The Player Blackout

by Lucas Flint

  “Looks clear,” I whispered as I stepped outside of my Base, my eyes darting back and forth as I searched for potential dangers, “but keep your guard up anyway. Never know what might be out here.”

  Cy followed me out timidly. He was even tenser than me, even though I was the target everyone was after and not him. I guess Cy just knew that they would kill him just as willingly as they would kill me, given how he was my Sidekick and all. I projected calmness myself, despite my nerves, because I didn’t want to make Cy panic.

  “Where is Dark Kosmos, by the way?” Cy whispered as we made our way into the alleyway that connected my Base to Main Street.

  I pulled up my map briefly and zoomed in on the dark dot labeled ‘Dark Kosmos.’ It showed a fairly impressive-looking skyscraper set in the middle of the city, not very far away from us, in fact. “Looks like some kind of skyscraper called the ‘Central Tower.’ Know what that is?”

  “Central Tower?” Cy repeated. “That’s Justice United’s Adventure City headquarters. If Dark Kosmos is based there, then that means he’s somehow kicked Justice United out of it.”

  “Is that a bad thing?”

  “That’s a horrible thing,” said Cy with a shudder. “Justice United is the biggest Hero League in the world. If even they couldn’t stop him, then we definitely don’t stand a chance and we might as well be walking to our deaths.”

  “Stop being such a downer,” I said as we crossed the alley. “With that kind of attitude, we’ll never defeat Dark Kosmos.”

  “Honestly, I don’t think we’ll defeat Dark Kosmos no matter what attitude we have,” said Cy. “But okay. I will keep my mouth shut and follow your lead. Can’t guarantee I won’t pee my pants once we actually meet Dark Kosmos, though. Or if we actually make it that far and aren’t murdered on our way there by—”

  “Shut up,” I hissed as we reached the end of the alley. “I’m going to check out Main Street and see if anyone’s there. Be quiet for a moment.”

  I peered out from the alleyway at Main Street. I expected to see Main Street as busy and bustling with people as ever. Even this late at night, I expected Main Street to be full because when you had a game as big as Capes Online, it meant there was always a lot of players online no matter what time it was.

  But to my surprise, Main Street was entirely empty. I saw no Heroes, no Villains, no Sidekicks, not even any NPCs. The entirety of Main Street was deserted. Even all of the stores and restaurants were closed, their owners and employees nowhere to be seen.

  “It’s empty,” I said. “Totally deserted.”

  “Doesn’t mean it’s safe to cross, though,” said Cy.

  “We’re gonna have to cross anyway,” I said. I rolled my shoulders. “Keep your eyes and ears open and be ready to fight.”

  I gradually exited the alleyway onto the street, my eyes darting from side to side as I kept an eye out for any traps or ambushes. Unfortunately, my Perception wasn’t very high, which meant it would be harder for me to spot any potential traps that someone might have set for us. I heard Cy walking quietly behind me, muttering rapidly under his breath about how this was a bad idea and how we were both going to get killed. I ignored his muttering, however, in order to focus on Super Coffee. If we could just make it inside, then—

  My foot pressed against what felt like a taut wire. In the next instant, a net appeared from underneath us and yanked both me and Cy off the street. Cy and I both yelled as the netting lifted us up into the air until we came to an abrupt halt. We found ourselves hanging upside down from one of the street’s lampposts several feet above the street.

  “What the heck?” I said, pushing Cy’s boot out of my face as I grabbed the netting. “Where did this come from?”

  A notification popped up in my vision when I said that:

  You sprung a Trap: Hidden Netting! Movement reduced by 100%. Netting durability: 100/100.

  “Yes!” someone below us shouted. “It worked!”

  Looking down, I saw a short woman step out from behind a nearby lamppost, a wicked grin on her face. She wore stained overalls and had thick goggles over her eyes that reflected the light of the street lamp. A tool belt hung around her waist, which clinked and clanked with the various tools attached to it as she approached us. The nametag [HERO GEARS] floated over her head, which told me she was another player.

  “Guys, I caught them!” Gears shouted over her shoulder into the dark street. “Caught ‘em like a couple of rats!”

