“We should be close to finishing this one,” Dozer said. “Should be final boss time here pretty soon. Get ready for something big.”
“Get in as many hits as you want,” Fuse added, “but leave the last hit for Mitch. Killing that boss should be our ticket out of here. Chu is waiting for us, somewhere.”
“Sure, Chu’s great and all,” Punch said over the comm, “but, holy moly do I want to get back to the real world for some lady action. You guys know what I’m talking about.”
“Been a while?” Dozer asked.
“However long we’ve been in here, that’s how long it’s been,” Punch said. “Too long for me.”
“I’m sure there’s a collection of vacant singles with low self-esteem forming a line outside your door,” Dozer shot back.
“Singles?” Punch said as he pushed his Annihilator forward, rounding the next corner. “Hell to the no with singles. My key to dating is two pronged. First: she needs to be young enough to be wearing a bikini in her Karma profile picture. That’s super important. Second: she needs to be married. No singles allowed.”
Mitch took lead down the hallway, checking the corners before waving the team onward. Gray walls, wiring, assorted crates and boxes stacked to the sides, a few dead end alleys here and there, but not much more. He reloaded his guns, making sure his scanners were active and at the ready. With nothing ahead of them, and no enemy activity for the past few minutes, Mitch was starting to share Dozer’s feeling that something big was coming, and soon.
“Married women?” Fuse asked. “Why would you go after married women? Doesn’t make any sense.”
“Or does it make all the sense in the world?” Punch replied. “Simple math, my friend. If I ask out a single girl, that will beg the question in her mind, ‘Is this guy better than all my other options?’ The answer to that is obviously no. But with a married woman, she’ll just ask herself, ‘Is he better than that douchebag I married?’ Better odds that way. I’m surprised you didn’t think of that yourself.”
“You’re a pig,” Dozer said.
“Running the numbers,” Fuse said, “I’d say you have a better chance of getting a shotgun to the back than finding your lifetime companion.”
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Punch said. “A risk I take for love.”
“Quiet on the channel back there,” Mitch said, approaching the end of the hallway. He rounded the corner and recoiled at a bright wash of sunlight beaming through his canopy, reflecting off the metal floor beneath his machine’s feet. He found himself standing at the entrance to some type of amphitheater, carved out of metal, like an Incan temple built from steel. Down past the massive flight of stairs, a dirt floor lined a pyramid-shaped temple, with a smaller platform flattening the top. On its roof, an eight-legged machine paced. The machine, which lit up on Mitch’s scanner with the name “Aranator,” looked like someone had mixed a bull with a forty-foot spider and thrown in a Sherman tank just for fun. Mitch paced his Annihilator carefully across the platform to get a better angle, looking for any more company.
“That’s got to be the boss,” Mitch whispered. “But no sign of Red Code. He’s down there, somewhere. I just know it.”
“Let’s worry about the giant spider-bull-thing first,” Punch advised. “If red-ass shows up to join the party, we’ll figure something out.”
“He’ll find us if he’s here,” Dozer said. “He’s got no way into Skirmish without us.”
“So let’s make sure we’re ... ” Mitch turned to the team, ready to form an attack plan, but found himself a few seconds too late. Dozer had already Leeroy Jenkins-ed herself right down the stairs, running full-sprint straight at the boss. She screamed something Mitch couldn’t recognize as the guns began to blaze, leaving a wake of shell casings behind her, chiming off the floor.
The first round of shots hit the joint connectors on a few of the spider’s legs, tick-tacking their way up to its torso. Aranator spun, its eyes flashing bright white, activating a semi-circle translucent shield around its body. As the shield sprang to full extension, Dozer’s bullets began deflecting in every direction, including right back at the group.
“Scatter!” Mitch yelled, taking refuge behind a wall. “Everyone get moving. Fuse, get some ordnance up over that shield.”
“On it,” Fuse said, running his robot’s huge frame down the left side of the stairs like a tight end going out for a pass. “Sure could use some sniper cover right now.”
“Sniper fire will have to wait,” Dozer yelled back. Her dramatic entrance into the arena had managed to distract the Aranator away from the rest of the group. As she circled the boss, still firing into the shield, she was pulling its attention, and defenses, along with her.
