Multiplayer

by John C. Brewer

  Darxhan set the timer and jumped back. It exploded a few seconds later and disabled the loader. He had solved Shah’s problem, at least until the MetroGnomes could fix it, but had created a new one for himself. So he targeted the stairs and sent a volley of cannon rounds into them. They collapsed into a twisted heap on the deck with the mercs enmeshed in them. The mercs were not dead but they would take a moment to twist their way from the wreckage.

  “You better get out of there,” said Hector.

  “Too high to jump,” Deion replied.

  “Make for the loading ramp,” quipped Hector, trying to pay attention to his own screen. “That’s your best bet.”

  Ω

  GoreFiendHell lounged like Captain Kirk in his throne-like chair on the bridge of Uber Pwn. He could see the remains of Vera-2 smoking in the distance and the weak resistance clustered around the base of a nearby tunnel. His personal bodyguards clustered around him and MetroGnomes bustled at the controls. He thought about the scene from Empire Strikes Back when Imperial Walkers were advancing across the snow, except now, he was the general. “Increase forward velocity,” he growled. “Continue dispensing assault force.” A moment later, the entire structure shook as the six massive propellers that pushed Uber Pwn pushed harder. Two drop pods launched out and arced into the distance. An instant later there was a muffled explosion.

  “What was that?” barked GoreFiendHell. “Something hit us!”

  One of the MetroGnomes ran to a message board. “Problem with the torpedo launcher,” he said, studying the board. “A saboteur! He’s disabled the launcher.”

  “Find him,” said GoreFiendHell to his bodyguards, and they hustled out.

  “It’s Darxhan Gideon,” squeaked the MetroGnome.

  Gore jumped to his feet and his head nearly scraped the ceiling. “Don’t let him leave the ship,” ordered GoreFiendHell. “He’s mine. Continue the attack! Take no prisoners.”

  Ω

  Izaak and his team picked their way through the devastated city. The Reavers had cleaned out most of the scarobs and the few remaining thorks had either been killed or fled into the mountains. It was like a real life war zone. Uber Pwn passed slowly over their heads, blotting out the sun. The drone of its engines was like a squadron of bombers. They crouched instinctively, but its attention was focused to the west, exactly as the Spartans had planned, but there were still Reavers on the ground to contend with.

  “Where are we headed?” asked Cygnus.

  “We’ve got to find a place where we can sit down and copy this list,” said Izaak. “A basement or something.”

  Bullets whizzed over their heads and a rocket streaked past and exploded against the side of a building. Izaak and the others ducked into an abandoned structure and returned fire. Two mercs came down the street, plodding along like Abrams tanks, launching rounds into the building they’d taken refuge in, blowing off chunks and filling the air with digital dust and smoke.

  “Return fire!” Izaak cried, and the mercs beside him exploded into action with auto-cannons and mini-guns. Someone launched a missile. The mercs in the street started losing pieces and took cover.

  Izaak loaded his shotgun with armor-piercing sabot rounds. It wasn’t Vera, but it would work well up close. He started shooting as soon as they were in range, adding to the artillery coming from his companions. One of the mercs exploded. The other one limped into the remains of a high-rise condo across the street.

  Izaak noticed it was held up by thick concrete posts. “Concentrate all fire on that front support,” he said. The concrete post quickly eroded and the entire second floor collapsed on the hapless merc. Izaak could see him struggling under the weight of tons of digital concrete. He ran across the street, fed a shotgun shell into the chamber and placed the barrel against the merc’s head.

  “Come on Ersatz,” said the merc, who Izaak recognized as Maelstorm. “Give me a break. Don’t make me spend a week in the tank.”

  “Fine,” said Izaak, and smashed his fusion cells, trapping him there permanently.

  “Thanks a lot,” said the merc.

  “Don’t mention it,” said Izaak as they trotted away.

  Izaak had decided to head north. He hoped there would be fewer Reavers in that direction. And it might be possible to lose himself in the foothills. He did remember scarobs had been very thick in the north, but maybe the Reavers had taken care of them. So they made for the mountains, trying to stay under cover as much as possible among the crumbling high-rises and hulks of buses, trucks, and automobiles.

