by David Petrie
“Well, did he apologize?” The faunus up the stairs didn’t let up.
“Yes, I did, and also, shut up!” Corvin drew his broken sword and motioned toward the stairs.
“Easy now,” Kegan grabbed him by the shoulder. “They’ll just shoot you and you’ll still be embarrassed when you respawn.”
Corvin let out a weak groan.
“He’s right,” Ginger peeked up the stairs. “We need a Shield of our own. We aren’t getting up there without protection–oh what the hell?” Ginger fell backward on her rear as a massive black and red bird flew around the corner, its talons ready to attack. It went straight for her daughter.
Piper toppled over beside her, shielding her face with hands. “I’m sorry I roasted you earlier!”
“Way to antagonize it, dear.” Ginger covered her head as well, getting swatted in the face with the bird’s impressive wingspan.
“Both of you, quit flailing,” Kegan shouted at them. “I need a clear shot–”
His sentence was cut short by a loud roar as a set of razor-sharp jaws the size of Ginger’s head snapped shut only a foot from her nose. Ruby’s squawking came to an abrupt stop as feathers showered down around her. Ginger reached for her daughter, who clung to her in return. They both let out a scream directly into the reptilian face of a wolf-sized scalefang.
The four-legged lizard lowered its head, breathing heavily enough to displace Ginger’s hair as its mane of bright feathers tickled her ear. Her mind locked up for a second. An airship was the last place she would expect to run into the monster. Then she remembered the first round of the auction and the item that Seven had purchased for Leftwitch.
The scalefang egg.
Ginger reached up and placed a hand on the beast’s cheek. “And what’s your name, fella?”
“His name’s Flint.” A rather professional voice came from behind the beast.
Ginger slid her body to one side to get a look at the source. Then she gasped. “Seven?”
“The new and improved,” responded a tall faunus, standing just behind the scalefang. A pair of horns atop her head, curling back, more like a demon’s than a ram. Her medium length hair was pushed back between them, each lock the color of dying embers. The simple tunic and canvas pants of a low-level melee player covered her body. A whip hung from a wide leather belt at her waist, marking her new class. She bowed and swept her hand in front of her to show Lockheart’s house ring on her finger. “Ready and reporting for duty, m’lady.”
“Why a faunus?” Kegan pointed a finger at her horns. “And why a Whip class?”
“The numbers worked.” Seven held out her stat-sleeve.
Hit Points: 1234 of 1234
Skill Points: 2 of 2
“The faunus racial trait gives a ten percent bonus to all attributes times the number of stats that equal zero. I leveled twice on my way up here by throwing my hatchet at enemies from somewhere safe. That gave me a total of sixty five upgrade points to spend after my respec. I put twenty two in health and the rest into defense. Plus, I purchased one skill to summon a pet.”
“Okay?” Ginger got up off the ground, not quite sure what the newly-minted faunus was thinking with a build like that.
“I can’t hurt a fly, but I can take a hit. And so can this guy.” Seven patted Flint on his muscular neck. “Thanks to the faunus race bonus and having seven stats that equal zero, I have a higher defense than some mid-level players. If I’ve done the math right, I should be able to take a few good hits as long as they aren’t critical. I’ll just have to rely on my hatchet’s default damage for now, since I can’t deal any of my own.”
“So you’re a tank?” Ginger arched an eyebrow.
“It’s what Lockheart lacks right now.” Seven sounded like a school teacher giving a lesson. “With Farnsworth’s Death Grip limiting her shielding capabilities, you need someone to absorb damage.” She patted Flint again. “Now you have two.”
“Nice job.” Ginger was impressed at how the faunus had worked the system to balance out their house. “I’m starting to pity Leftwitch for losing you.”
“Plus, we’re fireproof.” Seven touched the pendant hanging from her neck, releasing a wave of heat from her body as her eyes began to glow orange. Embers flickered through her hair as if smoldering. The same effect was applied to Flint beside her.