Treading across the dirt floor, Fuse padded his robot silently up the stairs of the center temple, dodging ricocheting bullets every few steps, and took a flying leap up and over the boss’s back. He pivoted mid-air, throwing two sticky bombs, each clunking with hollow echoes as their magnets affixed on the enemy’s arched hind quarters. The Aranator spun and swatted, whiffing just inches away from the lower leg of Fuse’s Annihilator as he landed his machine in a pretty impressive barrel roll on the far side of the temple. He jumped up with his guns blazing, now squared up facing the boss’s unprotected backside.
The bombs exploded with a one-two cadence, knocking the Aranator’s weight onto its right legs, then its left, shaking and wobbling like some new dance move all the kids are doing. The boss’s health bar bonked down to just under fifty percent.
“Nice moves, Poindexter,” Dozer yelled, now standing next to Fuse and keeping her machine guns hot. “Didn’t know these Annihilators could do that.”
“How many times do I have to tell you?” Fuse replied, continuing to fire, his breath rushed over the comm. “You should really read the manual.”
The boss found its feet and turned in a flash, shooting a lattice of white electronic web into the air, both high and low, hitting the two Annihilators at their heads and feet. The blast knocked them down the steps, their machines now frozen, metal decaying and sizzling away with a smoky chemical reaction. The Aranator screamed a banshee-like wail and paced towards them, heading in for the kill.
“Son of a bitch,” Dozer yelled. “Somebody help us out over here.”
“I’m on it,” Punch yelled, making his way down to the base of the temple’s stairs and firing up a set of heat-seeking rockets. He pulled at both triggers, letting the projectiles fly. The Aranator pulled back on its hind legs, waiting, and then rolled across the platform, the missiles detonating harmlessly against the temple wall. “Rockets aren’t going to work,” Punch said, “this thing is too fast. We’ll need to try something else.”
“Incoming!” Mitch yelled. While Punch had been keeping the enemy robot occupied, Mitch had used the Annihilator’s rapid grappling ability to climb the nearest pillar, getting at least a hundred feet into the air before making the jump. He stuck the landing, square at the center of the Aranator’s back. The impact sent the boss down to the stone floor and spun Punch backwards, sending him flying down the stairs. Mitch looked down at his machine’s feet to find himself pinning the spider to the ground, its body broken, its legs flailing helplessly to the sides. Time to finish this. Mitch wound up his huge mechanical fists like a prizefighter, punching deep into the boss’s stomach, over and over. Sparks and fire flew out as the boss’s health ticked down with each blow.
After a few final shots, Mitch jumped off the helpless spider. The Aranator lay twisted and broken at the center of the temple, no soul left in its eyes, no vigor in its movement. Mitch took a long last look at the boss, ending the battle with a strike of his hand down into the machine’s chest. He pulled out a mechanical heart, watching its final movements as the pulsing arteries sparked, until it finally faded to dark.
ARANATOR - DESTROYED
YOU HAVE LEVELED UP
FULL HEALTH RESTORED
Mitch’s heart was still pounding, hi
s veins throbbing, as he stared down at the remains of Aranator, tossing the robot’s heart off to the side like an afterthought. A loot indicator appeared, hovering over the boss’ metallic corpse, giving Mitch a volt rifle and laser sword for his trouble. He’d done it. He looked over to his team, who were staring, jaws dropped, completely still.
“Not too shabby, eh?” Mitch asked.
“Mitch ... ” Fuse whispered over.
“Dude,” Punch added, turning his status screen public for all to see. It showed a list of each team member’s name next to their Karma experience points. Next to Mitch’s name, there was a number that pushed through the left edge, a “1” that had never been seen before in the history of Karma Systems.
SPITFIRE - KARMA POINTS: 1,000,000,849
He’d killed the machine, but more than that, he’d crossed the line. A line he hadn’t cared about, but now that he was past it—well, now things were different. No Karma Systems user had ever seen a billion points before. His mind flew back to Skirmish, about what he might have just unlocked, what he had just become. If he could get his team back to Skirmish, he’d be the biggest star in the biggest game the world had ever seen.
