The Player Blackout

by Lucas Flint

  Everywhere I looked, I saw Civilians and Heroes alike lying in various stages of life. Some were clearly dead, such as the old woman lying face down in the water with a chunk of rock sticking out of the back of her head, while others were probably just unconscious. Luckily, I saw that not everyone had run away when the explosions started. Heroes I didn’t recognize were rushing around trying to help as many people as they could. Even though those Heroes weren’t on my Team, I appreciated the help nonetheless.

  I quickly found Dillo and Hop performing first aid on a kid who couldn’t be more than thirteen. The kid had a jagged piece of rock stuck in his chest and he seemed to be having trouble breathing. Hop was using a rag to clean his wounds while Dillo held the poor kid down, speaking calm words to the kid to keep him from freaking out. A nametag—[CIVILIAN KEVIN]—hovered over the kid’s head as I focused on him.

  “Hey, guys,” I said as I approached. “How’s the kid?”

  “Kid’s dying,” said Dillo, looking up at me with pained eyes. “We’re trying to staunch the blood flow, but it’s the shard that’s killing him. But even though Hop is a Healer, she’s not high-leveled enough to remove the shard from his chest without killing him.”

  I was surprised to see the normally indifferent Hop working rapidly to heal the boy. But I could tell she was becoming increasingly frustrated due to Dillo’s words, probably knowing that the boy was going to die because she wasn’t strong enough to heal him yet. Tears of frustration were building up in the corners of her eyes, which made me feel bad for her, but I was even less of a Healer than she was, so there wasn’t much I could do other than watch.

  Suddenly, someone shoved me out of the way and said, “Out of my way! I am here to save the day!”

  Staggering from the blow, I looked and saw it was Recover, of all people, who had just shoved me out of the way. She was now kneeling beside Hop in front of the boy, whose breathing was becoming more erratic and ragged with each passing second. I couldn’t see poor Kevin’s Health, but I imagined it must have been dropping rapidly. Recover’s Sidekick, Brawn, was also here, but he stood a little off to the side with Recover’s medical toolbox in his massive arms.

  “What seems to be the situation here?” asked Recover in the same professional voice she had used when she healed me.

  “He’s dying,” said Hop, looking at Recover desperately. “I tried to heal him, but with that shard in his chest, there’s only so much I can do.”

  Recover nodded. “I see. What is impossible for you is a simple fix for me. Behold!”

  Recover grabbed the shard and wrenched it out of the boy’s chest. Kevin screamed in pain for a moment before Recover slammed a hand over his chest and, one flash of light later, healed it completely. Now there was no hint that Kevin had been impaled at all, save for the jagged hole in his shirt.

  “Holy crud,” said Hop, staring at Kevin’s healed wound in awe. “You did that in less than a second.”

  “Of course I did,” said Recover as she stood up and brushed rock off her shoulders. “I am Recover, the greatest doctor in Adventure City! I can heal any injury, no matter how bad it may be.”

  “She’s also the best-looking doctor in Adventure City,” Cy muttered under his breath to me.

  Before I could thank Recover for her help, the glass ceiling of the Mall suddenly shattered, raining sharp pieces of glass down upon all of us. I raised my hands to protect my face and head, but luckily I didn’t get cut up too badly. Neither did the others, who were now all looking up at the ceiling. I followed their gaze and wished I didn’t:

  A man was now hovering down from the hole in the ceiling toward us. He was an impressively-built man wearing a crimson bodysuit that covered his body from head to toe. A long, silver cape hung off his back, while large cannons were attached to his even more impressive arms. A wicked grin spread across his mouth as he looked down upon all of the death and destruction below him.

  I Scanned the man and got this:

  Omega Burst

  Level: 30

  Alignment: Villain

  Class: Big Bad

  Although a fairly new Villain on the streets of Adventure City, Omega Burst has quickly made a name for himself as a powerful and dangerous foe to be reckoned with. Relying mostly on his Omega Soldiers to do his bidding, Omega Burst has been known to step in and finish a job himself when necessary. And with the Power to blow things up with his mind, actually defeating him is quite the feat.

