The Player Blackout

by Lucas Flint

  “I’ve been asking myself that same question this entire time.” I shrugged. “And I still don’t have any answers, other than someone in the government was looking out for me. And Atmosfear, too, apparently, which is really scary once you think about it.”

  “Scary?” Dillo repeated. “More like terrifying.” He gulped. “I hope the other Project Second Life participants are more like you and less like Atmosfear.”

  “I hope so, too,” I said in agreement. “So, anyway, that’s the truth. Sorry for keeping it a secret from you guys for so long, but—”

  “No,” said Recover. She spoke very calmly now, though the betrayal in her eyes was still obvious. “No, I understand. You didn’t want to be punished. I get it. I really do.”

  I bit my lower lip. “It doesn’t sound like you do to me, honestly.”

  “Well, I don’t know,” said Recover, turning away from me. “It isn’t like you lied to us about your real nature this whole time. Or that now I question your motives for trying to stop Dark Kosmos in the first place.”

  “My motives?” I said, standing upright and looking at Recover in suspicion. “What are you talking about? I want to help the other players. What’s so wrong with that?”

  Recover whirled around and pointed an accusing finger at me. “How do we know that? The Blackout is different for you and Atmosfear. For you two, this game is your life. You have no reason to fight for the rest of us. How do we know you won’t just quit when things get too difficult?”

  “Quit?” I said. “I’m not going to quit. Where the heck would I quit to?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” said Recover. She spread her arms. “The whole freaking game world?”

  “Listen, Recover,” I said, “just because this game might be my life doesn’t mean I only care about myself. Cy can attest to that. My immediate reaction when Dark Kosmos’ broadcast ended was to go out and try to kill him. You remember that, right, Cy?”

  Cy, who looked uncomfortable, nodded. “Yeah, I remember. And I’m still not sure it was the wisest thing to do, to be honest.”

  “See?” I said, gesturing at Cy. “If I was as selfish as you seem to think I am, we wouldn’t even be here right now.”

  “How do we know that you and Atmosfear aren’t actually working together?” Recover asked. “It seems awfully coincidental that you and Atmosfear happen to know each other in real life and then run into each other in-game at the same time like this.”

  I stepped toward Recover, my hands curled into fists, and said, “Don’t you ever accuse me of working with a monster like Atmosfear, or I’ll—”

  “Whoa, whoa,” said Dillo. He appeared between us, holding ups his hands. “Everyone, calm down. I know this is a really stressful situation and Winter’s revelation knocked our socks off, but we’re all still on the same Team here, so let’s try not to do Dark Kosmos’ dirty work and kill each other, okay?”

  “But she accused me of working with a criminal,” I said, looking at Dillo. “Am I just supposed to stand back and take it?”

  “I suppose so,” said Recover, folding her arms under her chest, “if you expect us to accept the fact that you’re a mind uploaded to a game, a fact you never saw fit to share with us until someone else did. What other facts about you are you hiding from us, I wonder?”

  “I told you, the Department of VR said—”

  “Guys!” said Dillo, raising his voice and causing both of us to look at him again. “What does all this infighting get us? It gets us nothing. We need to be united. We might have defeated Atmosfear, but the real boss is still waiting for us and the more time we spend here arguing, the less time we have to defeat Dark Kosmos. Or should I remind you guys that we don’t have all the time in the world to argue about who’s in the wrong here?”

  “Gotta side with Dillo here,” said Funky, who, as usual, seemed perfectly at ease despite the tensions rising. “Dark Kosmos is probably laughing at us right now. Perhaps he thinks we’ll save him the trouble and kill each other. It would certainly be more convenient for him.”

  “Yeah,” said Cy, nodding quickly. “This reminds me of an old song I used to listen to. I think the lyrics went something like this: Why can’t we be friends, why can’t we be friends …”

  I scowled but found it hard to argue with what everyone else was saying. Still, I didn’t like being accused of working with criminals, especially a criminal as evil as Atmosfear. It rubbed me the wrong way because I had become a police officer precisely in order to put criminals like Atmosfear behind bars.