“Nice work, Mitch,” Fuse said. “Glad I was here to see it in person.”
“What do you think you’ll get?” Dozer asked over the comm, walking her machine over to give the Aranator’s remains one last kick. “It’s got to be ridiculous, right? You’ll be unstoppable.”
“Let’s work on getting home to find out.” Punch popped his cockpit and jumped down to the floor. “Did you see the Aranator at the end there? His beady little robot eyes had this look—he just wanted to get out of town with anything he could carry, you know? More like Ass-an-ator, am I right? He sure didn’t want to deal with the greatest player Skirmish has ever seen. This is the feeling, man, this right here. Like old times. Like getting the band back together.”
Mitch felt something, too. Whatever it was, he suddenly realized that it had been with him over the years, hiding deep inside. He’d felt a piece of it every now and then, a tinge or a rush that came and went, but nothing like this. Whatever it was, the feeling was now back in full force.
Without warning, the sky shone bright, sparking to white in a flash of heat and light. Mitch reflexively covered his eyes, turning away from his dashboard, wincing. As he felt the light fade, he lowered his hand, watching the world turn back to color, washing over like rain.
He looked up to the top of the stairs, back where the team had entered the arena, and saw a familiar form emerge from the light. As the color returned, all he could see was red.
TWENTY-NINE
Take it Back
RED CODE SLAPPED the stock of his rifle into the palm of his left hand as he paced the temple’s top platform, like a tiger at the edge of its cage. He swung the weapon around his body with two hands, warming himself up, channeling the motion of a designated hitter in the on-deck circle. “I work so hard on these bosses,” he said with an exaggerated whine. “Why do you guys have to keep killing them?”
“Weird, we didn’t expect to see you here after we killed the final boss,” Dozer said, deadpan, taking a protective wide stance in front of the rest of the team. “Oh right, that’s exactly what you did last time, too. You need some new moves, Dead Code.”
“Hola, Codigo Rojo,” Punch said, rolling the ‘r’ heavy and thick. “Hola and goodbye, that is. Mitch, time to jam, let’s light this candle.”
Mitch toggled through his settings, searching for the code package, but his pace slowed as he found the new list of NeverRise weapons at his disposal. The volt rifle was thick and sturdy—holding an impressive 500 rounds at a time—and would paralyze with shock in addition to inflicting serious damage. The laser sword’s specs showed that despite its lack of range, a good shot from the blade would prove to be devastating. They looked amazing. I’ve never seen weapons this powerful.
Mitch looked up at Red Code, locking his jaw as he fought every urge flowing through his veins. The urge to grip his Annihilator’s control sticks, let loose with both triggers—pull as hard as they would go, for as long as his index fingers would last. The urge to jump out of the cockpit, run up the stairs, and tear Red Code’s head clean off with his bare hands.
I might never see him again ... not when I’m holding this much firepower.
“You know, it’s funny,” Red Code said. “I figured that being in charge, I’d get some perks. A first-class upgrade now and then, mints on my pillow, that sort of thing. But, turns out, it’s so much better than that. Turns out, when you create a world, you get information—more than you’d ever imagine. I’ve been watching you. I’ve been listening to you—every single word you say through the comm system, it’s all linked back through my network.”
“Who cares,” Fuse shot back. “We’ll be out of here in a few seconds, and this world will be no more. Just like BlockJoyMagic. Just like—”
“Yes, yes,” Red Code cut him off. “Just like DeadBlood. I worked so hard on DeadBlood. Those zombie cowboys and flying bat things, I mean the Baroness alone took me a day to even think up. I think I’ll miss that world most of all. No, you see, as usual, you’re missing the point.” He pointed his rifle down at Mitch. “You see, here, in NeverRise, my network can even read your stupid little thoughts. Anything traveling through your noggin comes right back to me. Isn’t that bananas? I expected with this group that your brains would be all vintage porn and empty social calendars, but no—not today. Today, I actually learned something: I learned that your fearless leader down there, well, I think he might have something else up his sleeve. Someone’s having second thoughts about leaving this world, isn’t that right Mitch? Want to share with the rest of the class?”
