The Player Blackout

by Lucas Flint

  Cy nearly choked on his tea before he patted his chest and said, in a slightly hoarse voice, “Oh, that. Well, uh, Villains and Heroes don’t really intermix.”

  “We don’t?”

  “Of course not,” said Cy as he put his teacup back on the table. “Even though both Heroes and Villains are players, most of you guys don’t want anything to do with each other. Heroes and Villains have a tendency to fight each other, plus Villains are always targeted by the police whenever they show up. If you want to find where Villains hang out, you’ve got to go to the seedier parts of the city, to the underground where Heroes and police alike don’t hang out.”

  That made sense, but it also surprised me a little. I guess I just assumed that all players could go wherever they wanted, but when you thought about it, it made sense. Of course a Villain wouldn’t be allowed to walk around in broad daylight like a Hero or a Civilian. It was a good reminder of how the Alignment System affected gameplay. That was far more advanced than the original Capes Online, where I distinctly remembered Heroes and Villains alike being able to go pretty much wherever they wanted without consequence.

  “So, where do you want to go after this?” asked Cy, resting his chin in his hand.

  I scratched my chin and looked around. “Oh, I don’t know. I was thinking we could check out some of the shops, see if we can find some interesting Equipment or items. Don’t have much money left, but I’m sure we can find—”

  Someone tapped me on my shoulder. I looked over my shoulder to see someone standing behind me who I had never seen before. He was a young man, probably no older than Cy, wearing a t-shirt with some kind punk rock band on it. He was pretty scrawny, his shirt hanging off his gaunt body, and his blue eyes creeped me out for some reason. His name, [CIVILIAN MILES], hovered above his head with an odd green glow that was not applied to the other nametags I saw

  “Hi, there,” said the guy. His voice was high-pitched, but unlike Cy’s, it was rather manic. “Are you Nyle Maxwell?”

  Startled, I said, “Wha—how do you know my real name?”

  Miles grinned wickedly. “Atmosfear says hi.”

  With that, Miles jabbed a needle into my neck.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Gasping in pain, I tried to hit Miles, but he pulled the needle out of my neck and danced out of the way of my fist. I grabbed my neck but could already feel my body starting to weaken. I fell off my chair, gasping for air as my lungs rapidly closed. Darkness crept around the corners of my vision and a new notification popped up:

  Debuff added: Poisonous paralysis. Agility -100%. You will lose 1 HP/2 seconds.

  “Winter!” said Cy. He was kneeling down beside me, fear and worry on his face. “What happened, man? What did that guy do to you?”

  I tried to speak, but found my tongue too swelled to do so. All I could do was make choking noises that I hoped Cy would be able to interpret.

  “You’re poisoned?” said Cy. He suddenly looked around and shouted, as loudly as he could, “Someone, please help my Hero! He’s poisoned and we don’t have any Health Drinks!”

  The other customers were slowly starting to notice us. A few players and a couple of NPCs even got off their seats and hurried over to us. One of the players—a man wearing a bat-shaped mask—quickly handed Cy a Health Drink, which he placed against my lips and forced me to drink. The cherry-flavored drink splashed down my throat into my stomach and I saw my Health bar refill, but then it went down by one again a couple of seconds later.

  “What the—?” said Cy, his eyes widening. “Why is your Health still depleting?”

  I didn’t know. All I could figure was that Miles must have injected me with some kind of incurable poison. Nor did I see Miles among the gathering crowd. Not surprising. I bet he must have run as soon as he poisoned me. Coward.

  “Healer!” Cy shouted, looking around at the slowly growing crowd. “We need a Healer who specializes in poison! Any Healers in the house?”

  Unfortunately, while everyone looked around, no one stepped forward. That meant that there were no Healers around, which really sucked. Just my luck that I got poisoned right in the middle of a busy street full of all kinds of Heroes and not one of them was a Healer. Even none of their Sidekicks were Healers. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought Miles planned it that way.