  “But how can we know?” said Recover. She looked at the others with a pleading expression on her face. “Do any of us really know each other? Think about it. Even though we’re all on the same Team, we’re still anonymous. We only know each other by our Secret Identities. How can any of us actually know each other?”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t this the way the game has always been? Why is it suddenly an issue for you now?”

  “Because of you,” said Recover. She took a step back, a troubled look on her face. “I don’t know. I don’t feel like I can trust any of you. If you’re willing to keep such a big secret from the rest of us, then maybe this entire situation isn’t as it seems. Maybe you even have something to do with Dark Kosmos’ rise to power.”

  “What are you talking about?” I said, putting my hands on my hips. “You’re just blabbing now, you know that?”

  “Blabbing?” asked Recover. “Is that what you call it when someone expresses their concerns to you? Some Team Leader you are. Guess Charisma isn’t your highest Stat.”

  “Guys—” said Dillo again, but I shot him a glare that shut him up instantly.

  Looking at Recover again, I said, “So what do you want me to say? That I’m sorry? Because frankly, my hands were tied behind my back. If I could have, I would have told you guys what I was from the start.”

  Recover took another step back, looking at me with an accusing glare in her eyes. “Would you have? I don’t know. I can’t say I’ve ever known the real Winter or if the real Winter even exists anymore. Maybe you’re really just a government spy keeping an eye on us for who-knows-why.”

  My eyes narrowed. My hands balled into fists even more tightly than before, but I couldn’t deny that under my simmering hatred was also a hint of sadness at her accusations. “What do you want to do then? Quit the Team and go home?”

  Recover looked at me defiantly. “Perhaps I will. Will you try to stop me if I do?”

  I shook my head. “No. You’re free to do what you want. I’m not a tyrant like Dark Kosmos or criminal scum like Atmosfear. If you want to go and take your chances out on the streets by yourself, then be my guest. We don’t need you.”

  Even I was surprised by my own words, but I stood by them. The way I saw it, if Recover really felt this way about me, then we didn’t need her. I didn’t need division and distrust in my Team if we were going to take down Dark Kosmos.

  Then Recover slowly nodded. “Fine. I’m going, then, and taking Brawn with me. We’ll find some other way to survive. We don’t need you, either.”

  As soon as Recover said that, a notification popped up in my view which read:

  [Hero Recover] and [Sidekick Brawn] have left Team Winter. Current number of Teammates: 3/3.

  Without saying another word, Recover turned and left, heading back in the direction we came, with Brawn following loyally behind her like a puppy. The two of them disappeared into the hallway leading back down to the Sewers and closed the door behind them without so much as a glance back toward us.

  And, despite what I just said about not needing her, I felt like I just made a terrible mistake.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  “Whoa,” said Cy, looking at the door that Recover and Brawn had just disappeared through. He looked at me. “They’re really gone?”

  The questioning, confused tone in Cy’s voice hit me hard for some reason. It reminded me of when I was 12 and my younger brother, Joseph, was 5. Our puppy, a
cute little chihuahua named Pickles, got hit by a car when he ran out onto the road one day and we had to put him down. I distinctly remembered Joseph—who hadn’t experienced the death of a pet yet—asking me that same question about Pickles. I knew it was ridiculous, but that was what Cy reminded me of.

  “Yes,” I said. “She—they—are gone.”

  “But Recover was our main Healer,” said Cy. “You saw how tough Team Atmosfear was. I bet Dark Kosmos is going to be even harder.”

  “Hello?” said Hop, glancing up from her phone at Cy. “I’m still here, you know.”

  Cy glanced at Hop. “Yeah, but you’re not as hot as Recover. I mean, you’re cute and all, but Recover is a fairly mature woman, if you know what I—”

  “Cy does have a point,” Dillo said. “Not about Recover’s hotness, I mean. Recover was a higher level than Hop and has access to some Healing Powers that Hop doesn’t yet. Losing her means we only have one Healer to our Team, which is typical for most Teams, but it’s still a pretty big disadvantage, especially if we’re going up against Dark Kosmos.”

  “We’ll make do,” I said. “I trust that Hop will be able to pick up the slack. And look on the bright side: Hop will get more experience and will be able to level up faster with fewer members on the Team.”