  Level 30? I didn’t know what levels Dillo and Funky were, but I was still Level 11. No way I could beat Omega Burst on my own, but I guess that’s why this was a Team Mission.

  “Is that Omega Burst?” asked Cy, his voice suddenly timid and weak. “Never seen him in person before. He’s huge.”

  “I’ve never seen him in person before, either,” said Dillo, who sounded quite scared himself, “but I can confirm that that is definitely Omega Burst, no question about it.”

  “A Villain?” said Recover. She gulped. “Dang it. I’m useless in a fight against a Villain.” She looked at us apologetically. “Sorry, guys, but I’m going to have to sit this one out. I’ll just go and heal as many Civilians and Heroes as I can. Good luck!”

  Right before Recover could leave, Omega Burst landed on the ground in front of us, splashing water up into the air upon landing. As soon as Omega Burst landed, Kevin screamed and ran off quite quickly for a kid who had just had a piece of rock stabbed through his chest.

  But it was better for him to leave, because I wasn’t sure if any of us were going to survive a fight with Omega Burst, much less a Civilian like Kevin.

  Omega Burst rose to his full height, a wicked grin still plastered on his face. “Are you the Team that has been assigned the impossible task of defeating me?”

  “Hey, I don’t know these guys,” said Recover, waving her hands frantically at us. “Brawn and I have never seen these guys in our lives. Right, Brawn?”

  “Yes, Miss Recover,” said Brawn in a low, polite voice. “I do not recognize any of them. Total strangers to me.”

  Omega Burst sneered. “A Hero is a Hero to me. And all Heroes deserve to die.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Omega Burst raised his hands, which began crackling with black electricity. A notification suddenly popped up in the corner of my vision:

  [Villain Omega Burst] is charging Black Lightning Storm!

  My eyes widened. Omega Burst was about to unleash an area of effect attack. And given how we were all standing ankle-deep in water … well, it was no mystery what would happen to us once Omega Burst unleashed his lightning. This might have been just a game, but it was realistic enough that I figured most real-world physics probably still applied like in real life.

  I raised my hand to fire an Ice Beam, but I was too slow. Omega Burst roared and slammed his fists down onto the water. Black lightning spread out around him in an instant, shooting out in waves that moved too fast for even me to Dodge.

  The waves of black electricity hit all of us at once. Getting hit by all of that electricity in one blow caused my Health bar to drop from full to zero in an instant and the world around me went black even quicker.

  I got a single notification that read thus:

  Total Party Kill! You have failed Team Mission: Defeat Omega Burst.

  Respawning in three … two … one …

  -

  With a gasp of pain, I sat up in my bed, my heart beating and my skin sweating profusely. I was no longer in pain, but the memory of getting shocked to death was still vivid in my mind. Even though I kept telling myself that this was just a game, a deep part of my mind was finding that harder and harder to believe. What the heck was wrong with the designers of this game that they would make pain and death so … so vivid? How come more people weren’t suing SI Games for psychological damage from dying? I mean, I didn’t have any lasting trauma from what I could tell, but I was sure other people did.

  “Hey, boss!” said Cy, appearing by my side seemingly
out of thin air. “You’re awake! Yay!”

  Startled, I looked at Cy. He was sitting on a wooden chair near my bed, a book in hand, but as soon as he saw me, he tossed the book aside and hopped from his chair and did a happy dance that made him look really silly, or sillier than normal anyway. He also looked perfectly normal, despite having been fried by Omega Burst’s attack like I was. When I looked down at my own Costume, I noticed that it looked normal as well.

  “Cy?” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “You respawned, too?”

  “Yeah,” said Cy as he stopped dancing. “Sidekicks respawn after getting killed, too, you know. But we still suffer the same penalties as Heroes and Villains, so I lost all my experience and I can’t go anywhere for an hour.”

  My eyes widened and I checked my character screen briefly. “My experience is gone, too. All of it. And I was so close to Level Twelve, too.”