  Not that I had time to worry about that. My Health bar was slowly dropping bit by bit as I lay there. I couldn’t even get up and walk to the nearest hospital. All I could do was feel the poison coursing through my veins and watch as my Health bar slowly but surely depleted.

  “Out of my way!” shouted a feminine voice I didn’t recognize. “Healer coming through!”

  The crowd around us parted to allow a female Hero through who I didn’t recognize. She was a tall, black-haired woman wearing a skintight pink-and-white bodysuit that left little to the imagination. A large ‘R’ was stitched in the center of her chest, while the nametag [HERO RECOVER] floated above her head.

  She stopped before me and said to Cy, “What seems to be the problem here, Sidekick?”

  “Winter got poisoned,” Cy said quickly, tears welling in his eyes. “Some jerk just came out of nowhere like a minute ago and jabbed a needle into his neck full of some kind of poison that I don’t recognize but of course I’m not an expert on poisons so how could I possibly be expected to know what it was anyway Health Drinks can’t heal it and—”

  Recover held up a hand. “Okay, I got it. Let me see him for myself.”

  Recover knelt beside me and put a hand over my head. A powerful presence swept over me, kind of like a radar, and then she nodded. “I see what happened. This is paralysis poison, a very rare but powerful poison made from plant extract from the Amazon. Usually, only high-leveled Villains have access to this. Was the guy who poisoned your friend a high-leveled Villain?”

  “No,” said Cy frantically. “He was just a Civilian but I think he was probably hiding his real nature with some kind of power so who knows maybe he was secretly a high-leveled Villain and—”

  Recover held up a hand again. “Okay, thanks. Brawn, my equipment.”

  A large, bulky man who appeared to be made out of blocks suddenly appeared out of nowhere, carrying what appeared to be a large first aid kit in his hands. He rested it on the ground and took a step back as Recover popped open the lid and began scanning the contents of the box for whatever she was looking for.

  “Let’s see …” said Recover in a rather casual tone. “Antidote? No, that wouldn’t work. What if I combined it with … nah, that would just give him a rash … but maybe … no, that would just make the poison worse …”

  I found it incredibly irritating how casual Recover was about this whole situation. My Health bar was now under half and rapidly dropping. Maybe it was just me, but my Health seemed to be dropping faster than before and soon it would hit zero and I would die and be forced to respawn in my Base.

  “Ah ha!” said Recover. She pulled a rather large needle out of nowhere full of a red liquid that made my stomach queasy. “This ought to do it.”

  “Heal him of his poison?” asked Cy hopefully.

  “Of course,” said Recover. “Then again, it might also just give him a really bad cramp. I’ve been meaning to test this out for a while and see exactly what it does.”

  Recover spun the needle in her hands with unnecessary flash and then jabbed—more like stabbed—it directly into my neck. I gasped in pain as Recover injected me with whatever was in the needle. She then pulled the needle out of my neck and, after carefully wiping it down with an antiseptic pad, put it back into her medical box.

  “Did it work?” asked Cy, who was now biting nervously on his nails.

  “We’ll see,” said Recover without a hint of worry in her voice.

  At first, I was pretty sure it didn’t work at all. My Health bar was still dropping, to the point where I now had only 5 HP left. As I watched, my Health depleted further and further … 4 HP … 3 HP … 2 HP … 1 HP
…

  Two seconds passed, but my Health bar stopped falling. Instead, it began to reverse, going up higher and higher almost faster than my eyes could follow. At the same time, I felt my limbs loosen and my muscles relax and a new notification appeared in my vision:

  Buff: Super Antidote! All poison debuffs have been cured and natural Health regeneration has been increased 20% for the next 24 hours.

  “Whoa!” said Cy, staring at me in astonishment. “It actually worked!”

  Recover just brushed back her hair. “No problem. Although this is the first time I used Super Antidote, I figured my Class would ensure it would actually work.”

  Despite how confident Recover sounded, I could tell even she was relieved that Super Antidote had worked. Not that I minded. After all, it was better than dying of poison and having to respawn in my Base.

  When my throat relaxed, I sat up and said, “Thanks, lady. I really owe you one.”

