Gun Blade

by Rick Scott

  Gilly: I see you.

  Ack! Busted!

  Me: What? She’s just….really different-looking. Don’t you think?

  Gilly: Uh huh -_-

  But while I was fixed on Lexi, she instead is focused solely on Rembrandt.

  Her eyes are wide as her mouth hangs open.

  “Lennox in a lurch,” she says, her true voice surprisingly soft and delicate. “Is it really you? Are you the Rembrandt?”

  Rembrandt chuckles. “I don’t believe the the is necessary, miss. But yes, I am known as Rembrandt. Just Rembrandt, mind you.”

  The girl lets out a short laugh, eyes flicking back and forth as if in disbelief. “Oh my…do I know some people looking for you, mate.” Lexi lets out another laugh and then turns back to the wheel, replacing her helmet. “We’ll get you home, right quick, Lord Rembrandt! Welcome back!”

  Lord Rembrandt?

  Lexi hits the gas, cackling away like a supervillain in her augmented voice.

  As we accelerate, I look to Rembrandt, but he merely hangs his head and releases a deep sigh.

  “Bollocks…”

  Chapter 10: Affinity

  We travel for close to half an hour across the wild, hanging onto the rumbling and jostling contraption as it skirts across the dunes. I have to turn my head to keep the blinding sand out of my eyes and Gilly does the same by nestling her face into my chest. The grit gets everywhere and I can understand now why our driver wears a suit of full body armor while operating this thing.

  Aside from the whistle of the engine, we travel in silence.

  No one has said anything since the brief exchange between Rembrandt and Lexi earlier and I’m not sure anyone will. I’m dying to know more of course, but Rembrandt hasn’t offered anything freely, so I don’t bring it back up. No one else does either, perhaps respecting his wishes to stay silent about it for now.

  I glance at the bald cyberpunker out the corner of my eye and he looks somewhat stoic, head facing the wind, his eyes protected by his mirrored shades. He mentioned to me before that something traumatic happened to him back in New London and whatever it was must have been huge, because even someone like Lexi, who apparently doesn’t know him personally, knows about it.

  And I suppose we all will too, soon enough.

  I kind of want to talk about what we saw down in the crystal cavern too—a whole city buried underground and infested by the Others. There are so many questions to ask, but we’ve partied with Lexi now and even though she just saved our lives, I’m not sure if it’s wise to be divulging that kind of information with a person we’ve just met—especially since I have no idea what this situation with Rembrandt might bring.

  I connect to the party chat and check Lexi’s stats in the corner of my vision.

  Lexi Level 85 Runner

  HP 1072/1072

  STAM: 225/225

  TP: 375/375

  I try to figure out what kind of job a Runner is by her vitals, but it’s hard to tell. Just over 1000 hitpoints seems a bit low for a level 85. And her TP seems a bit above average too. Maybe it’s some kind of support role. I kind of want to ask, but I don’t want to seem pokey. I ask her a more relevant question instead.

  “How much longer till we reach New London?” I say through the party chat.

  She doesn’t turn from the wheel as she replies.

  “We’re just a few miles out now,” she says in her true voice through the chat, instead of her augmented one through her helmet. “I was just heading back from an artifact run so you’re lucky I even ran into you lot.”

  “I’m glad you did,” Val Helena says. “You truly saved us. Thanks.”

  “Yeah,” Gilly adds. “That Omega was about to cream us for sure.”

  Lexi laughs. “Well that’s what helped me spot you actually. When I saw it jump I knew somebody had to be in trouble.”

  I chuckle with her. “Well, thanks for stopping. I don’t know what we would have done. What’s an artifact run, by the way?”

  “We trade with the other safe zones from time to time. I don’t normally head into your neck of the woods, but there’s been an update or something and class change is available again. So there’s a lot of Tech Mages in New London looking for artifacts to boost the magic affinity in the zone.”

  Her revelation stuns me for a moment. I know we have class change back, but the thought that it’s a system-wide change is still mind-boggling to me.

  Man, to think I did something that affected people all the way in New London…

  Crazy.

