Top Level Player, page 31
Nu was there with the dregs of her ninja squad. Rather than fear or anger, her face had a look of unbridled glee. In her hand was a simple, unassuming doorknob.
“You should have been watching the timer,” she said. “The converter is complete.”
LP opened fire with both pistols. Jazz fired her rifle. They mowed down the goons and hit Nu squarely in the chest at least a dozen times. She didn’t falter.
“I am an admin. As you might imagine, I have access to rather excellent equipment. Speaking of which...” She raised the noisy cricket. “Your continued existence is no longer required.”
She pulled the trigger. The air between Nu and the crew exploded, but nothing more than a burst of wind reached the heroes. When the smoke cleared, it revealed a smoldering but still intact mechanical boot. They craned their necks to discover it was connected to a strangely angular mecha with armor that looked like overalls, jingling gold chainmail around its neck, an intense expression, and a razor-sharp mohawk.
It swept its foot, bashing Nu and sending her, the weapon, and the new artifact tumbling backward. She stood and dashed for the next hatch to the interior of the complex. The mecha leapt and blocked the way.
“Yes!” LP said, “It worked!”
“The crazy imagination conjuring thing works here?” Leet said.
“It does now. I pulled it down when I was messing with the control panel.”
“But if we can do it, she can do it, so let’s get that doorknob from her,” LP said. “And think up something good!”
“Kaiju Corgi,” Leet proclaimed.
A strangely adorable reptilian canine of monstrous size dropped down behind him.
“Giga-Bowser!” Didi said, conjuring massive and extra monstrous creature normally known for fighting plumbers.
“Uh… Uh…” Jazz said. “I’m not great at nostalgia, guys.”
“Dude, just pick something,” Leet said, boarding his bizarre creation.
A dark cloud was beginning to billow around the rooftop. Nu was conjuring a champion of her own.
“Uh… Falkor!”
A pearly white Good Luck Dragon swept down from the sky and scooped her up. Laurel held tight to Jazz’s collar as she swept through the air. The others ran or flew into the rolling black fog.
“I have some notifications for you,” Laurel said.
“Now is not the time, Laurel,” Jazz shouted.
“You people think so small…” Nu rumbled, from the mist. “So limited by what you’ve seen before…”
The hazy view ahead of them began to clear. A figure towered over them. It had the angular, gleaming look of an 80s robot. But it was simply a larger, more military looking version of Nu herself. And it was towering. Easily thirty stories tall, more than twice the size of Giga-Bowser.
“What an ego on this lady!” Leet shouted from the back of his steed.
The adorable kaiju clamped onto the ankle of her battle robot and belched some thermo-nuclear puppy breath. Giga-Bowser leapt and sunk its claws into the midriff. Gundam-T delivered a dropkick to the chest. And Falkor curled around the head.
The battle began in earnest, and it was pure chaos. Fire, missiles, slashing claws, and swinging fists swirled the billowing black haze. It was all that Jazz could do to hold onto the back of her chosen champion. But despite everything, her mind couldn’t help but jab her. This was exciting. It was thrilling. A fitting climactic battle for an absurd adventure such as this. But it wasn’t Nu’s goal to win a fight. It was her goal to use the converter…
As her generally pacifistic choice of steed wrapped tight around the robot’s head, blinding it and helping to give the others an edge, Jazz scanned the surroundings. The over-eager concept-amplification of the interface hadn’t stopped with the major, purposeful summons. Arcade machines, classic cars, and literally anything else any of them could think of were raining down. As a barrel of something glow-in-the-dark splattered to one of the roofs, it cast its light briefly on the retreating form of Nu herself.
Jazz didn’t waste a moment. She didn’t even think. Relying upon the recently acquired acrobatic skill that had quickly become indispensable, she leapt from Falkor and dashed down the arm of the robot. A few flips and slides brought her into a roll on the ground. It was at that precise moment that she remembered she had a nimbus cloud in her inventory. She shook her head and deployed it, hopping atop and finally managing to spur it to motion swifter than she could run on her own. As the battle raged behind, she closed the gap just as Nu was throwing open a hatch to attempt to retreat into the facility. Jazz reached down, caught her by the collar, and dragged her along the roof until they both tumbled from the cloud.
