Gun Blade

by Rick Scott

  A cool and refreshing energy runs through me, shooting my HP in a positive direction despite the poison.

  You gain +205 HP

  You take -50 poison damage!

  HP: 185/1732

  You gain +205 HP

  HP: 390/1732

  You gain +205 HP

  HP: 595/1732

  Yes!

  The Gun Queen pauses to take another pot shot at me with her Flame Barrage, but with my ring, I’m able to counter it in time.

  You cast Shadow Copy

  Your shadow absorbs the attack!

  She then raises her guns to the sky, standing still. “I was waiting for you to show yourself again, kinsfolk. Die with your misguided masters.”

  Twin blue lights shoot into the sky and history repeats itself as they fall back down again, spotlighting myself and Queen Angela.

  It’s now or never!

  I dash backwards and run up the side of the main tent support using wall run. I backflip off of it with Retreat and then twist in midair to launch a Charge Strike straight at the Gun Queen’s head.

  The move seems to take the LM by surprise and she attempts to cross her gun arms in defense, but I sail straight through them like a field goal. I focus all my DEX to hit the pinpoint target on the top of her head.

  Come on…!

  The tip of my kunai strikes the thumb-sized jewel with a massive crack!

  Supercritical Hit!

  Gun Queen takes 797(354) damage!

  Gun Queen is Stunned!

  Gun Queen is Incapacitated!

  Yes!

  The Gun Queen’s head goes flying backwards with the force of my hit and then her entire body falls limp as her torso reclines, her face staring up at the sky. I land on her shoulder and see both her eyes and the jewel within her crown flickering like a failing light.

  “Angela!” I shout. “Kick me into the air with your high kick.”

  The android stares up at me, bewildered. “What?”

  I waste no time and jump off the Gun Queen’s shoulder towards her.

  “Just do it!”

  Queen Angela dashes towards me with a flurry of sparks and I focus all my Agility to kick downwards as she kicks up. Our soles slam together with a loud smack! and I fly upwards with tremendous speed.

  Congratulations! You have unlocked a new Ability: Combo Attack

  Combo Attack

  Combine attacks with your allies for added damage buffs and skill multipliers.

  Holy crap, I wasn’t expecting that, but I’m not complaining!

  I soar upwards with the force of Queen Angela’s kick as a +25% damage bonus appears on my HUD. I twist with a somersault at the height of my ascent, searching for my target below. It’s the same maneuver I’ve used to kill over a hundred Overlords and my muscle memory causes me to automatically lock onto the tiny cracked gem within the Gun Queen’s crown. I pull my arm back with a Backstab-infused Charged Attack, hanging in midair before plummeting downwards again.

  Sorry, Gun Queen, but just like Witgar…you’re too crazy to live.

  I release my hit at the apex of my descent and my kunai shatters the jewel to pieces.

  You Backstab the Gun Queen for 31025(1215) damage!

  Her Health bar goes from 35% to empty as her body falls apart.

  “NOOOO!!!” she shrieks with a vile and anguished wail.

  You defeated the Gun Queen!

  [Reece has defeated the Gun Queen!]

  Congratulations! You have earned a new title: King of Queens!

  Congratulations! You have completed the Rank Quest: Rank 2!

  You gain +5 VP Point Max.

  You gain +1 Cross-Class Ability Slot Max.

  You gain 500000 experience points!

  Congratulations! You have gained a Veteran Point!

  My HP bar flashes to full as a series of celebratory flashes go off about me. Queen Angela flashes as well, but her HP bar doesn’t move, still stuck at 10%. As the Gun Queen’s body slumps to the ground, an augmented voice resonates throughout the room.

  “Lennox…are you there?” It’s the Gun Queen’s voice, but it sounds much softer and saner than before. “Did we do it, Lennox? Did we finally win? Did we win the war?”

  The glowing red eyes fade within the Gun Queen’s head and the massive android finally stands still.