  From out of the shadows came about four other player characters and their Sidekicks. Although I was unable to Scan them, I could guess that based on their equipment and Costumes they were all fairly high-leveled players. Interestingly enough, half of them were Heroes and the other half were Villains. All of their nametags were faintly glowing red for some reason as well.

  “Hey, let us go!” I said, pulling hard against the netting in a vain attempt to break it. “You don’t understand what you’re doing!”

  Gears’ wicked grin grew even bigger. “On the contrary, we know exactly what we’re doing: Saving ourselves and our world.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  “Whoa!” said Cy, looking more closely at Gears. “Are you a Gadgeteer?”

  “Of course,” said Gears as she brushed back some of her long blonde hair. “As a Gadgeteer, I was the one who built the brilliant trap you two walked straight into. And I am also the leader of Team Gears, which all of my friends here belong to.”

  “But you guys are a mixture of Heroes and Villains,” I said, glancing at her Teammates as they slowly surrounded us. “How can you all be on the same Team?”

  “Normally, you’re right that Heroes and Villains can’t be on the same Team,” Gears agreed, “but Universal Missions are different. In Universal Missions—which are usually world-threatening events—the normal rules for Teams are lifted and anyone can join any Team they choose. Since we’re all in this together, it only makes sense that Heroes and Villains come together to save the day, no?”

  “Besides, it’s just a game, moron,” snapped one of the Villains, a tall, multi-armed player with the nametag [VILLAIN AIRACHNID] over his head. He gestured at the other members of Team Gears. “Just ‘cause some of us are Heroes and some of us are Villains doesn’t mean we aren’t friends in real life.”

  “Exactly,” said Gears, nodding in agreement. She looked up at Cy and me, her eyes gleaming with triumph. “And now we need to decide exactly how to kill you. Or maybe we’ll just drag you kicking and screaming to Dark Kosmos.”

  “How did you know we were going this way?” I asked. I gripped the netting tightly, but it still wouldn’t tear.

  “Oh, we didn’t,” said Gears casually. “I figured you had two options: Either stay in your Base where no one could get you or try to be a ‘Hero’ and defeat Dark Kosmos. I figured the latter was more likely, because in my experience, guys don’t like staying cooped up in one place for too long, so I set up this neat and nifty little trap to capture you and your Sidekick.”

  “She’s smart,” Cy said. “I see why she’s a Gadgeteer.”

  “Shut up, Cy,” I snapped. I looked down at Team Gears. “You guys don’t understand. Dark Kosmos has no intention of letting any of us escape the game. He’s only set a target on me to distract the rest of you from taking him down. You’re falling for his tricks.”

  “We’ve already scouted out Dark Kosmos’ Hideout,” said a short, scrawny little guy who looked like a generic demon with the nametag [SIDEKICK LUCIFER] over his head, who stood next to Airachnid. “Impossible to get in, even for high-leveled players.”

  “Lucifer is correct,” said Gears. “The way I saw it, we could spend an unnecessary amount of time trying to crack Dark Kosmos’ defenses—time we don’t have, given the rate of decay of our physical bodies in the real world—or simply do the easy thing and hand you over to Dark Kosmos. I mean, I have no idea why Dark Kosmos picked you out of every other player in the game as his scapegoat, but hey, I’m not going to ques
tion his decision if it means we will finally be able to log off.”

  “Yeah,” Airachnid piped up. “Instead of thinking about yourself, dude, why don’t you just hand yourself over to Dark Kosmos, like a real Hero would, and free us all? Or is your comfort more important than our freedom and our lives?”

  I gritted my teeth. I couldn’t believe how pigheaded so many of my fellow players were. I mean, I understood that they were desperate and desperate people rarely thought rationally, but I didn’t think they’d be that quick to throw me under the bus. I could understand the Villains, but the Heroes, too? Dang.

  Gears put her hands on her hips and looked at her Teammates. “All right, let’s vote on it. Kill them and bring their bodies to Dark Kosmos or drag them there alive?”

  “Hey, boss, let me talk to them,” Cy whispered to me as Gears and her Teammates debated their options. “I think I can convince them to let us go.”