  “Eh, I wouldn’t worry about it too much if I were you,” said Cy. He started dancing again, hopping up and down on his feet seemingly out of boredom. “You can just go back out and get that experience again after our hour is up. Just be glad you didn’t lose your equipment. I’ve heard Villains can loot your body after your death, but Omega Burst didn’t strike me as the kind of Villain who would loot a Hero’s corpse.”

  Cy was right. All of my equipment—or lack thereof—was still on me. I hadn’t even lost any—”Wait, where did half of my credits go?”

  “Oh, you lose half of your money, too,” said Cy. “Or the money you have on you, anyway. If you don’t want to lose it when you die, then you need to deposit it in a bank. Otherwise, you lose about half of the credits you’re carrying in your Wallet.”

  I bit my lower lip. Although I didn’t grow up poor, my father always stressed the importance of keeping track of your finances and being responsible with your money. I could just imagine my old man—if he knew I was still alive—throwing a fit if he found out that I lost half of my money in less than one minute. Heck, I wasn’t sure whether to yell at myself for losing to Omega Burst like that or if I should yell at Cy for not telling me.

  “What about the others?” I said. I looked at my Team tab but did not see Team Dillo listed. “What the—? Where’s Team Dillo?”

  “That’s another unfortunate side effect of Teams,” said Cy with a twirl. “When all Teammates in a Team are wiped out at the same time, the Team is instantly disbanded and you can’t use the Team chat anymore. Sorry.”

  My hands shook, but I forced myself to remain calm. “So Omega Burst’s big attack took out all of us?”

  “Sure looked like it,” said Cy. “Really disappointing, but not at all surprising if you think about it. Omega Burst is a Boss, after all, and the Boss of a Secret Mission no less. It’s amazing we got access to that mission at all, honestly.”

  “And that extra Luck Point I got didn’t help me survive,” I grumbled. Then I started. “Wait, about the Mall? If we failed the Team Mission, then doesn’t that mean Omega Burst is still loose? How do I find out about that?”

  Cy stopped dancing again and stroked his chin. “You can look up the latest news on the Adventure City Journal. I think it’s a news site you can access in your character menu, if I’m not mistaken.”

  Opening my menu, I saw a news feed scrolling underneath my character sheet, very similar to the old news feeds you used to see at the bottom of those old 24/7 cable news networks that people used to watch. One of the headlines read ‘VILLAIN OMEGA BURST’S ASSAULT ON ADVENTURE MALL REPELLED BY JUSTICE UNITED, DOZENS DEAD’ and clicked the headline to read the full article, which was published less than ten minutes ago:

  ADVENTURE CITY, NY—The Adventure Mall in the Shopping Plaza was recently assaulted by the infamous Villain Omega Burst, whose assault on the Mall centered on the Fountain of Luck.

  The attack happened suddenly before lunch without any warning. The initial attack left approximately 20 Civilians and 10 Heroes dead, including a Team hired by the mall guards to deal with the attack.

  The attack was eventually repelled by Justice United member Quick Foot, who managed to chase off Omega Burst before he could kill any more people. But Omega Burst’s attack still caused thousands in property damage to the Mall, including the complete destruction of the Fountain of Luck, which will likely take weeks to rebuild, according to Joseph Johnson, the owner and operator of the Adventure Mall.

  This is a developing story. Click the subscribe button below this article to follow this story.

  I didn’t click subscribe, however. I just clicked out of the screen and looked down at my lap, stunned by the news I just read.

  Twenty Civilians and ten Heroes … dead in an instant. I bet most of them died in Omega Burst’s area of effect attack. Even so, I couldn’t help but feel … guilty? Yeah, I guess that was the word. I felt responsible for what happened. It had been up to me and my Team to stop Omega Burst and we failed. Utterly.

  Aside from the deaths that occurred because of our failure, I bet it also hurt our reputation with the mall guards. Frankly, though, that seemed like small potatoes in comparison to the deaths of twenty innocent people, twenty innocent people who had probably gone to the Mall today expecting to do some shopping today, not to die a horrible death at the hands of a psychotic maniac.