  They had only gone a city block when R1ng0’s head suddenly exploded in a red mist. The huge body toppled to the ground like a felled tree.

  Only one weapon could do that. “Vera!” said Izaak. So Mal-X was tracking them.

  “Where’s it coming from?” said Cygnus, just as one of the high energy rounds hit him in the chest and completely eliminated his shields. “That way!” he said and dove behind cover.

  “We could use an empath,” said Rhin0.

  “Yes,” said Izaak, wondering where Sabrah could be. “We sure could.”

  Ch. 33

  “Something’s going on,” said Veyron.

  Over the past few minutes, she’d watched as Uber Pwn took to the air. Now, below her, over the narrow coastal plain of Alanya, the giant aerial battleship was focused on ‘something’. And ‘something’ was shooting back. “I think that’s our base,” she said suddenly anxious.

  “Your friends?” said Thrylos. “They need your help?”

  “It’s just a game,” said Sabrah, suddenly reluctant to reveal herself.

  “Are you so sure?” said Thrylos.

  “Of course! Hector, I mean, Izaak tried to say there were terrorists using the game. But he’s gone off the deep end. He’s got… problems.”

  “If it is real to your friend” said Thrylos, “then your refusal to come to his aid is real also. And with what you now know, you are certainly capable of helping them. Perhaps even of turning the tide all by yourself.”

  “Serves him right,” Sabrah grumbled. “For dragging us all out here. Betraying Alkindi. Fighting with Sanjar. He needs to know what it feels like to be abandoned and betrayed.”

  “I think maybe he already knows,” replied Thrylos.

  Ω

  “What happened to everybody,” Deion said, noting the maze of hallways inside Uber Pwn had suddenly become empty. “And why are all the doors locked?”

  A shiver went up Hector’s spine as he watched Deion try one door after another only to be forced, yet again, down the main hallway. “You’re being herded to the loading bay. Gore knows you’re there.”

  Darxhan stumbled through the next door into an enormous cavern. It was easily large enough for dozens of vehicles or hundreds of troops. But even during the Reavers’ most ambitious raids, there were rarely more than a hundred characters gathered at any one time. And far fewer vehicles. And now, but for a few Bisons and a row of monocopters, it was empty and dark, save for a shadow, darker than the rest, that lurked near the center.

  “See,” said Hector, glancing over at Deion’s screen as he maneuvered Izaak through the derelict city. “GoreFiendHell.”

  “We meet at last,” the shadow said in a faux-basso. “You were once the –”

  “This isn’t Star Wars, Gore,” said Darxhan, slowly approaching him. “And you’re not Vader, so you can drop the fake accent.”

  “You betrayed me,” said GoreFiendHell.

  “The way I remember it, it was you who tried to kill me,” said Darxhan.

  “You tried to leave the Reavers. No one leaves my Reavers.”

  “Don’t you know what you’re doing? Who is paying you? Why you’re guarding Alanya?”

  “He’s paying me well, so ask me if I care.”

  Darxhan stopped about twenty feet from the hulking figure. “Terrorists are planning to kidnap the President of the United States at the Alanya summit. They’re using Omega Wars to train. You’re helping them, you s
tupid douche.”

  GoreFiendHell laughed. “Does your mommy know you think video games are real?”

  “What’s worse?” Darxhan shot back. “A kid who thinks it’s real, or an adult who knows it’s not, but spends all his time here? Why do you think they’re paying you, fool?”

  “It is truly going to be a pleasure sending you to a rep tank.” GoreFiendHell’s shoulder mounted auto-cannon fired and hurled Darxhan through a bulkhead.

  Darxhan crawled out and fired a volley of his own. A shell hit GoreFiendHell and blasted him into the ceiling. He fell back to the floor and other rounds struck around him, tearing up the deck. GoreFiendHell fired back. His armor was better but Deion was the more skilled. Still, with each blow Gore landed, Deion’s shields dropped.

  The entire vessel shook with the force of their combat and Hector realized their battle was more of a threat to Uber Pwn than anything Deion could have ever done by himself. They would destroy the ship from the inside out! Darxhan lowered his shoulder and charged GoreFiendHell with a shout.