  I looked at Cy skeptically. “Are you sure about that?”

  “Positive,” said Cy. “Just trust me, all right?”

  I bit my lower lip but nodded and moved out of the way as best as I could so Cy could talk to them easier. It was hard, of course, because we were stuck together in the netting, but I did my best anyway and waited to see what Cy would do.

  “Hey, Gear girl!” Cy called out. “Let us go. Now. Or else.”

  Cy spoke with a deadly serious tone when he said that. He sounded so serious and so confident that even I was surprised. It was like listening to a completely different person other than the Cy I knew talk. I was actually genuinely interested in what his plan to get us out of here was. Maybe it was better than I thought.

  “Oh, yeah?” said Gears, looking up at Cy with a daring stare. “Whatcha gonna do if we don’t?”

  Cy sniffled. “Cry. A lot.”

  Team Gear stared up at us for a full five seconds before returning to talking among themselves about whether to kill us or bring us to Dark Kosmos alive.

  “Useless,” I grumbled as Cy began sobbing beside me. “I have the most useless—”

  “All right!” said Gears all of a sudden, clapping her hands and looking up at me. “It’s your lucky day, my friends! We have made a decision.”

  “What is it?” I said, ignoring Cy as he sobbed into his hands.

  “After much rigorous debate, in which both sides presented their best arguments for their position, we decided to compromise,” said Gears, putting her hands back on her hips again. “We will neither kill you nor bring you back to Dark Kosmos uninjured. Instead, we will break your legs and drag you there against your will. That way, you won’t respawn or get a chance to run away from us.”

  “That doesn’t sound like a very good compromise to me,” I said.

  “Hey, man, just be glad we didn’t agree to break your spines,” said Airachnid. He pouted. “Which was an option, I might add.”

  Gears rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Lower the netting. Can’t break their legs if they’re all the way up—”

  Something suddenly swooped by overhead and shattered the street lamp above us. In fact, it wasn’t just the street lamp above us that got destroyed. Every street lamp on the street got shattered one by one, plunging all of Main Street into even deeper darkness than before. Only the light from the moon and stars above provided any illumination, and even then, it wasn’t nearly enough by which to see adequately.

  “What the heck was that?” said Gears as she and her Teammates below looked around. “Can’t see a thing in this darkness. Lucifer, what do you see?”

  “I think I saw a bat,” said Lucifer, who was squinting in the darkness as he searched for whoever had broken the lights, “but it looked too big to be a—”

  Lucifer was interrupted by the sound of something emerging from a nearby manhole. It was too dark to see what it was, but I could tell by its outline that it was huge and long. It moved swiftly across the street and snapped its massive jaws around Lucifer, neatly bisecting the Sidekick in one hit.

  [Sidekick Lucifer] has died!

  “What the heck?” Airachnid shouted. “Who killed my—”

  The large creature—whatever it was—suddenly rushed toward Airachnid. But the Villain was faster than Lucifer and launched a thick webbing at the creature. The webbing landed on the creature and forced it to come to a screeching halt across the pavement, making deep grunting noises as it fought against the webbing that constricted its movement.

  A light suddenly flashed on, courtesy of the flashlight on Gears’ helmet. It was bright enough to illuminate the creature, which allowed us to see what had attacked Lucifer for the first time.

  It was a huge crocodile, easily twenty-five feet in length and about half that in width. Lucifer’s blood gleamed on its teeth as it struggled against the thick webbing that ensnared it. It had jagged teeth like serrated blades, huge, crazed yellow eyes, and a leather hide so thick it resembled armor. Its legs looked as powerful as a mule’s and its long tail flailed wildly about, striking aside trash cans and even denting a parked car.

  Startled, I quickly Scanned the beast and got this information:

  Sewer Croc

  LEVEL: 60

  HEALTH: 500/500

  ALIGNMENT: Unaligned

  CLASS: Tamed Beast

  WEAK POINT: Mouth

  Rumor has it that the sewers of Adventure City are home to a species of giant crocodiles that are said to be able to bisect full-grown men with one bite of their mighty jaws. Although no one has ever witnessed such deadly creatures and their existence is staunchly denied by the Adventure City Council, it is a fact that the Adventure City Sewage and Waste Department loses more workers than any other city department annually. If you ever do have the misfortune of running into such a creature, there may not be enough of you left to fit in a coffin.