  I said that all with a straight face, but frankly I did feel terrible about what I said to Recover. I could see, from her point of view, why she was so upset about me keeping secrets from her and the rest of the Team. Maybe I should try to apologize to her, but at the same time, I still didn’t appreciate being accused of cooperating with Atmosfear, of all people, or being a government spy. Perhaps that was just my pride talking, but the way I saw it, if Recover couldn’t trust me, then I couldn’t trust her, either. A part of me wondered if my Trust Stat had anything to do with this, but then I remembered that Trust only affected one’s relationships with NPCs, not with other players. Which made sense, of course, but made things that much harder for the rest of us.

  I looked at Dillo and Funky. “What about you two? Do you guys still want to be part of the Team?”

  Dillo shrugged. “Yeah. I mean, what choice do we have, really? If we go home now, Dark Kosmos will still be in charge, and then in a few weeks our bodies will waste away in the real world from a lack of nutrients and we’ll die for real. Even if we die here, we’ll at least respawn back in our Bases.”

  “Same here,” said Funky. “I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’ve come too far to simply give up at this point. Even if the rest of you decided to go home, I would keep going. I can’t afford to quit.”

  I looked at Funky carefully as he spoke. I remembered Recover’s words, about how we couldn’t really trust each other because we didn’t really know each other. Funky had been one of my closest and most trustworthy allies since I entered the game, but I wondered about his real identity at times and just who he was. Whatever he was, he was obviously not just a simple newbie looking to have a fun time pretending to be a superhero in a virtual reality world. That much I knew.

  “Then it’s settled,” I said. “We’ll keep going until we reach Dark Kosmos’ lair. And one way or another, we’ll complete this Mission, regardless of what awaits us further ahead.”

  Although I said that, I still didn’t really believe it. Despite my outward appearance, Recover’s quitting the Team hurt me more than I wanted to admit. Still, I couldn’t show that to Funky, Dillo, Hop, and Cy. If I was going to lead this Team, then I needed to project strength and security. I learned that lesson from my Dad, who in his job as a judge rarely showed indecision even in the toughest cases, but in private he would be more open about his doubts and worries.

  “All right, then,” said Funky. “Before we continue, perhaps we should all review our Stat Points. I believe all of us leveled up after that battle, so now’s a good time as any to decide which Stats and Powers we need to boost. All of us need to be as strong as possible if we’re going to defeat Dark Kosmos.”

  I nodded and pulled up my character sheet:

  Secret Identity: Winter

  Real Identity: Nyle Ash Maxwell

  Level: 14

  EXP: 300/3,500 (3,300 EXP to the next level)

  Available Stat Points: 4

  Available Power Points: 2

  Alignment: Hero

  Class: Fighter

  Reputation: Budding Hero

  Powers: Super Strength [Level 2], Ice Beam [Level 2. Next Level: 10 PP], Freezing Touch [Level 1. Next Level: 6 PP], Hero Sense [Level 1]

  Skills: Scan [Level 2], Dodge [Level 1], Perception [Level 1]

  Combo Powers: Blizzard [Level 1]

  Equipment: Ice Man Costume [Powers: 2/5], Energy Cannon [Left Arm]

  Health: 29

  Stamina: 15

  Strength: 25

  Defense: 17

  Charisma: 5

  Intelligence: 11

  Agility: 18

  Evasion: 6

  Accuracy: 15

  Dexterity: 17

  Energy: 34

  Luck: 2

  HERO STATS

  Courage: 10

  Justice: 11

  Trust: 6

  Fame: 11

  Willpower: 9

  I stroked my chin in thought as I reviewed my character sheet. I took note of the new Combo Powers section, which had the new Combo Power Cy and I had created. It was Level 1 at the moment and seemed to level up like the others, but at the moment I decided not to spend my Power Points on it. I felt like Blizzard was strong enough as is, but Freezing Touch could use some more PP, so I dumped both of my Power Points into Freezing Touch. That meant it needed just 4 more Power Points to reach Level 2, which meant I just needed to level up another couple of times before I could do that.

