The Player Plague

by Lucas Flint

  “You have good reflexes for someone who isn’t a ninja,” said Takeshi, no strain his voice as he swung the ball over his head. “But it will take more than fast reflexes to survive death.”

  Takeshi hurled his mace at me. This time, however, I activated Flight and flew straight up into the air. The chain ball crashed into the spot where I had been standing moments before and, before Takeshi could pull it back, I landed next to the chain itself and slashed it with both of my Ice Daggers.

  The Ice Daggers cut through the chain as easily as butter, causing the rest of the chain to jerk back toward Takeshi. Takeshi, however, dropped the chain and immediately threw about two dozen throwing stars at us with both hands. He threw them so hard and so fast that all I barely dodged them, although I got hit by one and saw a couple of points of Health get shaved off by my bar.

  That wasn’t the worst part, though. The worst part was the debuff notification I got when the throwing star hit me:

  Debuff added: Poison. -5 Health/1 second. Duration: 30 seconds.

  My eyes widened in shock. If I let this Poison keep going, then I would lose all my Health in less than eight seconds and die. I pulled an Antidote out of my inventory, but before I could down it, Takeshi rushed toward me, a long, jagged knife in hand.

  But then Cy appeared out of nowhere and tackled Takeshi to the ground. While the two of them struggled for dominance, I quickly downed my Antidote and was pleased to see the Poison debuff go away, although it had still taken out about a fourth of my overall Health. Still, that would probably be enough to survive the fight and I had extra Health Drinks on hand just in case I needed them.

  Now I needed to save Cy, but he was so tangled with Takeshi that there was no way I could attack without risking him harm.

  “Cy!” I shouted. “Move! Now!”

  To my relief, Cy pushed himself off Takeshi and rolled away. Takeshi managed to jump to his feet, but then I hurled one of my Ice Daggers at Takeshi. But Takeshi threw down what looked like a ball at his feet and a huge smoke cloud appeared. My Ice Dagger flew into the cloud, but I didn’t hear it strike flesh. Instead, I heard it land harmlessly on the concrete ground somewhere within the smoke cloud.

  “Uh oh, boss,” said Cy as he scrambled to his feet. “I got this!”

  Cy thrust his hands toward the smoke cloud and unleashed a powerful gust of wind that easily dissipated the smoke cloud. But once the smoke cleared, only my dagger—now starting to melt thanks to me not holding it anymore—lying on the ground where Takeshi had been mere moments before. Takeshi himself was nowhere to be seen.

  “What the heck?” I said, looking around rapidly. “Where did he go? How did he escape?”

  “Oh, I know what he did!” said Cy, snapping his fingers. “He used a Smoke Bomb! That’s a kind of item that only ninja typically use. It’s really useful for making big escapes, but you’re right, I can’t see him anywhere and wonder where he—”

  Takeshi suddenly stepped out of the shadows behind Cy and wrapped the broken chain of his mace around Cy’s neck. Cy gasped in pain for a second before Takeshi tightened. Cy opened his mouth to scream and gasp for air at the same time, but the chain was so tight around his neck that he couldn’t do either. I could see his Health bar dropping rapidly, however, as Takeshi choked the life out of him, and I knew I needed to act fast.

  I thrust my hand out and activated Ice Shackles. Freezing cold shackles made out of ice popped out of the ground and wrapped around Takeshi’s ankles. The sudden appearance of the Ice Shackles around his ankles must have surprised Takeshi because he briefly glanced down at the shackles and loosened his grip every-so-slightly on Cy’s neck.

  But it was enough for Cy, who slammed the back of his head against Takeshi’s face. The impact of Cy’s thick skull against Takeshi’s face was enough to make Takeshi let go of Cy entirely. Instead of following up on the attack, however, Cy flew forward and landed well outside of Takeshi’s reach, gasping for air again and rubbing his throat.

  I summoned my Ice Daggers again and rushed toward Takeshi, who was struggling to remove the shackles around his ankles. He seemed too distracted by the shackles to notice me, so if I could just get a good hit on him—

  Suddenly, Takeshi looked at me. As my Ice Daggers came down on his head, he thrust his hands out and caught my wrists. Without hesitation, he twisted my wrists hard enough until they felt like they were about to break, forcing me to drop the Ice Daggers as I cried out in pain. I struggled to free myself, even using Super Strength to make myself even stronger, but Takeshi’s grip was strong as steel and there was nothing I could do to free myself.