  Based on the fearful expressions that now appeared on the faces of every Team Gears member, it was obvious that they all either recognized it or had Scanned it like me and read its flavor text. It didn’t help that I could smell its sewage stink from all the way up here, making me almost gag from how awful it was.

  “Holy crud,” said one of the Villains, a clown-like woman with the nametag [JOKERGIRL197] floating above her head. “That thing has more Health than all of us put together!”

  “Don’t be scared,” said Gears, who spoke confidently despite how scared everyone looked. Perhaps she had a lot of Charisma or Courage. “It’s just a dumb animal. Look, it can’t even escape Airachnid’s webbing. If we keep calm and work together, we can—”

  A loud snap could be heard as the Sewer Croc destroyed the webbing constricting it. With a roar of triumph, the Sewer Croc charged at Airachnid, who screamed like a little girl and immediately scaled the side of a nearby building like a spider. But the Sewer Croc leaped into the air and snatched Airachnid before he could get too far and crushed him between its teeth like a really bloody marshmallow.

  [Villain Airachnid] has died!

  That notification seemed to break the will of the whole Team because everyone scattered as soon as they saw it. Even Gears retreated back into the shadows, yelling at her Teammates to stand strong, but it was hard to hear her over the growls of the Sewer Croc as it began chasing the nearest players and Sidekicks trying to get away from it.

  “Whoa,” said Cy, staring at the gigantic crocodile with big eyes. “I’ve always heard rumors about Sewer Crocs, but I didn’t know they actually existed.”

  “Yeah, it really worked out for us,” I said. I grabbed the netting and began tugging at it again. “Quick, start working on the net. While everyone is distracted, now is the best time to escape.”

  Cy looked at me with horror. “And get close enough for the Sewer Croc to eat us? Are you nuts or just crazy? It’s like a horror movie down there.”

  “I see an opportunity I’m not going to let slip between my fingers,” I replied. “Anyway, I got an idea. Hold on.”

  I activated Freezing Touch and was pleased to see ice start to appear on t
he netting. As the netting froze, it began to crack under our collective weight, until with a shattering of ice the netting gave out underneath us and we plummeted to the street below.

  We landed on top of a small blue sedan. I immediately rolled off the roof of the car and landed on my feet on the street. Cy rolled as well, but landed on his side instead, although he quickly got up to his feet and looked around for the Sewer Croc.

  Not that he needed to, however. Although it was hard to see, I could tell that the Sewer Croc was still more interested in hunting down and eating Team Gears than in killing us. I heard a woman scream somewhere down the street, only for her scream to be abruptly cut off by a loud squelching sound, followed by a roar of triumph from the Sewer Croc.

  “Where do we go now, boss?” asked Cy. “As far away from the Sewer Croc as possible?”

  Before I could answer, a familiar voice suddenly called out, “Winter, Cyclone, over here!” and I looked over at the nearest manhole cover to see a familiar face poking out from underneath it.

  “Funky!” I said as a big smile broke out across my face. “So glad to see you! I thought—”

  “We can talk later,” said Funky. “Sir Stewart won’t keep them occupied forever. Come on.”

  Although I was happy to see a friendly face, the urgency in Funky’s tone forced me back into focus. Without another word, Cy and I ran over to the manhole cover, which Funky pushed aside to let us in. He climbed out and waited for us to go down before following after us, closing the manhole cover securely behind us and plunging us into darkness once again. As we climbed down the ladder into the sewers, I could still hear the faint screams of terror and pain coming from Team Gears as the Sewer Croc hunted and killed them all.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  It wasn’t long before the three of us—me, Cy, and Funky—reached the Sewers themselves. This was the first time I had ever gone down into Adventure City’s Sewers, so when I reached the floor, I looked around at my surroundings to get an idea of what it was like.