Echo Online 2

by Zachariah Dracoulis

  To this day, I can’t tell if that was mean or not.

  17

  “And… done!” Sam squeaked happily as she finished her twenty minute back-and-forth with the dev, “Bruce is going to sign with us! All I’ve got to do is send him a couple of things to sign and baddabing, baddaboom, he’s got all the resources he could possibly need.”

  “Meanwhile, my ten percent turns me into a millionaire,” I chuckled, the weight of what I was saying being somewhat lost on me, “anyway, you find out why you couldn’t reach him?”

  “Yeah,” Sam replied with a nod and a grin, “turns out that he got locked out of the email he uses publicly for a few hours, forgot the password or something, and figured he’d just be able to sort it out in the morning.”

  “Ah,” I let out knowingly, “And with all the excitement of the morning…”

  “He plum forgot.” Sam finished amusedly, “Here I’ve been thinking I’ve been blowing up some poor rando’s inbox.”

  After that, things fell kind of quiet.

  At first I thought it was because Sam was deliberating whether or not she wanted to divulge anything more in regards to her sending a locked account what I assumed was somewhere between a dozen and two dozen emails, but it quickly became apparent that it had more to do with the fact that everything had more or less settled.

  Jane and I’s day was all but done when Sam came busting through the door, and I can only imagine how stressful the rest of her day had been.

  “Let’s do something.” Sam burst out giddily.

  “Like what?” Jane asked before I got the chance.

  “I don’t know, something,” Sam replied with a shrug, “doesn’t have to be anything big, but I need to do… something.”

  “How about Echo?” I suggested, having wanted to dive back in for the better half of the past twenty minutes, “I’ve got some stuff I’ve got to handle and, if I’m not mistaken, tomorrow’s Saturday, which means neither of y’all have work, right?”

  Jane hesitated to answer then let out a reluctant sigh, “I suppose I should take a proper day off…”

  “That’s the spirit,” I chuckled, “what about you, Sam? You game?”

  “Eh,” Sam replied unsurely, “don’t get me wrong, I love Echo, but I feel like I want to do something a bit more real. Besides, it’s really not that late.”

  It took me a moment to realize that she meant it wasn’t late enough to go to bed, but thankfully that gave me enough time to come up with a solid argument, “Then we set it so we get up in the next few hours. No harm, no foul.”

  “And we can always jump back out if you’re not fully into it.” Jane added, clearly sharing my eagerness to chill out in a virtual world for a while.

  Sam still seemed unconvinced though, tilting her head side-to-side and letting a variety of unsure sounds and mutterings.

  “Plus,” Jane said after having an epiphany, “if we go in the game, we’ll be able to have sex without eating up the entire night.”

  That seemed to win Sam over, but she wasn’t going down without a fight “Please, like either of you can last all night.”

  “Ha!” I scoffed, not wanting to be left sitting out with a dumbfounded expression plastered across my face, before realizing I didn’t have anything in the realm of a follow-up.

  “He did pretty well this morning,” Jane dived in with the save, “and who was it that fell asleep immediately after last Friday, leaving me ou-”

  “Alright, fine,” Sam interjected embarrassedly, “but I don’t want a bunch of Orcs and crap watching us do it. And I want a shower first.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” I said with a smirk, “I’ll jump on the forums now and let everyone know to avoid the lighthouse because we’ll be doing it.”

  Sam’s eyes widened at that, her social and emotional wiring having been slightly frayed and fried courtesy of her day, before seeing that I was joking and letting out a sigh of relief, “Yeah, you do that.”

  “I’m just goin’ to go ahead and grab my stuff from next door,” I chuckled, noting the fact that I hadn’t called my apartment ‘home’, “see you guys in a minute.”

  And with that, I ducked out, leaving Sam to not-so-subtly drag Jane with her to the bathroom.

  Honestly, after the relatively brief but intense night I’d just had, I was seriously happy to have us get back to our roots as a thrilling trio.

