Gamers and Gods: AES

by Matthew Kennedy

  * * * * *

  The first one they found was Sherman. Fortunately for them, he was soloing in Boomtown. They found him at the edge of a bomb crater taking on a group of nine Krazies armed with clubs and small arms. Another eight Krazies were laid out around him, prostrate bodies pointing outward like Tunguska's fallen trees. He must have taken on at least two groups, thought Darla, shaking her head. “Keep him alive until he can talk to us,” she whispered to Aes.

  Sherman roared defiance and seized one Krazie, hewing about him with the guy's body like a kid with a new Louisville Slugger. More bodies fell. Aes threw a heal on him just in case, since he couldn't see the man's health line. Green light leaked out of the mass of bodies.

  In a matter of seconds the rest of them were laid out flat and he was strolling over to them, leaving shield-sized dents in the simulated pavement. “Welcome back, Darla. This the new guy?”

  “Yep. Meet our healer, Asklepios, 'Aes' for short. That's A-e-s.”

  “Howdy, Aes for short. I'm Sherman, the Tank.” He waited expectantly.

  “Hello, Sherman the Tank,” said Aes.

  Darla tried not to smile. “Sorry, Sherman, he didn't get it. I'm afraid tanks were after his time.”

  “Heh. You mean, before his time. Robbing the cradle?”

  “After. He's older than he looks. It's a long story. Are you up for some missions? We need to level Aes. I don't think he has his rez power yet.”

  “Sure why not?” Sherman looked left and right down the street.

  “Got a mission?”

  “How about that mission we never finished?”

  “Sherman, that mission was set for four, and we wiped.”

  “Yes, but we didn't have a healer. C'mon, it'll be fun.”

  In the end, Darla let herself be talked into it. As the Team's founder, she was technically the leader, but she found that Sherman did his best work when he thought it was his idea. She sent him an invite and added Sherman to the team roster so Aes could see if his health dropped.

  Aes was quieter than usual. She wondered if he was trying not to blush. Perhaps he had never seen a woman in superhero uniform before. She was wearing thigh-high boots and a skin tight body suit that she would have thought twice about shoehorning herself into in the real world. She knew he was looking.

  In her opinion, Aes didn't look so bad himself. The reformatting when they transitioned to Realm of Heroes had put him in black and green tights and boots that showed off his musculature nicely. All he needed was a cape to look like a classic graphic novel hero.

  Sherman led them to the building. It was a modest twelve-story office building in granite set at street level with a pair of glass doors, which Sherman held open for them.

  Once inside, she called a conference. “We have fewer people this time, so please PLEASE don't just charge in, Sherman. Some of the rooms have so many Jerx in them that we really need to pull this time.”

  “Pull what?” asked Aes,

  Which earned him a funny look from Sherman. “Pull my finger,” he suggested.

  Aes had no response for this.

  “When we run into a small group,” she said emphasizing the word 'small' and looking at Sherman when she said it, “the strategy is pretty simple. Each of us has a role to play. Earlier when I got you into the fight with some Jerx, I was doing the tanking, which means I did the fighting and you did the healing.”

  “Yes, I remember.”

  “Sherman is a better tank than me,” she told him. “He is harder to kill and can take on more enemies at once. So with small groups, he'll get and hold their attention. I'll do as much damage to them as I can while he distracts them. That's my role, DPS or damage-per-second. I can do more damage than Sherman, but I'm easier to kill.”

  “What's this?” Sherman interrupted. “You didn't mention that he was a noob. You sure you want to do this?”

  “He'll be fine. You just have to hold the aggro. We can't risk anything happening to Aes.” She returned her attention to the healer. “When we see a larger group of enemies, we'll try to pull one or two away from the group to attack us first. That way we can whittle the large group down and defeat them like a small group.”

  “It's an old tactic,” Aes commented. “Armies often try to draw off small portions of their opponents with sorties or feints.”

  “Enough talking,” said Sherman. “Let's kill something.”

  Darla could see a group of five Jerx hanging around near the other end of the blue-and-gray corridor. “All right Sherman, go get em. But one group at a time for now, please.”

  Sherman's laughter boomed off the walls. “Yes ma'am,” he said with cheerful sarcasm as he launched himself into action like a bomb with legs, charging down the hallway.

  “This is just like last time, Aes. You just have two people to keep healthy instead of one.” Darla gave Sherman a five second lead and then followed cautiously. TZING! Blades out.

  Sherman was in his element. He started by slapping all five Jerx to get their attention. By the time Darla caught up with him, they had regained their feet and pulled their knives. While he was grabbing two of them and banging their heads together, she came up on another from behind and did a quick slice-and-dice combo on him before the Jerx knew what was happening. One down.

  She turned to the next one as a flash of green light reflected off the walls. Whirling, she swung a wicked slash that missed by inches when the guy made a move at Sherman. Damn it! She lunged forward and put both blades in the villain's back.

  That got his attention. As he turned, staggering, his knife coming in low and fast to her left she slapped the knife down with her left gladius, jabbing her right sword into his chest. Two down.