  “No problem,” said Recover again. “Tell me, how do you feel? Do you think you will be able to walk?”

  I nodded and rubbed the back of my head. “Yeah, I think I’ll be fine once my Health bar refills.”

  “Good to hear,” said Recover. She stood up and looked over her shoulder at the massive man standing behind her. “Well, Brawn, I think it’s time for us to go. Another day, another life saved courtesy of my amazing medical prowess.”

  Brawn—who I now saw had the nametag [SIDEKICK BRAWN]—nodded wordlessly. He picked up Recover’s medical equipment box and followed her through the crowd, which parted once again to let her through. I noticed more than a few of the male players and NPCs were paying especially careful attention to her behind as she walked, which I couldn’t blame them for. Even knowing that she had likely intentionally exaggerated her body when she first created her character, she was rather easy on the eyes, I had to admit.

  Shaking my head, I rose to my feet and sat back down on the chair. Cy went back to his seat again, but now he watched me like a hawk.

  “Are you sure you’re okay, Winter?” asked Cy, leaning forward anxiously. “Maybe we should go back to the Base and get some rest. Just to be safe.”

  “I’ll be fine,” I said, rubbing the spot on my neck where Miles had jabbed me with that needle. “Whatever that Recover girl did really worked.”

  “Yeah,” said Cy, nodding. “And she was smoking hot as well.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I noticed.”

  “Too bad she’s already got a Sidekick, though,” said Cy, glancing in the direction Recover and her Sidekick had left. “Because if she ever needs a Sidekick—”

  “Cy, you’re not going anywhere,” I said sharply. “Get your mind out of the gutter.”

  Cy looked back at me again and sipped his tea. “I’m just saying that sometimes it’s nice to work for a woman. A really hot woman who I wouldn’t mind—”

  “I get it,” I said, interrupting Cy. “What I want to know is where did that Miles idiot go.”

  “The guy who poisoned you?” said Cy. He looked around and shrugged. “No idea. He seemed to just vanish into thin air after he poisoned you. By the way, what did he say to you? I heard him say something to you before he poisoned you, but I’m not sure what.”

  “He said Atmosfear says hi,” I said as I lowered my hand from my neck.

  Cy raised an eyebrow. “Atmos-who?”

  “No idea,” I said. “But what I find more concerning is that he somehow knew my real name.”

  “He did?” said Cy in alarm. “But how? You didn’t tell him, did you?”

  “No, of course not,” I snapped. “I haven’t told anyone my real name yet, nor do I intend to.”

  “Oh, boy,” said Cy. He looked around anxiously again. “That’s not a good sign.”

  “Do you think he’s with the Ninja Guild?” I said as I sipped my coffee. “Poisoning someone seems like something a ninja would do.”

  Cy shook his head. “Probably not. The Ninja Guild has never been known to stage assassinations in the middle of a crowded restaurant like this. They always do it at night or in very private places. Maybe if he broke into your Base and poisoned you, but since he did it in the middle of broad daylight with tons of witnesses, I suspect he’s just a generic Assassin.”

  I grimaced. “Atmosfear sounds like a Villain name to me, but I haven’t met any Villains yet, much less pissed off any enough to make them send Assassins after me. There’s something really weird going on here.”

  “I wish I knew the answers,” said Cy with a shrug. “All I can say is that you should watch your back from now on. All you can do to keep yourself safe.”

  I nodded, but unlike Cy, I knew someone who might be able to tell me how my identity got compromised: Charles Omar, the Department of Virtual Reality agent assigned to monitor my behavior in-game. And I would make him tell me as soon as possible.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  After my near-assassination at the hands of the mysterious Assassin, the rest of the day was surprisingly peaceful. Cy and I mostly spent it checking out the shops lined along Main Street, where we sold the ninja gear Dillo gave us, which earned us quite a few credits. I used those credits to stock up on Health Drinks and Antidotes, because even though I had no plans to get poisoned again, I wanted to be safe rather than sorry. I found some neat ice-themed equipment in one shop called Mask & Cowls, but I couldn’t afford it at the moment, so I made a mental note to come back and buy it once I had more credits.