  Well, ‘roots’ might be a bit of a strong word considering we’d been dating less than a week and had yet to go on an actual date, but still…

  Okay, so maybe it’s because I’d assumed our relationship dynamic was pretty much set in stone and hadn’t considered that it was completely possible we might become slightly less fun-loving and freewheeling as time went on, but I was happy, damn it.

  18

  It took a surprisingly long time to get us all in the bed at the same time between checking our phones, getting drinks, and them going to the bathroom, but we eventually managed it and were soon opening our eyes on Alcatraz’s parade ground.

  “Woah…” Sam trailed off as she looked up at my head, “Sorry, it’s just that you’re a bit more… hornier.”

  I blinked confusedly at her a few times before letting out an amused huff, “About fifty different ways you could’ve worded that,” I said with a smile, “but yeah, there was some stuff that happened. I figured they’d shrunk back down to normal size.”

  “How big were they?” Sam laughed as she gave my horns a better, more analytical look, “I suppose I can see how they’re not that much bigger, but still…”

  “Yeah, they ain’t small.” Jane chimed in amusedly before clapping her hands together and rubbing them, “Right, where to?”

  “Well, I know you two were pretty well set on hanky-panky,” I replied, pretending we hadn’t spent the last few minutes before diving in talking about some of the other stuff I had to do, “but I really do think we should grab that Angel of ours and hoof it over to the city. Should probably find Sergei, too…”

  “Already here, friend,” Sergei’s voice boomed with laughter from where I’d given my speech, “I hope you weren’t thinking of leaving me behind!”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it!” I called back, quietly wondering how he heard me, before gesturing for the girls to follow me as I flew up to join the Orc, “We still got that Angel?”

  “Yes,” Sergei replied with a nod, “he’s been off and on all day, mostly looking for a way out. I have to warn you though, he’s… changed.”

  “Changed how?” I asked as Jane landed beside me with Sam in her arms.

  “It’s for the best if you see it for yourself.” Sergei said before turning and walking away.

  I wasn’t hugely happy with the vagueness, but after following him over to the cellblock where the Angel was locked down I understood where the descriptive difficulty came from.

  For one thing, the winged teleporter was far from the beacon of light and goodness that he used to be, replaced instead by a red-eyed, charred-skinned husk of a man-thing.

  “Not lookin’ so hot.” I taunted as we came to a stop in front of his cell, “Bet you’re regrettin’ picking a fight on my island right about now, huh?”

  “The only thing I regret is not ripping your organs out through your anus when I had the chance.” Tim replied with a deep, rattly wheeze.

  “The more he is in his cage, the less… Angel-like he becomes.” Sergei explained, “A Gnome got too close to the bars and let’s just say we all wished he could’ve been granted another head stabbing by you.”

  I didn’t wholly appreciate the little joke, but I managed to get out a little smile and a nod before turning my full attention back to Tim, “So, you ready to get out of there?”

  Tim was understandably confused, “What are you talking about, bitch-breath?”

  “I’m talking about you getting out of that little cell there and coming on an adventure to the big city,” I replied, surprising myself with how quickly I glossed over ‘bitch-brea
th’, “might even manage to sneak up on us, lop our heads off with all that anger you’ve got balled up inside.”

  Naturally, Tim had to take a moment to work through his options, leaving me to look between the girls as they stood stoically at my sides.

  “C’mon, buddy,” I said, “can’t be waitin’ all day for you to make up your mind.”

  “Fine,” Tim bit back venomously, “I’ll take you to the city, and then I’ll kill you.”

  “Oh, I’m sure you’ll get the chance.” I chuckled before gesturing for Sergei to open the cell, “Let’s get this bad boy open.”

  “Uh…” Sergei trailed off, “That… might be a problem.”

  “Why?” I asked concernedly.

  “Nothing particularly worrying,” Sergei quickly clarified, “but I’m going to need to go get some people to undo the magic that’s got him locked in there.”

  Not sure why it hadn’t occurred to me that the powerful Angel wasn’t being held back solely by concrete walls and iron bars, but I was quick to cover myself.