  Looking over my Stats, I had a tough time deciding where I should allocate my Stat Points. I had no idea what to expect from Dark Kosmos, so it was tough to decide what Stats needed my attention. My fight with Atmosfear had depended on my Energy and Health, so I put one Stat Point into each Stat, bringing them up to 35 and 29 respectively.

  That left me with 2 Stat Points, which I decided to put into Evasion. Although I had the Dodge Power, I suspected that my Evasion Stat was related to it somehow. Perhaps Evasion helped me Dodge easier. I made a mental note to ask Cy or Funky about it later.

  With all of my SPs and PPs distributed, I looked at my character sheet again:

  Secret Identity: Winter

  Real Identity: Nyle Ash Maxwell

  Level: 14

  EXP: 300/3,500 (3,300 EXP to the next level)

  Available Stat Points: 0

  Available Power Points: 0

  Alignment: Hero

  Class: Fighter

  Reputation: Budding Hero

  Powers: Super Strength [Level 2], Ice Beam [Level 2. Next Level: 10 PP], Freezing Touch [Level 1. Next Level: 4 PP], Hero Sense [Level 1]

  Skills: Scan [Level 2], Dodge [Level 1], Perception [Level 1]

  Combo Powers: Blizzard [Level 1]

  Equipment: Ice Man Costume [Powers: 2/5], Energy Cannon [Left Arm]

  Health: 30

  Stamina: 15

  Strength: 25

  Defense: 17

  Charisma: 5

  Intelligence: 11

  Agility: 18

  Evasion: 8

  Accuracy: 15

  Dexterity: 17

  Energy: 35

  Luck: 2

  HERO STATS

  Courage: 10

  Justice: 11

  Trust: 6

  Fame: 11

  Willpower: 9

  I doubted this would be enough to help me defeat Dark Kosmos—assuming he really was as invincible as Chuck made him out to be—but I needed every advantage I could get, so this would have to do.

  Closing my character sheet, I looked at the others. “Everyone ready?”

  “Yep,” said Funky, stroking Lennox’s head.

  “As I’ll ever be, I guess,” said Dillo with a sigh.

  “I�
�m ready to save the world!” said Cy, who was now hopping up and down like a rabbit.

  “Whatever,” said Hop, her eyes practically glued to her phone. “Let’s just get this over with already.”

  I nodded. A part of me still felt bad about Recover leaving the Team, but I pushed such thoughts out of my head for now. If we defeated Dark Kosmos and saved all the players, then I would go and find her and try to make amends. Assuming, of course, we survived what was to come.

  “All right, then,” I said. I looked over at the Teleportation Pad that Team Atmosfear had been standing upon. “Funky, you said the Hall of Justice has Teleportation Pads that can take us to any floor in the building, right?”

  “Right,” said Funky as we walked over to the nearest Pad. “There are stairs and elevators, but those are for Civilians and Heroes who aren’t members of the League. Teleportation Pads are designed for members of the Justice United, but don’t worry. I know how to use them, so we should be able to teleport to Dark Kosmos’ room without difficulty.”

  “We’re going directly to him?” asked Dillo. “Not going to try to level grind against his minions first?”

  “Do we even have time for that?” I said. “Being stronger is always better, but frankly I don’t want us to waste our Stamina fighting our way up to Dark Kosmos’ lair on the top floor. I want us to be in top shape for our fight against Dark Kosmos, because I doubt he will go easy on us once we find him.”

  We stopped in front of the Teleportation Pad. As if he did this sort of thing every day, Funky swiped his hand to the right and a holographic keyboard appeared. He quickly punched in a code I couldn’t follow and then the Teleportation Pad began to glow red.

  “Okay,” said Funky, looking at us. “It’s on. As soon as we stand on the Pad, we’ll be instantly teleported to Dark Kosmos’ room.”

  “Wow, it’s that easy?” said Cy in surprise.

  “I’m just as surprised as you are,” said Funky, looking at the glowing Teleportation Pad. “I expected Dark Kosmos to charge the codes for each floor in order to make it impossible for people to reach him directly. I guess he didn’t anticipate any players actually entering his Hideout to confront him personally, especially those who weren’t members of Justice United in the first place.”