“Okay, now I’m just glad you’re on our side.” Ginger couldn’t stop herself from grinning as she invited the faunus into her party. That was when Kegan burst out laughing.
“Oh my god, did you actually name yourself that?” The elf held up his party readout to show her name. The words Magnificent Seven hung over her health bar. “Who do you think you are, Max?”
“No.” Seven blushed and looked away. “I just thought I should fit in.” She fidgeted with her hatchet. “Lockheart is infamous. All of you seemed larger than life before I met you. I know I’m not on the same level, but still–”
“Stop that.” Ginger held up a hand to cut her off. “You have been logged in for one night, you have somehow survived multiple attacks, killed players a hundred levels higher than yourself, and defected to one of the most badass houses in all of Noctem. Not to mention you’ve stolen a rare pet, a possessed hatchet, and two contracts.” Ginger placed both hands on her hips. “By tomorrow, your name will be plastered all over the internet, whether you want it to be or not. Just be glad you didn’t give yourself a name that makes you sound like a stripper, like I did.”
Piper snorted a laugh at her expense.
“I mean really, what kind of a name is GingerSnaps? What was I thinking?” Ginger held out her hand to Seven. “My point is, it’s too late now, you’re already one of us. So let’s go murder your old housemates.”
“Alright.“ Seven let out a polite laugh. “Flint and I will take the lead, just be ready to follow up. We can only take a few hits.”
Ginger stepped aside and glanced to the others. They each nodded back. Well, all except Kegan, who was stuffing loose feathers into his item bag from when Flint had devoured Ruby.
“What? I can make arrows with these.” He stuffed in another handful. “Not going to let you steal them and try to sell them back to me.”
“I would never do such a thing.” Ginger spun back to the stairs and got into position. “Ready?”
“Okay.” Seven crouched down and took a breath as if hesitating.
“You have this.” Ginger placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Thank you, my lady.” Seven pushed off and bolted up the stairs, covering her face with her wrists to avoid taking a critical. Guns barked above, sending streaks of crimson across her body.
Ginger checked her health, watching it plummet down to one third remaining. She wasn’t going to make it. Then, just before taking another hit, Seven dropped down and whistled.
Flint jumped clear over her and continued the charge, only taking one hit before plowing into the energy barrier protecting the trio at the top of the stairs.
Seven sprang back up and let her hatchet fly. It slammed into the shoulder of one of the Furies while the other struggled to line up a critical shot on Flint.
“Ah, what the hell?” the Shield class complained as the scalefang chewed on his arm, causing no more discomfort than drooling on him.
Piper opened fire as Ginger leaped off the side of the stairs. She spun in the air, her coat billowing around her. With a pop, Yoink’s metal claw flew from her wrist to grab hold of a rail above the three enemies. She reeled in the line and swung up and over, landing behind them. Ginger wasted no time, drawing her dagger and backstabbing one of the Furies before he could put a bullet in Flint.
The other gunman shrieked as Seven’s hatchet pulled itself free from his shoulder and flew back to her hand. For a second, relief washed over his face, then a pair of arrows slammed into his chest. He fell over the rail, followed by a trail of shimmering particles that marked his death.
Ginger pulled her dagger free of her victim just as Corvin buri
ed his broken sword into the man’s gut. He was dead before he hit the ground, leaving only the Shield class remaining.
The player kicked Flint away, clearly confused why being bitten hadn’t caused any damage. Kegan drew back his bow and held it with the arrow head just inches from the Shield’s face.
“We meet again–” he started just as Seven nudged his elbow. He let go of the bow string on reflex, putting the arrow through his target’s eye at point blank range. “Gah!” He recoiled in horror at what he’d just done before turning to Seven.
“What? We don’t have a lot of time for banter.” She avoided looking at the Shield’s body until it began to dissipate.
Ginger stared at the fiery faunus along with the others.
“I was trying to be efficient,” she explained, somehow acclimating herself to her new role a bit too fast.