“I’m not letting you do this,” Jazz said, attempting to pull her rifle.
Nu gripped it by its barrel and effortlessly wrenched it away.
“What makes you think you have any say in it?” Nu said.
She grasped Jazz by the neck and lifted her from the ground with little effort.
“You are a fresh player, Jazz. I’ve been here for years. I’m Level 27, with more prestige resets than you’ve had used cars. I’ve got points in attributes you’ve never heard of. I’ve got decades more life experience, inside the simulation and out. I’ve got insight into the functions of The After-Image. You’re nothing.”
“Notifications, Jazz!” Laurel repeated.
“Not… now…” Jazz gasped.
“Do I have permission to take the recommended action?”
“You really should have removed her personality immediately and shut off all of the ‘conveniences’ like I did,” Nu said.
Laurel flicked a parchment into existence and, despite her lack of vision, scrolled to the attributes effortlessly. She started scribbling on the page. Slowly, Jazz found her grip on Nu’s hand was tightening. Soon she found herself able to start prying the fingers apart.
“Strength: 10; Defense: 7; Stamina: 10; Regen perk: active. Enjoy being Level 8.”
Jazz finally pulled herself free. raised her hands defensively and glanced at Laurel. “I thought I was Level 3!”
“That was before you pummeled a bunch of Foot Clan in Hardcore Mode.”
“Do you really think a few levels will make a difference? I am still more you than you’ll ever be.”
“Maybe,” Jazz said. “But I’ve got one thing you’ll never have.”
“Oh,” Nu said. “And what is that?”
Jazz raised and curled her arms like the wings of a bird and lifted one knee. A faint, glistening gold illumination sparked around her.
“I’ve got The Glow,” Jazz said.
She snapped the other foot up, delivering a crane kick directly to the older woman’s chin. It sent her reeling. Jazz tugged the reclaimed “Glow” medallion from the where it had been tucked into her jacket. She gave it a kiss, then adopted a combat stance.
Nu spat a tooth on the ground and shook her head.
“Cute. But it won’t do you any good. Athena, be a dear and find an open hatch to head inside and get rid of this amplifier field. Then summon some fresh thugs so I can get a moment’s peace.”
“I’m on it,” Athena said.
“Hey!” Laurel shouted. “Listen! You’ll do that over my dead body.”
She may not have been able to see, but Laurel could hear well enough to know where her rival fairy was located. She launched like a missile and tackled the little PDA. Jazz followed suit, hurling herself at Nu. She let The Glow guide her moves. Nu was skilled. If she was telling the truth about her identity, she must have spent a great deal of time and resources building her martial prowess. Blow after blow, their hit points ticked down. Jazz was giving far worse than she was getting, but Nu had a lot more hit points, even after the recent level-up. They wore each other down until Jazz saw a desperation in Nu’s eyes. She managed to roll aside and fight her noisy cricket into her hand. Jazz kicked it away. Nu delivered a return blow so swiftly the weapon could only have been a purposeful distraction. Jazz slumped to the ground, running on fumes. Nu shakily pulled the doorknob from her pocket.
“I’d hoped…” she gasped. “To use this in more controlled conditions. But you’ve… Forced my hand.”
She turned and jabbed the knob into the empty air behind her. The outline of a doorway started to trace itself into being. Behind them, an explosion rang out. The mechanical Nu, minus its head, plummeted like a freshly felled tree and shattered to pieces on the rooftop. A blast of wind and debris hurled Nu and Jazz a dozen feet away. Both were dazed and surrounded by choking smoke and debris. Jazz blinked tears from her eyes. Nu was a few feet farther away. And a few feet in front of her was the knob. Nu dragged herself toward it. Inch by inch. Jazz barely had the strength to focus her eyes, but she dug her fingers into the mound of shattered metal scattered before her and pulled herself after Nu.