  Shah grunted and Hector checked the screen. At the tunnel entrance, the fighting was hot. Though Darxhan had disabled the merc launcher, the Reavers’ ground forces of mercs and vanguards had crept north through the ruins and now flanked T-Reg’s forces. Shah and his friends battled ferociously, but they were outnumbered and wouldn’t last long. T-Reg ordered a retreat into the tunnel for their last stand. But it was her last order.

  Hector was watching T-Reg’s screen and saw her go down. She was defending the door so everyone else could get through when a rocket streaked in and blasted her to pixels. They’d all be dead soon.

  Pieces were falling off Uber Pwn and dropping into the city around Izaak. Just across the street, a huge metal plate crushed a car. The drone of the engines suddenly changed pitch and the ship began to turn lazily.

  “Something’s going on up there!” said Izaak, crawling among the ruins to avoid Vera’s lethal sting.

  “You think?” cried Deion, clutching his controller as he battled GoreFiendHell.

  “They’re lowering the ramp!” said Cygnus. “They’re going to deploy!”

  Just then, two dark objects fell from the ramp and hurtled toward the ground. Izaak watched them crash through the golden dome of a nearby mosque.

  “Come on!” Izaak called to his remaining comrades, and picked his way toward the mosque.

  Hector glanced over up to a different screen to see Darxhan was in the middle of a huge, domed chamber filled with Muslim motifs. Above him, a hole in the ceiling let in a ray of sunlight that enveloped him in a golden aura. “Whoa…” said Deion. “That’s kind of, too epic.”

  “Your cells are nearly dead,” said Hector, and Deion replaced Darxhan’s power source even as GoreFiendHell rose from a pile of rubble not far away and towered above Darxhan like a Balrog.

  “Let’s settle this once and for all,” growled the demon. He detached his shoulder-mounted cannon and tossed it aside. “No guns. Just merc against merc.” He cast away his sniper rifle, then his battle pistol. Out came his plasmace and a translucent ball of light crackled to life at the end. “You and me.”

  “Screw that!” said Darxhan, and opened up with his auto cannon.

  “I said no guns!” Gore shrieked, springing aside.

  “I never agreed to that, fool!” cried Darxhan, sending a stream of high-explosive shells into his foe. “Only an idiot would agree to that! And only a bigger idiot would suggest it!”

  GoreFiendHell tried to pick up his auto cannon but Darxhan blasted it out of his reach. Gore lunged one way, then the other, and swung at Darxhan with his mace, but Darxhan’s salvos kept him off balance. GoreFiendHell swore and cursed while Darxhan laughed out loud and called him names. Hector and Sanjar cackled in glee.

  At last, Darxhan’s shells breached Gore’s Mk.IV. Darxhan leapt in close, pulled his plasmace, and finished the job with a bone-crunching blow. The giant merc staggered backwards and dropped to the floor.

  “You are one stupid choad,” yelled Darxhan. “You never bring a mace to a gun-fight!”

  At that moment, Izaak stumbled into the chamber. “Not very chivalrous of you,” he said.

  Deion spun Darxhan around to find Izaak and two large mercs lumbering across the mosque. “Hector, what are you doing here? And who are these guys?”

  “You remember Cygnus X1. And this is Rhin0. They helped me get out of the citadel.”

  “You still have the lists?” said Deion.

  “Yeah. But be careful, Mal-X is out there with Vera, and we both know what that means. I’m sure he saw us come in here.”

  “Well, why don’t you start copying right now?” Helen suggested. “I can help.”

  But as soon as Izaak took the list out, there was a powerful explosion that ripped half the dome away. Through the hole, they could see Uber Pwn hovering over them. The ramp was on its way down and mercs were clustered at the top.

  “Because every time I get it out,” Izaak cried, running for cover, “somebody starts shooting at me!”

  “We’re screwed,” said Darxhan.

  More shells hit the mosque, blowing huge sections out of the wall.

  “Never thought I would be fighting a last stand from inside a mosque,” said Izaak.

  “Come on,” cried Rhin0. “We’ve got to get out of here, while there’s still time.”

  “We’re already out of time,” said Izaak. “We leave now and they are going to pwn us out in the open.”

  “So, what do we do?” asked Cygnus.