  “Most of you are from Nasgar, right?” Lexi says, her voice reverberating as the buggy bounces over a series of small dunes. “I heard that boss battle is pretty tough on that one. Props to you all for making it through. How long since you made the jump?”

  “A while for the three of us,” Val Helena says. “Becky, Aiko, and I, actually cleared it ten years ago.”

  “Nox’s knickers! Ten bloody years?” Lexi turns about to take a glance at the Half-Giant. She’s still holding on to the back of the buggy, her massive arms flexing with the bounce of the vehicle while Becky clings to her back. “And you spent all that time in a fantasy zone?”

  “Pretty much,” Val Helena says.

  Lexi laughs. “Bloody hell. That would have driven me mad. A decade living in filth and squalor?”

  Val Helena scrunches up her face, looking irritated. “What do you mean?”

  “No offense,” Lexi says, turning back to the wheel. “But didn’t you want some creature comforts every once and a while? Like indoor plumbing? Couldn’t imagine going to the loo over there. Living in the sticks with campfires, castles, and all that bollocks? Sounds worse than slumming it in Essex to me.”

  Aiko laughs. “I can actually agree with you there. I’m looking forward to reaching New London.”

  “Hey, it’s got its charm,” Val Helena says testily. “Like any game, it depends on what you’re looking to get out of it. I suppose all New Londoners are looking for are cheap thrills and an easy learning curve.”

  Whoa…easy Val.

  “How long have you been on the surface, Lexi?” Becky asks, clearly trying to stir the conversation into calmer waters.

  “Eleven months,” Lexi says. “And I’ll have you know it’s no stroll in the park in New London either, love. If you’re bollocks at PvP, expect your arse to be handed to you in the form of a bullet straight through your head.”

  Eesh. I need to get them off this topic.

  “Hey, Lexi,” I say. “What was that you mentioned before about the artifacts and raising affinity?”

  “Oh yeah, you’d probably be interested in it too. Ninjas cast spells, right?”

  I wait before replying as we launch over the crest of a particularly large dune and come crashing down on the other side. “Yeah…” I say with an oomph. “Why?”

  “Your abilities all have a certain affinity: Tech, Magic, or Neutral. I imagine you Nasgar lot have a lot of magic-based affinity items and abilities, yeah?”

  I search my HUD for what she’s talking about. “Where do I see that?”

  “It’s a system thing,” she says. “You won’t be able to see it exactly. Only when you switch zones will you know.”

  “Why?” Gilly says. “What’s going to happen? Will we not be able to use magic?”

  No magic? The thought of that terrifies me. That means no Shadow Copy, no heals… no Raise.

  “You’ll have magic, but not to the same extent,” Rembrandt says and gives Gilly a smile. “Don’t worry, Gills. Plenty of magic in New London. Just a different type.”

  I’m not liking the sound of this at all.

  “So how will we tell what works and what doesn’t?” I ask.

  “Trial and error,” Lexi says. “Some spells might work, others won’t. Or maybe they won’t be as potent. But you can boost it. That’s why I’m about to make a boatload of quid off this run. The Tech Mages are all switching to Elemental Mage and what not, trying to level for better c
ross-class skills.”

  “What do these artifacts do exactly?” Gilly asks.

  Lexi pauses for a moment as we crest another rise. The back tires break loose and the rear of the buggy goes into a slide. “It’s like infrastructure,” she says, casually correcting the slide with a swift spinning of the wheel in the opposite direction. “You see this buggy, yeah? It could maybe run in your Fantasy zone for a day before it ran out of power and then there’d be nowhere to bloody charge it. Same thing with your magic. New London has Tech-based affinity and infrastructure, your fantasy zone has magic-based: mana-trees and what not. That’s what I got, by the way.” She slaps the crates in the center of the buggy. “A ton of seedlings. Going to make me a bloody fortune, mate.”

  A Safe Zone with no magic? I didn’t think this would even be an issue. Something occurs to me and I look to Rembrandt. “Wait? Then how were you able to use your powers, Rem? And you too, Max?”