“Umm, sorry to interrupt.” Corvin pointed off into the distance. “But are those mountains getting closer?”
“Yes, yes they are.” Ginger stared out at the horizon. “We’re heading right for them.”
“At our current speed and flight path…” Seven went silent for a second before adding, “We’ll hit them in five minutes.”
“Thanks, but I’d rather not know.” Kegan pulled a health vial from his pouch and handed it to Seven.
“Sorry.” She downed it and instructed Flint to sit to recover his own health.
“Well, let’s get up there.” Ginger pointed up to the large panoramic windows of the bridge above. They raced up the next flight of stairs to the entry hatch, only to find it locked. “Or not.”
“Is there another way in?” Piper holstered her pistol.
“Not unless we can fly.” Kegan pointed to the windows that covered the roof of the bridge.
“Maybe we can.” Ginger fired her grappling line up and over, feeling it catch on something. “That’ll work, I think I can take one of you up with me and come back down for someone else. We can smash our way in once we’re all up there.” She held out her arms as if waiting for a hug. “Who wants to go first?”
Everyone took a step back. Everyone except Seven.
“What, hey?”
“Thanks for volunteering.” Ginger wrapped her arms around the faunus and retracted the line. Seven let out a small shriek and grabbed on tight as her feet left the ground. “Maybe don’t look down, huh?”
Seven didn’t argue, burying her face in Ginger’s shoulder as they swung out over the deck. The wire made a high-pitched twang as it dragged across the windows above.
“How much weight can the line hold?” Seven tightened her grip.
“No idea. But the launcher is only rated for one, and it’s retracting slow.” Ginger clenched her fist to tell the mechanism to speed up, though even with that the wire could only manage a few inches per second. This left their bodies being dragged up the main window of the bridge at a snail’s pace, the glass squeaking the whole way.
Ginger looked in, finding Cassius and two other players watching as they slid up the window. She made eye contact with the Knight of the Silver Tongues, who just stared back at her. In an attempt to make the moment less awkward, she mouthed a threat through the window.
“We’re coming for you.”
Cassius responded by leaning his head to one side and holding a hand to his ear like he didn’t understand. Ginger repeated herself only to have Cassius respond by mouthing what looked like, ‘What? I can’t hear you.’
‘Never mind.’ Ginger rolled her eyes, getting an idea of what things must have been like for Noctem’s system trying to control Echo.
Finally, the grappling line brought them to the top of the bridge. Ginger let out a nervous laugh as she realized that the claw at the end was precariously hooked on the metal trim that connected the windows together. It probably wasn’t a good idea to try to make another trip. She attempted to fire her grappling line anyway, getting nothing but a high-pitched grinding from the overwhelmed launcher.
Damn, we’re going to have to go with just the two of us. Ginger leaned to the side, looking for the rest of her team down on the stairs.
“I can’t come back for you. I’ll try to get the door unlocked from inside.”
Piper gave a thumbs up.
“Okay, you ready?” Ginger produced one of her favorite explosive items from a hidden pocket in her coat.
“What? No.” Seven crouched on the glass. “What about the others?”
“No time.” Ginger snapped her fingers against the fuse and tossed the bomb to the window a few feet away. “This is happening. Just try to keep Cassius busy.”
“Wait!” Panic flooded Seven’s face. “I’m not…”
A small explosion went off, sending cracks spider webbing across the window they stood on. Then, nothing happened.
“…ready?” Seven finished her sentence, clearly expecting the glass to have broken. “Oh, thank god.”
“Ha ha, little early for thanks.” Ginger stomped her foot to force gravity to take over.
Thousands of glittering fragments surrounded them as they fell through the window and into the bridge. Seven landed on a raised platform meant for the captain while Ginger fell to the stairs leading down to the rest of the bridge. She tumbled end over end, rolling to a stop at the base of the ship’s wheel near the front of the bridge. One look at the steering mechanism told her it was a lost cause, having been smashed beyond repair. All that was left was a metal rod with a slot sticking out where the steering wheel should have been.