  I tried to tell myself that this was just a game, that those ‘Civilians’ were just bits of data programmed to act like humans, but I was finding that harder and harder to believe. I couldn’t stop thinking about how guilty Hop had looked when she failed to save Kevin through her own actions. That was exactly how Sally, my fiancee, had looked when she and I were on a date at a restaurant and a man had a seizure. This had been early in her medical career, so she wasn’t a fully-licensed nurse yet. As a result, she hadn’t been able to save the man, despite being the only medical person in that restaurant. That had hit her hard, almost as hard as it hit Hop.

  Maybe the people in this game were far more real than I first thought. Maybe I was being too dismissive by calling them just bits of data. I don’t know. I still hadn’t fully accepted that this was my new reality. If I ever accepted that these NPCs were people … that would be another way of saying I couldn’t go back. And a part of me still believed I could go back to the real world, even if I didn’t know how yet.

  Shaking my head, I looked at Cy and said, “What should we do until we can leave the Base?”

  Cy shrugged. “Anything you want. Distribute your Stat and Power Points, practice your Powers, take a nap … whatever. As for me, I need to practice my dance moves because I have a song in my heart and I just can’t stop dancing.”

  I wondered how Cy was able to maintain a perpetual state of happiness even after being violently killed by a psycho. Then again, to Cy, dying and respawning was just a natural part of his world. It was probably no more different to him than waking up and going to sleep was for me.

  Stretching my arms, I said, “Well, Cy, since we have some time, can you tell me how I developed that Freezing Touch Power all of sudden? I thought you only gained new Powers every ten levels.”

  “Well, that’s the easiest way to do it, but there’s a bit more to it than that,” said Cy. “I don’t entirely understand it, but from what I’ve seen, you can actually learn Powers at earlier levels if you know what they are and force yourself to use them. Freezing Touch must be one of your Costume’s Powers, which you managed to unlock early by forcing yourself to use it.”

  I looked at my hands. “Meaning I can get more ice-based Powers early as long as I focus really hard?”

  “As long as you know what they are and your Costume has them,” said Cy, “then you should be able to learn all five Powers your Costume even if you don’t level up all the way. I think the ten-level rule just exists to make it easier for people to get Powers, rather than being a hard and fast rule.”

  That was good information to know. It certainly explained how I got Freezing Touch, even though the initial description for the Ice Man Costume didn’t even ment
ion that as a possible Power to get from it. I wondered what other ice-based Powers I could get from my Costume through practice. It was worth testing out.

  Swinging my legs over the side of my bed, I said, “Cy, let’s go and try to get me some new Powers. Better than lying around all day like a cripple, anyway.”

  “Aw, man,” said Cy, his shoulders slumping. “When will I ever get a chance to practice my dance moves?”

  I opened my mouth to tell him he could practice later, but before I could say anything, a sudden blaring sound—like a hundred fire alarms going off at once—exploded in my ears. Cy and I slammed our hands over our ears to protect our hearing, but even with my hands covering my ears, I could barely even hear my own thoughts.

  “Cy!” I screamed, raising my voice as high as possible in order to be heard over the alarm. “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know!” Cy yelled back. “Never heard anything like it before!”

  Uh oh. If Cy didn’t know what was going on, then something serious had to be going on.

  Suddenly, the tiny flat-screen TV that I had dismissed earlier as being a useless piece of junk flickered on. At first, the screen showed nothing but static snow, but then the static was replaced by an odd image.

  It showed a dark Villain sitting on a throne in a room somewhere. The room in which the figure sat looked kind of like an office, although it was too dark to make out any real detail other than that.

  The Villain in question looked completely different from every Hero or Villain I’d seen so far. He wore spiky red and black armor, with a long, flowing black cape that seemed to meld with the shadows around him. Cruel red eyes peered out from the eye holes of a strangely round helmet. Although his armor covered his body from head to toe, I could somehow tell that he was not human.

  The alarm had died down by now, but it still rang in my ears. I ignored that, however, in order to focus on the Villain, whose shadowy presence was commanding even when he didn’t say anything.