  My brother grins at me from the opposite side of the buggy through the open tubular frame. “Pro tip. Fighting skills have a neutral affinity. So don’t worry. All your badass ninja moves should still work fine. Same for the rest of us.”

  That’s a relief, I guess. “But not the magic?”

  “It won’t be so bad,” Rembrandt says. “I wasn’t able to use all of my abilities, but as you can see, I was far from a lame duck, yeah?”

  “You can say that again,” Gilly says with a grin. “Holy cow, does this mean you’ll get even more badass when you get to New London, Rem?”

  Lexi lets out another laugh. “Love…if the stories are true, you’re looking at the most badass Gunslinger there is.”

  Rembrandt chuckles, shaking his head. “Don’t listen to her, mates. Pure exaggeration.”

  We all laugh along, but I get the feeling there’s probably more truth to it than Rembrandt’s humility will allow.

  “Here we are, mates,” Lexi says. “Home sweet home.”

  I peer ahead through the grit while shielding my eyes. A huge object looms on the horizon and as we get closer, it becomes clear it’s a concrete wall that’s at least 500 feet high. I gaze upward at it in awe. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man-made structure quite so big before, although in this case it’s technically nano-built, I’m sure.

  The wall stretches left and right as far as I can see, but has a slight curvature to it, so I figure it might be enclosing something circular in shape. Immeasurable years have worn its surface, exposing rebar that now blisters and stains its dark gray surface rust-red in several areas. But aside from those spots, the wall is completely smooth and painted on its surface in huge yellow figures is: GATE 03.

  Beneath the writing, sealed bunker doors stand thirty feet high and about the same dimension wide. Lexi doesn’t slow as she approaches. The doors respond and begin to open, either automatically or through something that she triggers. As they slide apart, dust clouds emerge at our peripheral and I spot a pack of Sentries charging towards us from both sides.

  Crap…

  I’m almost surprised to see them, since we didn’t run across any on the way here. I guess moving as fast as we were, they didn’t even have a chance to register us passing by. But these ones were waiting by the perimeter, just like the ones outside the Nasgar zone.

  Lexi sucks her teeth through the party chat. “Stupid bloody dogs. Hang on.”

  She punches the accelerator and the engine screams. I hang on white-knuckled and press Gilly close to me as the G-force threatens to throw us both off. She lets out a scream, but I’m not sure if it’s from fear or exhilaration.

  I’m certainly feeling a bit of both at the moment, my heart pounding as we zoom towards the partially opened doors. The Sentries close in and we fly past them, narrowly skirting through the narrow opening and into a tunnel. We transition from sand to hard concrete with a chirp of tires, launching forward with another burst of acceleration. We speed down the brightly lit concrete tunnel, number markers flying past on the walls.

  200…150…100

  I glance behind me and see the sentries scramble through the bunker doors that are only just now starting to close.

  50…25…

  I tense and expect to see another sealed door ahead, but there’s nothing in front of us. We flash through the zero marker and a bunch of information scrolls onto my HUD.

  [Host domain found . . . ]

  [Connecting . . . success!]

  [Your domain is now: Lennox. Certain functions and Quest lines may be unavailable.]

  [Notice: Some Quests have become unavailable/obsolete.]

  ==New Alert!==

  You are Factionless!

  Factionless players are considered Freekill targets with no faction penalties or rewards.

  A new zone-wide quest has been issued due to your Factionless status.

  New Quest: Fresh Meat

  Alert! New factionless players have arrived. Recruit or kill. It’s up to you!

  Targets: 0/6

  Location: Junk Town

  Rewards: Recruit 10000 XP per target

  Clean Kill: 50000 XP per target

  True Kill(brain death): 100000 XP per target

  ==New Alert!==

  You have received a new quest!

  New Quest: Survive

  You are Factionless. Join a faction to remove your factionless status or kill enough players to become a Ronin.

  Ronin do not benefit from Faction buffs or status but gain a permanent buff to all combat ratings and can never join a faction again.

  Objective: Join a Faction

  Rewards: 5000 XP

  Alternative Objective: Clean kill 100 players or True Kill 20 players.