  “You are a clever one, I will give you that,” said Takeshi, again without any strain in his voice, “but I am no ordinary ninja. I have been blessed with the Z-Virus, making me as immortal as Master Haru himself. Allow me to show you the true power of the Z-Virus.”

  Oh. That explained why Takeshi smelled like blood and rotting flesh, although I didn’t have much time to dwell on that revelation before Takeshi twisted my wrists so hard that I heard a soft snap from both of them. Pain shot down my arms as a notification appeared, but I had no time to read the notification before Takeshi kicked me in the stomach.

  His blow came hard and fast and knocked me over onto the ground. I tried to touch my aching stomach, but the pain in my broken wrists flared whenever I did that and it was all I could do to keep myself from crying in pain. Takeshi stood over me now, his own dagger in hand. He raised it above his head, but before he could bring the dagger down on me, I heard a shrill scream and Cy came flying out of nowhere. He threw a kick at Takeshi’s head, but at the last possible second, Takeshi dodged the kick and jumped away. Cy, however, kept up the assault, kicking and punching Takeshi with surprising ruthlessness, although I wasn’t sure he would be able to defeat such a powerful enemy on his own.

  Not that I was in any position to help, though. The notification that had popped up when Takeshi broke my wrists was still there, so I read it and it said thus:

  Debuff added: Broken wrists. -100% Dexterity. Unable to use any handheld weapons or Powers requiring use of hands. Duration: 10 minutes or until healed.

  Dang it. That ninja broke me. I’d never suffered broken wrists before and they hurt like hell. Even worse, I found it almost impossible to get up and help Cy. I couldn’t even reach into my inventory and drink a Health Drink, because that required using my hands, which I did not currently have the use of. I found myself wishing I had brought Recover or Hop on my micro Team, but hindsight is always 20/20.

  In any case, I didn’t have the luxury of lying around on the ground in pain. I tried to sit up but found it impossible due to my broken wrists. I looked up to see Cy was still on the offense, but I could tell he was starting to get tired and that his attacks, even when they landed, didn’t do much to Takeshi. Takeshi was also looking increasingly angry, making it clear he was going to do another counter-attack soon.

  Scowling, I tried to think of a way to attack Takeshi from my current position. I had to think quickly because I knew from experience how fast the tide of battle could turn and the last thing I wanted was for Cy to get killed so early in the attack. I thought about my Powers, but realized that almost all of them required use of my hands in order to work.

  The only thing I had left was my Energy Cannon on my left arm. My wrists might have been broken, but my Energy Cannon didn’t require the use of my wrists in order to operate. I just needed to think a thought and it would fire Energy at whoever it was aimed at. Yet even that wouldn’t work. Cy and Takeshi were too close to each other for me to risk shooting my Energy Cannon. I didn’t want to hit Cy, after all.

  But then a thought occurred to me and I realized that I did have at least one Power that didn’t require my hands to use. Two of them, actually, and if I could combine them together—

  A loud yell of pain snapped me out of my thoughts. Looking back at Cy and Takeshi, I saw that the battle had now tilted in Takeshi’s favor. He had somehow manag
ed to get Cy into a headlock, squeezing as hard as he could on Cy’s neck. Cy was struggling to free himself, but it was obvious even from a distance that Takeshi had him firmly in his grasp. Soon CY would be dead and then Takeshi would come after me unless I acted now.

  Activating my Flight Power, I shot up into the air. This time, however, I ignored the pain in my wrists and focused on controlling my Flight. Normally I just rocketed into the air uncontrollably, but in order for my plan to work, I needed to focus on controlling my Flight.

  At first, I just flew into the air like a rag doll, but sooner than even I expected, I stopped in midair and found myself floating upright in the air. It felt both amazing and terrifying to float up in the air like this, but I had no time to take this all in. Cy’s HP was dropping like a rock and would hit zero soon if I didn’t get this just right.