It was no use. Nu was too close. She had too much strength left. She reached out to grasp the knob.
A smoldering wingtip shoe pressed down on her wrist. Nu and Jazz both raised their heads to find a burnt, weary, but still cocky Tony Louse standing on her wrist. He lowered his massive weapon to her face.
“You shouldn’t double-cross me, boss,” he said. “My sister double-crossed me once.”
He clicked back the hammer.
“Once.”
He pulled the trigger. Nu scattered into a cloud of pixels. He crouched and picked up the knob.
“Louse,” Jazz wheezed. “You don’t know what you’re messing with.”
“Oh, don’t I?” he said. “This is my ticket to the big time. No more henchmen. Now I’ll be in charge. Just like I ought to be.”
Jazz tried to climb to her feet, but she was just too badly beaten. The same was not so for Laurel, who was blindly tottering across the ground, unseen by the gloating mobster until she prodded at the inside of one ankle, then the other.
“What do you think you’re doing down there?”
“Triangulating,” Laurel said.
She burst from the ground in a whining flutter of wings and drove her tiny form skyward. With barely any mass but a tremendous amount of speed, she delivered an eye-watering shot between his legs.
He dropped the knob and, after two bounces, Laurel was able to find and snatch it up. An apocalyptic panting sound and an earth-shaking rumble signaled the arrival of the kaiju corgi. A few more rumbling steps brought the rest of the crew to bear. Louse’s grin turned to a sneer.
“Fine. You win,” he said, hobbling back a bit. “There’s always work for a henchman anyway.”
Didi helped Jazz up.
“Jeez, Jazz. I’m the one who’s supposed to be in danger all the time,” she said.
“It looked like fun, so I decided to give it a try,” Jazz wheezed.
A cluster of cupcakes splatted on the ground beside her as LP wrangled Louse’s hands to tie them behind his back.
“Let’s get inside and fix things in Bare Metal. The admins are sure to have some choice words with us for finding a way to break into this place. The least we can do is not leave a mess for them.”
“Hey!” Laurel said, causing Louse to flinch. “I have a very important message.”
“What is it?” Jazz asked.
The fairy drifted forward to Jazz and felt along her coat until she found a pocket to drop the doorknob into. She then sang the four-note fanfare and flicked a scroll into being.
“Objective complete: Save the Day,” she said triumphantly.
Epilogue
Four days later, Jazz and Didi found themselves pacing in the lobby of Interface Point. Technically, they weren’t taken into custody, though they were politely asked by three agents to join them ‘for a brief meeting.’
“You’d think since they hauled us in here, they wouldn’t keep us waiting,” Didi said.
Her arms were crossed and her expression tense. Despite easily being able to slip it into her handbag, she had her hammer on her back for the purposes of intimidation.
“I feel pleased that I have been given the opportunity to return to this amazing monument of The After-Image so quickly, and to have the time to truly enjoy the lobby,” Laurel said.
“I imagine they’ve been a little busy cleaning up after their rogue agent,” Jazz said.
“Then they should have called us when they were done,” Didi snapped.
“No argument from me.”
“I mean, why am I even here? Why are either of us even here?”
“We did trespass in some pretty sensitive territory.”
“Maybe you did. I was brought there in shackles. I’m the victim in all of his. As per usual.”
She tapped her foot impatiently.
“I don’t like it here,” she whispered. “I swear I can feel the microscope on me, analyzing me.”
“It’ll be fine,” Jazz said, patting her on the arm. “We’ll figure it out.”
A door opened and Aeon74 leaned out.
“Jazz? Miss McG? Sorry to keep you waiting. I’m ready for you now.”
They filed into his office for the second time in a week. Jazz took a seat. Didi chose to stand.
“I want to thank you for coming on such short notice,” he said.
“It didn’t really seem like we had a choice,” Didi said.