  A cavern opens up inside me as I stare at the Gun Queen, seeing her as something more than just a mob or adversary to kill. As with Witgar, she could talk and think, but hearing her final words was almost like seeing into her very soul. Her true soul, the person she was meant to be and not the insane persona this place has perhaps forced her to become.

  “I wonder how long she’s been here,” I say, pondering just how many times she’s been killed and respawned again. “She must have been driven crazy after all these years.”

  “She’s certainly very different here than in the Sims,” Angela says, sidling up next to me. “Did you understand what she was talking about?”

  “A little,” I say. “She mentioned the word Ozoku.”

  “Which means what?”

  I think of those skull-faced demons and the hold they have over the system, what’s perhaps making all of this collapse. “I think it’s the things we’re here to stop.”

  “What do you mean?”

  I look up at Queen Angela and give her a smile.

  “Probably too much to get into at the moment,” I say, but I almost wish I could have conversed with that voice I heard at the end. To know the truth of our history, of the Ozoku or whatever they’re called. But for now, I’ll have to settle for the fragments while we keep going and hopefully find more answers along the way. “I guess we should just be thankful that we won.”

  “All thanks to you,” Queen Angela says as she looks down at me. “To be honest I wasn’t sure I was going to live through it. Well done, Reece. You really pulled this off.”

  “No,” I say and look to my fallen teammates. “We all did.”

  * * *

  Queen Angela uses her Revive ability to raise Gilly first. I’m a bit nervous as there’s a 10% chance of failure, but the ability goes off without a hitch and Gilly is soon back in my arms again. Gilly then casts Great Miracle and brings everyone back.

  After a brief reunion and sharing what happened, we gather around the Gun Queen’s body to get what we came for. We party up and I motion for Queen Angela to absorb what’s left of the Gun Queen.

  She smiles at me, her face now scratched and worn through in parts, like an antique doll. “I think you should have the honors, Reece. That was a dicey fight and partially made so by my doing. But you saw us through. You go on and loot it, I trust you.”

  “Yeah go on, Reece,” Becky says. “Go for it.”

  Val Helena claps me on the back. “Take it, Reece.”

  “Yeah, you earned it,” Lance says and gives me an actual smile.

  I smile back and look to each of my comrades, a sense of both pride and humility welling up in my heart. “Thanks everyone for not giving up and for going with the flow when things got hairy.” I focus especially on Aiko, Val Helena, and Maxis. “I know I made some tough calls, some you might not have agreed with at the time, but I appreciate you going along with it anyway, even if it put you at risk.”

  “All’s well that ends well,” Aiko says, folding her arms before giving me a wink. “I won’t hold it against you, but I’ll think of some way for you to pay me back.”

  I chuckle at that and hope it’s not another motorcycle ride.

  Maxis sends me a PM.

  Maxis: You did good, Bro. Made better calls than I would have made. Glad it was you and not me.

  I smile at my brother as he gives me a nod.

  Me: Thanks, man.

  “Come on, Reece, stop stalling!” Gilly nudges me playfully in the side. “I’ve got an archive to unlock and a city to find, and I can’t do either with you blabbering on and on.”

  Her humor gives us all a well-needed chuckle.

/>   “Okay, here goes,” I say and rest my palm against the Gun Queen’s body.

  I hope to meet you again, I say inwardly, staring at the Gun Queen’s shattered jewel, the remnants of what perhaps housed her now-vacant soul. Maybe after I fix this world, you can be your true self again.

  The dented metal collapses into nano-dust as several items scroll onto my HUD, which I immediately link to the party chat.

  You absorb the corpse.

  You find £500000

  You find a CEOIOU

  You find a Nanonite Plate x 20

  You find a Memory Unit x 10

  You find a Backup Core Voucher x 1

  You find an Aerial Laser Cannon MkII

  “I believe this is yours,” I say to Angela and assign her the Aerial Cannon.