  Raising my Energy Cannon, I began charging my energy blast. The Energy Cannon began whirling with charged energy, a sound so loud I was sure Takeshi could hear it, but it looked like Takeshi was so focused on killing Cy that he didn’t notice me flying or hear my Energy Cannon charging. I’d never charged my Energy Cannon before, so the sensation of my energy being sapped from me was both new and a little frightening. In the corner of my eye, I saw my Energy bar rapidly depleting. I would have to fire this very soon to make sure I didn’t run out of Energy and fall to the ground below, but not yet … not yet … not … yet!

  With almost perfect aim, I fired my Energy Cannon at Takeshi’s head. A huge blast of Energy—much bigger than my previous Energy blasts—exploded from the barrel of my Cannon and hurtled toward Takeshi. The recoil from the blast sent me flying backward and caused me to fall down on to the ground, although I moved my hands out of the way in time to avoid damaging my wrists.

  Takeshi looked up in time to see the Energy blast coming his way. I saw him loosen his hold on Cy in a clear attempt to get free, but then Cy grabbed his hands and forced him to stay where he was.

  That caused Takeshi to look down at Cy with surprise, which turned out to be the very last mistake he ever made because in that instant, my Energy blast struck his head and his skull exploded.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  The explosion of Takeshi’s skull was shockingly loud, although not loud enough to cover up the sounds of battle coming from within the factory. Brains and blood flew everywhere as Takeshi’s now-headless body keeled over and crashed onto the street. I was outside the range of the explosion, so I didn’t get any blood or brains on me, but Cy was not so lucky. Even though he retreated from Takeshi’s headless corpse as fast as he could, his green costume was now stained red and white with the gore from Takeshi’s blown up skull.

  “Ew,” said Cy, looking down at his costume with disgust. “This is going to take forever to get out. I don’t think there’s enough bleach in the world to clean my Costume.”

  “You could have said thank you,” I said. I grunted when the pain in my wrists flared. “Can you get over here and feed me a Health Drink? My wrists are broken.”

  Cy nodded and ran over to me. He pulled a Health Drink out of his own item inventory, popped off the lid, and tipped it against my lips. As the cool cherry-flavored drink went down my throat, I saw my Health bar shoot up to full and also felt the pain in my wrists go away. As the last of the Health Drink vanished down my throat, a notification popped up in my vision:

  Debuff lifted: Broken wrists. Dexterity restored and Powers that require the use of hands are available once again.

  I smiled when I read that, but then another notification popped up in my view which read:

  You killed [Elite Stalking Shadow Takeshi]! +2,000 EXP for you and your Sidekick!

  “Nice,” I said as I read the notification. “Two thousand EXP for both of us.”

  “Really?” said Cy. “That must be why I leveled up just now! I am now Level 14. Cool!”

  I nodded in agreement before another notification appeared before me:

  New Skill Unlocked: Aim [Level 1]. Your ability to hit targets from a distance accurately is now increased by 10%! Level up this Skill further in order to improve your aim even more!

  Interesting. I must have unlocked it when I fired my Energy Cannon at Takeshi. Not that I was complaining, of course. I used ranged attacks frequently, so I was a bit surprised I didn’t get this Skill sooner. Perhaps I needed to consciously be aiming something in order to use it.

  “Anyway, I’m just glad this battle is over,” said Cy, glancing at the now-headless corpse of Takeshi. He shuddered. “I thought I was going to be a goner for a second there.”

  “We might have won this battle, but the war is far from over,” I said when I heard an explosion from within the factory. “Sounds like everyone is still fighting. Come on. We’ve got no time to lose.”

  I rose to my feet, but instead of going through the back door (which I now suspected was booby-trapped due to Takeshi’s presence), Cy and I flew up to a door closer to the second story. It looked like the maintenance entrance, so I pulled open the door and emerged out onto a series of catwalks that stood above the rest of the factory. When I did, I got to see the battle for the very first time.

  The factory was an absolute war zone now. A huge hole in the ceiling—created by the crashing rock monster earlier—opened up into the night sky overhead, with ropes that the Ninja Guild members had used to enter hanging from it. A giant chunk of the catwalk had been destroyed by the rock monster’s impact, leaving a big gap in the middle of the factory that was too wide to jump.