“Though I’m glad you sent someone, because if you didn’t LP would have insisted on giving us a lift. And the Transformer hasn’t respawned yet so we’d have been drawing straws on who would be dragged behind a jet.”
“It was the least we could do.”
“The least you could do would be to leave us alone,” Didi said.
“Again, I apologize for the inconvenience, but there are some loose ends to be tied up. Our list was rather lengthy.” He turned to the laptop. “The Quintessentials have mostly been returned to their former locations. A handful have simply vanished of their own accord, as they are wont to do. The Oscillation Overthruster, for the purposes of security, shall remain in the custody of the admins, as will the mysterious doorknob.”
“I would have thought you’d destroy that thing,” Jazz said.
“It is a Quintessential. It can’t be destroyed,” Aeon said simply. “We are confident it will be safe in our secured holding facility. As you know, we have come to the conclusion that your aid in this matter has offset any indiscretions involved in rendering the aid. There is also this matter—”
He reached behind the desk and produced two duffel bags, labeled with Didi and Jazz’s names respectively.
“Jazz, 3.12 million Plot Tokens worth of cash and rare drops that were left in Bare Metal. Our cleanup team collected them. This was the loot we were able to assign directly to you. Didi, you’ve earned 12.4 million.”
Didi’s eyes widened.
“Okay, yes, thank you,” Didi said quietly, taking her prize.
“I have packages for your associates as well. For all of the risks of Hardcore Mode, there are some remarkable rewards,” Aeon said.
“So, is that all? You wanted to hand deliver our goodies?” Didi said hopefully.
“Err, I’m afraid not. Now, Jazz, you were attempting to raise the money for Premium support, but something tells me that is no longer a focus for you.”
“I’ve learned what I need to learn,” she said.
“As have we. That is what we wanted to talk to you about. Your activation has some significant irregularities. To be perfectly frank, among a laundry list of crimes committed by the late Miss Nu, your activation is by a wide margin the greatest crime, both legally and ethically.”
“You did just say the late Miss Nu.”
“Yes. She was killed during hardcore mode. We found no trace of her in any active server, and we have no record of a respawn. But if I may complete the business at hand, you never should have been activated. There are very firm rules about activating the same individual more than once. Players in The After-Image are still considered human beings—specifically, humans on permanent life support—and as such we have rights. It was decided that ‘individuality’ is an inalienable human right. You should never have been awakened, and there is some question as to the legal status of your continued existence.”
Didi reached back and slowly drew her hammer.
“If you’re thinking of pulling the plug on Jazz on a technicality…”
Aeon74 waved his hands. “No, no. Particularly with the death of Miss Nu, that is not likely to be necessary.
“I don’t like the presence of ‘likely to be’ in that sentence,” Jazz said.
“It shouldn’t be a problem.”
“If you don’t stop using qualifiers I’m going to qualify you for a full body cast,” Didi said.
“Our primary concern is not the legality of her existence but the technical aspects. The scan from which Jazz was activated is on a pre-release version of the scanning apparatus. Your data structures are subtly different from those of the standard player. That’s something we’d like to keep an eye on and, with your permission, study. So far there’s no sign of incompatibility, but for your safety and ours, we can’t be too careful.”
Aeon74 turned.
“And that brings us to you, Miss McG. We studied your background and data structure as well and… irregular is not enough of a word to describe it.”
Her grip on the hammer tightened. Aeon74 continued.
“I suspect the two of you already know what I’m thinking, regarding Miss McG’s nature. And like you, Jazz, there is some minor concern about what influence she may have on the world around her.”
“The influence she has had on the world around is that she saved it. If it wasn’t for Didi not only being on the team but very specifically being who and what she is, Nu would have finished what she started and who knows what would have happened.”
“This has been taken into consideration,” he said. “But this isn’t an area where sentiment can hold sway. If she is a danger to The After-Image, or she is a symptom of something that might become a danger to The After-Image, it would be immoral and unethical to allow her to move about unchecked.”