  “Nothing to do,” said Izaak, angry, bitter, and frustrated. Hector knew it was over.

  “Well, then you might as well copy as many names as you can!” said Helen. “Get going.”

  They moved to a still intact wall and crouched down behind some columns, out of sight. Izaak opened the list. There were easily a hundred names. Possibly more. Hector started copying. Helen picked up a pad and pencil and started writing too.

  Sanjar took a picture of the screen with his cell phone but it didn’t come out.

  “How much farther are you, Sanjar?” Hector asked.

  “I’m close,” said Sanjar. “But if I get any closer, Uber Pwn is going to uber pwn me.”

  The ramp hit the ground and mercs streamed down.

  “Here they come,” said Darxhan, staring through a breach in the walls.

  “We’ll give them a fight they won’t soon forget,” said Rhin0.

  “There’s four of us,” grumbled Darxhan angrily. “What’s to remember? Might as well punch out. How many names you got, Hector?”

  “Three.”

  “I’ve got two,” said Helen.

  “I don’t think that’s going to be enough to convince anyone of anything,” said Sanjar.

  Rhin0 and Cygnus stood in the breach of the wall firing at the mercs who were approaching them like a rising tide. Suddenly, it seemed every weapon on the underside of Uber Pwn opened up on the spot they were firing from. The two friendly mercs disintegrated almost instantly along with the entire side of the mosque and most of the columns shielding them.

  “Crap!” snapped Hector, on the couch scribbling names furiously. He was up to seven. Seven out of two hundred.

  “If that weren’t bad enough,” said Deion. “Now we got scarobs.”

  At first there were just a few. They flew up and landed near the mosque. Some lit on the minarets and others upon the low walls that surrounded the ancient building.

  “Lots of –” said Darxhan. “Oh my God.”

  Hector glanced over at his screen and stopped writing. “What the…”

  Darxhan’s screen had gone almost black, like a huge cloud had blotted out the very sky. But it wasn’t a cloud. It was scarobs. Thousands of them. None of them had ever seen so many at one place before; couldn’t even believe there were that many in the game. They were like locusts from the Bible except each was man-sized and carried a plasma torch.

  As they watched spellbound, the cloud divided. Hal
f converged on Uber Pwn. The other half descended on the Reaver army. Sure it wasn’t ‘real’, but the scale was unlike anything Hector could have ever imagined, and the screams of the beleaguered crusaders at the Battle of Hattin couldn’t have been much worse than the sounds issuing from the doomed Reavers. Parts from Uber Pwn rained from above. One of its engines died and the massive propeller fell earthward with a crash. Then the whole ship tipped sideways and plowed into the harbor on the east side of the peninsula, coming to rest half on land, half in the sea.

  “What happened?” they all cried, when Hector noticed a lone figure at the top of a nearby rise, just beyond the battle. Izaak raised his sniper rifle to get a better look. “Veyron!” he cried. She was dressed all in black, and her clothes and silver and jet hair whipped in the wind. It all snapped into place. “She’s doing this!” exclaimed Hector. “That’s her power! She can control scarobs!”

  In minutes, the once proud Reaver army had simply vanished. The Stryker rolled up and G0dd4rd stuck his head out of the front hatch and cried, “Get in, we’ll go get Vey –” and was cut off when his entire head vaporized in a red mist. Sanjar screamed and dropped his controller as if he’d just taken a real bullet.

  “Vera!” hissed Izaak. “Get down!”

  “Get in!” cried BayernFC, pulling G0dd4rd’s headless body back into the vehicle. Hector and Darxhan dove for cover on the far side of the vehicle, and then crawled inside the rear hatch.

  L3r0y took the controls and pushed them hard forward. A moment later, they arrived at the hill and found Veyron standing stiff and unmoving. A zombie.

  Explosions peppered the side of their vehicle and Hector looked to see an armored car speeding toward them, slamming through the derelicts scattered along the street and lobbing one shell after another. Hector quickly pulled Sabrah in and L3r0y sped away from the their attacker.

  “Somebody call Sabrah,” Hector demanded. “Use my cell phone.”

  Helen picked it up and started punching keys. “No one is answering.”

  “Well she’s still connected. Her character didn’t rag-doll. Just no controller.”