  Fights were raging all over the interior of the factory. I saw Stalking Shadow members and Ninja Guild members dueling on conveyor belts or jumping from Z-Virus crate to Z-Virus crate in an attempt to stay ahead of the competition. Some ninja already lay dead on the ground, but it looked like a fairly even mixture of Stalking Shadows and Ninja Guild members. Due to how mixed both sides were, it was impossible to tell who was winning at this point.

  But my attention was drawn to the rock monster standing in the center of the factory, next to a vat full of what looked like bubbling black Z-Virus. The rock monster now stood at his full height, easily ten or eleven feet tall with thick rocky skin that doubled as armor. He was vaguely humanoid in appearance, but also somewhat monstrous, with shovel-like claws and a rounded body that resembled a boulder. A dozen low-leveled Stalking Shadows were fighting him all at once, but despite their swift speed and constant attacks, their blows seemed to bounce off the rock giant’s skin like rubber. I even saw one Stalking Shadow try to stab the rock giant in one of his joints, only for his sword to literally shatter when it collided with the rock giant’s body. That same ninja’s skull also shattered when the rock giant grabbed his head and squeezed.

  The nametag [HERO GOALEM] hung over his head and I couldn’t help but Scan the giant in awe:

  NAME: Goalem

  LEVEL: 300

  HEALTH: 1,000/1,000

  ALIGNMENT: Hero

  CLASS: Powered Armor [Glitch Elimination Task Force]

  WEAK POINT: Eyes

  WEAKNESS: Water

  Founded in the wake of the Z-Virus that nearly decimated Capes Online, the Glitch Elimination Task Force is full of elite Hero and Villain players who work directly for SI Games. Armed with unique weapons, Equipment, and Powers, as well as a thorough knowledge of Capes Online’s mechanics and code, the Glitch Elimination Task Force is a force to be reckoned with in the world of Capes Online. They have a 100% success rate of destroying glitches.

  “Holy crap,” said Cy under his breath as we watched Goalem fight the Stalking Shadows. “They sent Goalem of all people? Man, they’re serious about taking out Master Haru.”

  “Who’s Goalem?” I asked, glancing at Cy.

  “The Walking Mountain,” Cy whispered to me quickly. “He’s a member of the Glitch Elimination Task Force. He’s pretty slow, but he also has sky-high Defense and is one of the most famous defensive-oriented Heroes in the world. Rumor has it that a Villain dropped a nuke on him once and all i
t did was scratch his armor.”

  My eyes widened in shock and I looked at Goalem again. “He does have a ridiculous amount of Health. But why is he called Goalem?”

  That question was answered almost immediately. One Stalking Shadow rushed toward Goalem, but Goalem pulled his leg back and, in a move straight out of soccer, kicked the Stalking Shadow so hard he went flying into and through the wall on the other side of the factory. Given the unsettling squelch sound I heard when the Stalking Shadow hit the wall, I could only guess that his death had been instantaneous

  Goalem then took a deep breath and screamed, in a voice with a heavy Mexican accent, “GOOOOOOAL!”

  His scream seemed to stun the remaining Stalking Shadows, who all came to a stop when Goalem screamed. That was when huge vines as thick as tree trunks exploded out of the ground around the Stalking Shadows and grabbed each and every one of them. The Stalking Shadows tried their best to fight back but were unable to do so. The vines restricted their movement in such a way that they couldn’t cut themselves free. Given how thick those vines were, I doubted they would have been able to free themselves even if they could use their weapons to hack away at their vines.

  At first, I thought this might have been one of Goalem’s Powers at work, but then a drop-dead gorgeous woman who I had never seen before stepped out from underneath a nearby conveyor built. She was tall and built like a supermodel, with her green hair draping down her shoulders seemingly in waves. She wore a green and black spandex suit that left even less to the imagination than Recover’s, if that was possible, and she carried what looked like over-sized garden shearers in her hands. The nametag [ANTI-HERO ROOTLESS] hovered above her head faintly.

  Again I Scanned her and got this information:

  NAME: Rootless