  Angela receives an Aerial Laser Cannon MkII

  She closes her eyes with a little smile, almost as if saying a prayer. “Thank you, everyone. You don’t know how much this means.”

  “What about everything else?” Lance says.

  “Well, you’re the only one who’s ever spoken to a Builder before, Reece,” Becky says. “So you’d better grab that IOU.”

  I smile and loot it.

  You receive a CEOIOU.

  “Reece, look,” Gilly says. “A backup core voucher!”

  The name rings a bell, but I’m not certain of the significance.

  “The implant,” she says. “It’s what you need so you don’t lose your memories again when you go back to the labyrinth.”

  “Wow,” I say. “Yeah, I do need that.”

  “Whoa,” Lance says, pumping his hands in a slowdown gesture. “You know how much that thing is worth? And it’s more use to Angela than to you. That thing is made for androids so they can get a second life.”

  “It’s okay,” Angela says. “Let him have what he needs.”

  Lance locks eyes with her, looking perplexed. “Are you sure?”

  “Trust me,” she says. “If I didn’t already have one, I’d be looting it. But I will need everything else, if you don’t mind. This damage is going to take quite a bit of money and armor plating to repair.”

  “I’m cool with that,” I say and distribute the rest.

  Angela receives £500000

  Angela receives a Nanonite Plate x 20

  Angela receives a Memory Unit x 10

  You receive a Backup Core Voucher

  I look at my two new items and smile. It was a hard-fought battle, but totally worth it in the end.

  “So what now?” Lexi asks. “Back to HQ?”

  “No way,” Gilly says. “I want access to those archives before we even get there. Go on, Reece. Use it.”

  “No time like the present,” Aiko says with a grin. “Go on.”

  I shrug and take a closer look at the item.

  CEOIOU

  For some reason the man himself owes you one. Be specific, be concise, and you might even get what you want.

  Single use. Untradeable.

  I grimace at the description. “I can tell this Lennox guy is going to be a far cry from Karlis.”

  “Who cares,” Gilly says and gives me a kiss on the cheek as if for luck. “Just don’t screw up. Get me my access!”

  I look about and see everyone staring at me in anticipation.

  “I guess now it is.”

  I materialize the item in my hand, which appears as a business card with the Lennox Corp logo on one side and the three letters I-O-U on the other.

  “Here goes,” I say.

  I crush the card within my palm and the world disappears in a brilliant white light.

  Chapter 36: Lennox

  I expect to be transported into a sea of stars.

  Instead I find myself standing in front of an office door in the middle of an endless corridor. I look left and right and the completely white walls stretch into the distance as far as I can see both ways, narrowing to a pinprick. I squint at the trippy effect caused by the perspective and wonder if it’s truly endless or just some kind of optical illusion.

  No time to worry about that, I chide myself, I’m on a timer.

  I check my HUD.

  Audience 4:56

  Yup, it’s started already.

  On the solid wooden door in front of me, marked simply with CEO, there’s a screen with an interface:

  You have 1 IOU to spend.

  [+] Advance 5 levels.

  [+] Obtain a rare weapon.

  [+] Obtain a rare armor piece.

  [+] Obtain a rare item.

  [+] Unlock an Advanced Class

  [+] Make a Request

  I choose Make a Request and an exasperated sigh comes from the other side of the door. “Bloody hell. Another punter.”

  Geez, was that him?

  “Enter!” the voice commands.

  A second later the door swings inwards and I peek inside the interior of a massive office surrounded completely by glass. Through the large panes, the normal sky is replaced by the sea of stars I was expecting to see at first. At the center of the office, a large solid wood desk sits atop a plush royal-blue carpet that fills the entire room.

  Behind the desk, a young black man with close-cut hair, wearing a dark-blue pinstriped suit and a neon-green tie, glares at me like I just interrupted his lunch or something.

