyebrows at Mars, indicating that she definitely meant him. Or really, anybody above a level twenty that wasn't her and her skinny girl arms.

Isaac rolled his eyes, an aggravated sigh coming from the thief. He stepped in front of the girl, glancing at the slab in front of him, before pulling out his weapon. With several quick blasts, he ran a line of ammunition across the base of the chunk of rubble, causing it to shift and fall in front of them. "There, now lets keep moving." He grumbled, placing his gun back in it's holster and moving on.

"Oh, my heavily disgruntled hero," Ora chuckled, letting Isaac take the lead, although she followed close behind. She was just as eager to find the NPC but she wasn't above taking advantage of a meat-shield. Or maybe that wording was a little harsh, but he was obviously a higher level than her. Taking the brunt of a surprise attack was just his duty as a gentleman and a scholar.