“I probably should have expected that.” Ginger let out a groan just as a Blade class appeared above her, ready to run her through. She placed a solid kick to his undercarriage and rolled away. With a shove, she pushed herself off the floor boards and raced up the stairs toward the captain’s platform above.
She froze as soon as she reached the top.
The crack of a whip shattered the air, followed by a jet of fire as Seven stood facing off against her former housemate. Flames climbed her weapon in one hand while a hatchet gleamed in the other. Her horns glowed red, and embers drifted from her hair.
Ginger wasn’t the only one struck speechless by the woman’s improved form, Cassius stood staring as well, before finally opening his mouth.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Seriously?” Seven’s whole body deflated. “It’s me.”
“The noob?” Recognition fell across Cassius’s face before settling into a disappointed frown. “So you’ve thrown in with this lot?”
“I have.”
“It’s not too late. You can still return one of those contracts you stole and help me kill this one.” Cassius pointed his spear at Ginger.
“Hey, quit trying to steal my new employee.” Ginger argued back.
Seven let out a sigh. “Unfortunately, I have already made up my mind and it would be unprofessional of me to go back now.”
“And it wasn’t unprofessional to betray us?” Cassius held up his house ring.
“Well, you did try to blow me up, made me smuggle a Nightmare on board, and told me to kill myself.” She waved her hatchet back and forth as if ticking off each misdeed. “I feel justified in saying that I am glad to be out of that kind of work environment. So as far as I’m concerned, I will be keeping the contracts I have gained as a well-deserved severance package.”
“So you’re a thief as well as a traitor.” Cassius narrowed his eyes. “Seems like you’ve found a house that you fit in with, then.”
“I think so.” Seven took a stance that looked like someone trying their best to imitate a fighter’s pose from the movies.
“Fine, then. You’re still a noob; a couple contract items won’t change that.” Cassius rotated his spear around and tapped the base on the floor. The four blades that made up the head of the weapon snapped open to reveal a hollow tube. A small flame flickered to life at the opening. “Let me show you what a player that has earned a contract can do.”
Seven braced as he leveled the weapon at he
r. Then, without warning, he swung it back to aim at Ginger instead, giving her no time to dodge. All she could do was bring up her coat to shield her face to avoid a critical.
Fire erupted from the spear like an explosion, detonating so close to Ginger that it launched her backward into the front window. The sound of glass breaking met her ears as all the air rushed out of her lungs. Through the fragments of shattered window, she caught a glimpse of Seven bracing as Cassius turned his weapon on her. A jet of fire engulfed the newest member of House Lockheart.
You’re on your own, Seven, Ginger thought as she flew further from the scene.
Good luck.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“Listen up!” Max fired another round into a nearby enemy. “Everyone in this room that has not yet become one of Void’s minions is going to come with me.”
“Yeah! Come with us if you want to live.” Nix whipped the silver chain attached to her wrist over the head of a void creature and snapped it back to knock them over.
“Gah, warn me if you’re going to do that.” Max glowered at the reynard that he had intended to torture up until a few minutes ago. “You almost pulled my arm off.”
“Sorry, forgot.” Her ears drooped back, looking sheepish.
Farn and Echo just shook their heads at them both.
“What on Earth is going on?” Alastair jumped off the stage with Luka and Larkin following behind. “Why are you working with her?”
“We have a temporary agreement.” Max pulled the man close to whisper in his ear, “Kira’s alive.”
“Is this true?” Alastair looked to Farn for confirmation.
“It seems that way.” The Shield couldn’t help but smile.
“Well then, lead the way.” Alastair pulled away, clearly suppressing a smile of his own.
“Don’t you even think about running.” Luka pushed forward and grabbed Nix by the arm.
“You mind?” The reynard raised her other hand and jangled the chain attached to her wrist. “I’m not going anywhere at the moment. And the situation hasn’t changed. You still can’t find me out there.”