  “Well let’s have it then,” he says with a clipped New London accent, far more rapid than any I’ve heard before. “What is it? What do you want? Speak up.”

  His sharp, aggressive tone takes me so off-guard and I literally freeze for a couple seconds, trying to remember why I’m even here.

  “So you don’t know what you want? Didn’t you read the bloody instructions?”

  “No, I mean yes,” I stammer as I take a step into the office. Crap, get it out, Reece. “I want access to the Grand Archives….please. That’s my request.”

  “That’s it?” he says.

  I nod emphatically. “Yes.”

  Specific and concise, just like you want.

  “The answer’s no,” he says and swivels his high-backed chair away from me. “Take it easy, mate. Door’s behind you.”

  What the heck?

  “Hey, that’s not how this works,” I protest. “You still owe me a favor!”

  He swivels back. “No I don’t.”

  I narrow my eyes at the guy behind the desk. “Are you really Lennox?”

  He jerks his head back in his collar, looking offended. He then points to a gold nameplate atop the desk that reads CEO. “What’s that say, mate?”

  “It doesn’t say Lennox.”

  He huffs out a laugh. “Oh I see. A smart aleck, eh? Well let’s see you get what you want without me being the CEO then.”

  Man, this guy’s a real jerk. “You don’t seem to be able give me what I want, even as the CEO.” I glare at the distinctly human-looking deity sitting in front of me. “And by the looks of you, you probably aren’t even him.”

  “Looks of me?” He stands to his feet abruptly. “What do you mean by that?”

  This has to be some kind of trick…or a test maybe. I expected to see some other mermaid-looking creature or a merman perhaps. Although in this cyberpunk world maybe even a half-man half-robot would suffice. But there seems to be nothing special about him at all.

  I check him for stats and only a name appears.

  Lennox

  Ok, that part checks out at least, but it still could be some kind of ruse.

  “Yeah… I’ve seen a Builder before,” I say. “And they didn’t look like you.”

  “Well what did you expect me to look like?” he fires back. “A big bloody dragon or something? Or a robot?” He sneers at me distastefully. “Or a man with a bloody horse’s rear?”

  I squint at him again. “That last one sounds real specific.”

  Maybe this guy is just a pawn for the real Lennox or something. A proxy.

  He squints back at me with a raised finger. “Who did y
ou say you were again?”

  “I’m the guy with the IOU!” I become more aggressive. I see how I’m going to have to deal with this guy now. This is a test of sorts, but of willpower perhaps. “I’ve done this before so I know how it works. And I’ve still got…” I check the timer. “…three minutes and thirty-four seconds left with you. If you can’t honor the request I’ve made, then you still owe me one, because I haven’t spent it yet.”

  He rolls his eyes and then slumps back in his chair, looking annoyed. “Stupid bloody rules. So what else do you want then?”

  “I said I want access to the archives!” I stress again.

  “And I already told you—” He gives an overly dramatic shake of his head— “the answer is no.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t need to explain myself to you. My answer’s my answer.”

  “Are you saying you can’t do it?”

  “No one said anything about can’t.”

  “So that means you can and just won’t then?”

  “Look, I’m not getting into this with you.”

  “Why?” I ask. “Because the notice said that Lennox is the one who shut the archives down. Which means that either you can’t open it back up, because you’re not the real Lennox or you can open it and you’re bluffing me right now. So which is it?”

  “You still think I’m not for real?” he says, looking agitated. “Tell you what, mate, try this. Leave here. Go get another IOU. Use it. And then see who’s sitting behind this desk.”

  “Hopefully someone more helpful than you.”

  “Is that supposed to be a joke or something?”

  Why is he giving me such static about this?

  “Look you can either give me access to the Grand Archives, or the location of Citadel. That’s what I’m here for. Can you do either of those?”

  “I already told you no on the access,” he says and then pauses a moment, rubbing his chin. “But I’ll look into this Citadel thing for you. I’ll send you a message if I find it.”