“Hands on shoulders, Mitch,” Fuse said. “We all know the drill. Let’s roll.”
Mitch checked his backpack, still tucked away in his inventory. Four mission-forward code packages left, plus one parachute. More than enough to get them all home. But getting home wasn’t on Mitch’s mind. No matter how much he thought about his team, and about Chu still out there, somewhere, he couldn’t shake the idea that he might not get this chance again. There were two things Mitch couldn’t get out of his head: Red Code was intent on destroying Skirmish, and here—in this world—he was right in Mitch’s sights.
Standing right in front of him.
“He took my life away,” Mitch whispered, clicking at his control board, closing the cockpit and switching over to the comm channel. He took a deep breath, bracing his feet firm on the machine’s pedals, pushing back into the chair. “He took the life I wanted. The life I loved.”
“You still have your life, brother,” Punch said with a new air of caution. “We all do. We can talk about this in Unicorn Puff Puff Race Car Land, or whatever the next world is on our list. Let’s go, man, crack that cockpit back open.”
“What good is a life when you’re not really living?” Mitch whispered. “I had it all. And then he took it away, he turned me into a coward. Into nothing. If you would have told me it was going to happen, I’d rather never have seen the top, you know? Packed stadiums. The headlines. It’s never something I wanted, but once it’s gone, it’s not something you forget. You tell people that you’ve moved on, but you never forget.”
“Mitch,” Fuse said. “I understand, completely. But I’m not seeing any scenario where we defeat Red Code—his level is so high here, it’s not even registering on my scanners. This isn’t our fight today. Think about Chu—she’s still out there, she needs our help. Then we’ll all get back to Skirmish safe and sound and put together a reasonable plan to—”
“If we don’t take a stand now,” Mitch said, “who says there will be a Skirmish to go back to? Red Code will find a way in. With an AI, it’s just a matter of time. I’m going to stop him. Today. Right now.” With a flick of a switch, all four of his Annihilator’s legs swirled into mechanical action. Mitch flew through the inventory menus, readying his weapons. “He took it
all away from me,” he whispered. “And now I’m going to take it back.”
“Mitch, broseph,” Punch pleaded. “Let’s hit the pause button—talk this through.”
But it was too late. Mitch pushed both sticks forward as far as they would go, feeling metal hit metal, sending the machine into a furious sprint. He selected the two weapons with the most damage potential—the volt rifle in the right hand, flamethrower in the left—and charged forward as his machine tilted up to its hind legs. Mitch felt the rush of battle take control as he squeezed both triggers and held them in place, gritting his teeth, shouting, cursing, fuming. Flames and electricity shot out of each of the Annihilator’s shoulder-mounted turrets, a tempest of destruction rolling up the steps, enveloping Red Code at the top of the stairs.
Explosions lit up the platform, but as the ball of fire and smoke rolled across the stone, Mitch saw Red Code shoot up like a superhero, jumping one hundred feet into the air, his rifle pointing down straight at Mitch. The initial gunfire—perfectly aimed and flowing with force—hit Mitch’s windshield, shattering the glass and filling his ears with warning signals, sirens, and whooping emergency alarms. Mitch pushed his machine to the cover of the nearest pillar, bringing up his mission map. There was nothing—scanners empty, no sign of Red Code past the spiderweb of glass in front of him. Mitch kicked at the cockpit with both legs, sending the windshield down onto the ground with a crash. The rush of cool air mixed with the stench of burning metal clicked him back into gear.
Where are you? ... Don’t hide from me.
“Mitch,” Fuse yelled over the radio. “He’s in the rafters. Roll to your right, now!”
Clicking the Annihilator into a blind barrel roll, Mitch hung on for dear life as the world spun around him. An explosion just to his left sent a smoking piece of shrapnel into the open cockpit, missing Mitch’s ear by inches and cutting straight through the seat. Mitch looked up to see he’d landed on the far side of the lower temple, the rest of the team out of sight, his Annihilator showing signs of damage, but all critical functions still live.
Side Quest Page 18