  By the end of the day, Cy and I decided to go back to my Base and call it a night. As it turned out, my Base came equipped with two bedrooms. One had clearly been the old office of whatever company once owned this warehouse, while the other looked like the former break room for the warehouse workers. I took the office, because it was nicer than the break room, while Cy took the break room without much complaint. Despite how much Cy insisted that he was wide awake, I heard him start snoring the second his head hit his pillow.

  Even though I was dead tired from such an active day, I didn’t go to sleep immediately. When I sat down on my bed, I clicked the ‘HELP’ button on my menu.

  A second later, Charles Omar appeared in front of me. He looked pretty much the same as the last time I had seen him, complete with sunglasses that covered his eyes. He was standing upright this time, however, which was how I found out he was about an inch shorter than me, which would have amused me under other circumstances, but these circumstances were too serious for me to feel amused about anything.

  “Hello, Nyle,” said Chuck, his arms folded behind him. “How was your first full day of Capes Online?”

  “Awful,” I replied. “Got killed by a bunch of gangsters, nearly got killed by a bunch of ninjas, and was almost poisoned to death by an Assassin. Oh, and Cy is either the greatest troll in the world or is a complete idiot.”

  “It sounds like you had a wonderful first day,” said Chuck, although I couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not. “I don’t see why you summoned me.”

  I rubbed the spot on my neck where Miles had jabbed the needle. “The Assassin who tried to kill me. He called me by my real name.”

  Chuck raised an eyebrow. “He did?”

  “Yeah,” I said, nodding. “I haven’t told anyone my real name in-game, per your advice. So I don’t know how he got me when I haven’t told anyone yet, aside from my—no, wait, not even Cy knows my real name.”

  Chuck stroked his short black beard, a troubled expression on his face. “This is a disturbing development, I will confess. The true identities of all Project Second Life participants are beyond top secret. Even the President of the United States does not know who you all are.”

  I folded my arms across my chest. “Clearly, someone does, whether it’s the President or someone else. And I need you to find out who it is.”

  “Yes, of course,” said Chuck. “I will bring this up with Director Johnson—”

  “You mean you’re not the head of your Department?” I said in surprise.

  C
huck shook his head swiftly. “No, I am not. I am merely the agent assigned to monitor the in-game actions and health of American Project Second Life participants. Director Satoshi Johnson is the actual head of the Department of Virtual Reality. He is the one I answer to, and he, in turns, answers to the President, as you might have guessed.”

  I learned forward, my eyes locked on Chuck. “Yeah, I understand how the government works. Could there be a leaker in the Department who somehow revealed my real identity to someone who might want to harm me?”

  Chuck tilted his head to the side. “That is possible. We’ve had trouble with leakers in the past, but we’ve always been able to find them out before they leak anything too important. But are you suggesting that there might be someone in the game who wishes you harm?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “His name is Atmosfear. Or at least that’s his Secret Identity. Don’t know what his actual name is, of course.”

  Chuck pursed his lips. His eyes went blank like he was staring at something I couldn’t see. “Hmm, I do not see that name in the Project Second Life database. Are you certain it’s not an NPC Villain?”

  “Why would an NPC want to kill me personally?” I said, throwing my arms up into the air. “I just got here. And the Assassin definitely wasn’t a ninja, either, so I can’t blame the Ninja Guild for that.”

  “I see.” Chuck’s vision refocused and he looked at me with a questioning gaze. “Do you have any enemies in real life who, if they discovered your in-game identity, might want to cause you harm, perhaps even kill you outright? You were a police officer, weren’t you? It is my understanding that police officers have a tendency to make enemies of the criminals they arrest.”

  “I was a police officer for exactly one day before I died,” I pointed out. “That’s not nearly enough time to piss off even one criminal. Plus, how many small-town criminals would go to the trouble of getting a VR GamePod and creating a character solely to try to kill me?”