  “Duh,” I chuckled, “I meant get the process rolling. Besides, we’ve still got to get outfitted.”

  “Ah,” Sergei let out knowingly, my ruse apparently succeeding, “well, if you want to do that, I’ll send some of my boys to the armory and you can get ready together.”

  “You really think we’ll need ‘em?” Sam asked, “Not trying to be cocky or anything, we’ve just taken on a few Angels before.”

  “It’s not just the literal city of Angels,” Sergei replied, “I don’t doubt your abilities at all, but having seen firsthand what it looks like when magic goes sentient, I can tell you that it is not as easy as it sounds forcing it into a rock. Oh, and speaking of…”

  “Christ!” I exclaimed after just barely catching the violently glowing crystal Sergei had just haphazardly thrown at me, “What the Hell is this?”

  “You like it?” Sergei chuckled as I turned the fantasy-style disco ball in my hands, “Turns out that different magic has different colors. Personally, I thought it was pretty cool.”

  “No arguing here…” I murmured, my eyes still transfixed on the aggressive little gem, “How am I supposed to carry this thing around though?”

  “It calms down once you put it away,” Sergei explained as he started to walk off, “I think it reacts to the light.”

  “You think?” I huffed amusedly before handing the crystal to Jane, “Mind being our mule on this run?”

  “I’m almost a hundred percent sure that I’m going to be the one stuffing the sentient magic into the thing,” Jane replied, equally bemused by the crystal as I was, “so no, not at all.”

  Not going to lie, I was relieved that I wasn’t going to be carrying it.

  I believed Sergei that once it was pocketed it’d stop vibrating like an epileptic at a rave, but walking around with that much power in my pocket… Well, I’ll be the first to admit that my chaotic side wanted to smash it just to find out what would happen.

  I pictured a nuclear bomb with the power of Saitama.

  “To the armory then?” Sam suggested after about a minute of milling around in front of the corrupted Angel’s cell.

  “Sounds like a plan to me.” I replied, only then realizing that I had no idea where the armory was, “Lead the way.”

  Sam, understandably, was surprised by that.

  “I’m starting to think neither of you have looked at the map on the forums.” Jane murmured before tossing the crystal in the air, disappearing the crystal in a puff of purple mist with a snap of her fingers, and leading the way to the armory, “Hell, I’m genuinely worried that neither of you have even checked the forums out.”

  Sam and I went quiet for a moment after that, making me feel somewhat better about myself while simultaneously annoying Jane.

  “Are you kidding me?” Jane scoffed, “We’re supposed to be the head honchos, the guild leaders, the war bosses.”

  “She got like this after Wrath of the Lich King dropped as well.” Sam whispered with a giggle.

  “Point out someone who didn’t love WotLK and I’ll show you a good for nothing smeg head.” Jane replied, giving us both a jokingly stern look as she did.

  Glossing over the fact that it’d been at least five years since I’d heard the words ‘smeg head’, I couldn’t help but smile at the whole situation.

  I wasn’t sure if it was being back in the game or simply being able to get some quality time in with Sam and Jane, I just knew I felt light and happy.

  Sure, we were about to go into enemy territory with a thoroughly pissed off Angel who had a pretty major murder boner for us, and there was no denying that getting the sentient magic thing was going to be anything but a walk in the park, but it was still just a game.

  Plus, the knowledge that my horns were longer made me feel more confident for some reason, like I was a few inches taller.

  Thinking back on it, that may very well have been because I was, in fact, a few inches taller.

  Man, it should not have taken me this long to figure that out.

  19

  Armed to the teeth and ready to kick some ass, Jane, Sam, and I were met by Sergei and five other Orcs on the parade ground, our Angel prisoner being held by some kind of mystical chains.

  “Moving all of you fat fucks is going to be rough,” Tim warned, “it’s going to be way easier if we split up the load.”

  “For you to kill us, maybe,” I replied, earning a few nods of agreement from the Orcs, “besides, having you be a little weaker on the other end doesn’t seem like the worst thing for us.”