  Rewards: Ronin Status

  What the heck…!?

  I’m still trying to decipher the quest information on my HUD when a huge crackle of electricity and yelping sounds from behind me. I turn about to see the Sentries hit the zero marker and slam into the invisible wall of the Safe Zone. Immediately their bodies are ignited by twin sets of motorized gun pods that lower from the ceiling, raining down fire in streams of red laser light. The Sentries’ HP bars deplete in less than a second and their bodies burst into nano-dust.

  “What is this?” Gilly says, her eyes alight with the same scrawl on her HUD. “True kill? Are you kidding me?”

  “Bloody hell,” Lexi says, pumping the brakes, as we approach yet another set of slowly opening bunker doors. She pulls to a stop just in front of them, idling the engine. “I didn’t think about this. You lot are all factionless!”

  Maxis lets out a sigh. “Man, I forgot about this part.”

  “Hey!” Val Helena shouts to Lexi. “What faction are you with? Let us join it!”

  Lexi turns back to her, removing her helmet. Her chrome eyes fill with the glow of information on her HUD as she looks up at the giantess. “I’m with the Young Lords, but I can’t recruit you. You need to be a guild leader for that. Not to mention I’d need permission.”

  “So get us permission!” Aiko shouts. “We didn’t cross the damn wild just to get player killed.”

  “Hey!” Lexi snaps back. “I saved you lot from a bloody Omega, isn’t that enough? I should tell you all to shove off, to be honest. You know what I’m hauling with me? Over 500k worth of merchandise and now every punter in the Zone will be gunning for you and collecting me as a bloody bonus!”

  “You’re not seriously thinking of stranding us here?” Becky says, glancing through the nearly opened bunker doors. “Are you?”

  Lexi stares back at her, eyes shifting, but doesn’t say anything.

  The doors slam open.

  A literal junkyard of scrap metal lies beyond them, towering with heaps of crushed vehicles and twisted steel, hundreds of feet high. It’s still night and the moon hangs low overhead, illuminating the mass of wreckage. Through it I can make out figures, rushing to and fro, small groups of four and five. I can’t see them clearly, but the distinctive silhouette of guns and rifles are in their hands.

 
“Crap…” Aiko whispers, staring out into the semi-darkness, no doubt seeing far more detail than I am with her Elven night vision and Thief-buffed Awareness. “There’s got to be like fifty people out there.”

  “What?!” Val Helena shouts. “Already? How did they find us so fast?”

  “They’re the Spawn Killers,” Lexi says. “They hang by the gates for just this reason. Newcomers like yourselves.” She then looks back at us with sorrowful eyes. “Look, I’m sorry, mates, but I can’t risk this. You’re going to have to—”

  “Two hundred thousand,” Rembrandt says, cutting her off. “Get us to Angela and I’ll pay you that in cold hard quid. She owes me a favor.”

  Lexi’s silver eyes widen, but then she scoffs. “200k quid? You’ll never get the chance to pay it. You see what they’re packing? They’ll have heavy gunners and full borgs too, I bet. We’ll never make it through.”

  “We’ll make it,” Rembrandt says as he draws his dual pistols. “Just drive.”

  Chapter 11: Gauntlet

  A spectrum of digitized symbols swirl about Rembrandt’s body as he activates several abilities, flashing with a neon glow.

  Rembrandt uses Piercing Shot!

  Normal attacks do 50% less damage but reduce armor values by half.

  Rembrandt uses Accelerator 2.0!

  Weapon Fire Speed, Critical Hit Rate, and Stamina Regeneration greatly increased.

  Rembrandt uses Recurring Reload.

  Successful hits reduce the cooldown timer of weapon abilities by 5 seconds.

  Rembrandt uses Gyro-stabilize.

  You are rooted in placed and unaffected by recoil or outside movements.

  “Becky and Gilly,” he says. “Squeeze into the center of the buggy on top of the crates. It’ll be a tight fit, but make it work. Heal whoever you can.”

  They do so, and Val Helena moves across the buggy to stand next to Aiko, shielding the mages with her huge body. “I’ll keep Cover on them as best I can.”