  It was obvious that I’d just thwarted the corrupted Angel’s plan, but he wasn’t about to admit that.

  “Alright,” I said once it became clear Tim was done, “we’re all clear on the plan?”

  “Beeline for the largest blast zone, get our magic thing, run like Hell.” Sergei replied, “Don’t worry, we’re used to making a whole lot of noise and running away.”

  The former Cheeki Breekis all chuckled in agreeance, making me somewhat nervous.

  “As long as you know that we have to go in quiet first,” I clarified, killing the mood slightly, “I’m sure this boy’s goin’ to set off the Bat-Signal the second we make landfall, but ‘til then it doesn’t seem to make much sense to get nuked from orbit.”

  I got a few murmured grumbles in response, but the Orcs seemed understanding for the most part.

  “Alright then,” I said, checking my carbine’s mag, “let’s go kick some ass. Tim, if you’ll do the honors.”

  “My name’s not Tim.” the Angel growled as he went to work encasing us in a cinnamon-scented bubble.

  “Nobody gives a shit, Tim,” I replied, smiling at the girls as we prepared to get dropped nowhere near our destination, “nobody gives a shit…”

  It took a lot more effort than before, that much was obvious, and I think we lingered in some space between time for a few moments, which was unquestionably weird, but, to my shock, we landed in an empty street.

  “We all here?” I asked before anyone had the chance to collect themselves.

  “I didn’t fuck it up,” Tim snapped, his skin already clearing up, “we’re here and you’re safe.”

  “‘Safe’ seems like a relative term right about now…” Sam murmured, scanning the buildings around us with her bullpup rifle, “Anyone else want to hoof it to somewhere slightly less exposed?”

  “I second that,” Jane agreed, shouldering her SMG, “maybe somewhere a bit less… window-y.”

  “Trust me,” Tim scoffed, having almost completely reverted to his old self, “windows or no windows, cover or no cover, you guys are still going to be fucked by the long dick of righteousness and Holy light.”

  “Can we shoot him now?” one of the Orcs asked, “I don’t like the way he talks.”

  “I don’t either, friend,” I sighed, “but as it stands, we need him to get back to the island, lest we get knocked down somewhere over the bay and lose our crysta
l.”

  As far as I was concerned, we’d as good as already lost our Angel, I’d seen that movie and read that book enough times to know that the prisoner always gets away and always warns his buddies, but I had to remain hopeful that the plan would at least partially stay on track.

  Boy, was I naïve.

  “Biggest blast should be up here,” Sergei said, taking point, “had to take out a library a Gnome clan were set up in.”

  “You mean to tell me not all Gnomes are stoners?” I half-joked as we moved at a steady clip.

  “No, it seems they’re split right down the middle when it comes to being a reprobate or a beacon of knowledge and magic.” Sergei explained, “If they’re to be believed, they actually shielded themselves from the blast long enough to get hit a second time.”

  Honestly, even with our eldritch dome, the thought that a group managed to withstand a blast was damn near mythical and it got me to thinking that maybe I should’ve been putting more effort into getting to know people outside of the Orcs.

  But then I remembered that we had at least a couple thousand members in the Damned Legion and got overwhelmed at the prospect of meeting them all.

  You know, outside of a sacrificial setting.

  Anyway, for about five minutes we maintained our quasi-militaristic formation, checking windows every few seconds and checking every corner, but once Sergei told us we were still a ways out from the blast we slowly but surely slowed down to a more cruisy pace.

  I wasn’t proud of it, and I was well aware that we were putting ourselves in a dangerous position, although I was also confident that it didn’t matter if we were wandering down the middle of the road like a couple of bored teenagers or moving like SEALs.

  If anything, it made it easier to keep our eyes on Tim who, over the course of our little trek, had fully reverted to his strident self, straight back, cocky smirk, and all the rest, while Sam, Jane, and I somehow got stuck on babysitting duty at the back of the pack with him.