Chapter 28: Game Over
Listen, I ain't really into these video games thing. Not stupid gaccha gaming, or consoles, or really any gaming at all. I use my Kindle way more than my smartphone. I'd rather not do this whole thing, but since Klein is logged off, I promised to give you the deets so here it is. By the way, you got a light? Thanks.
Right, so you know what the enemy calls us? Janissaries. These were Ottoman slave soldiers, the elite of the sultan's infantry. In the age of spear and cavalry, these guys were toting guns and cannons on the battlefield. Pretty fitting right? Well, what if I told you our giant buddies aren't too dissimilar?
See, we're clone soldiers. Vatborn is the official in-lore name. If you wanna go super in-depth, go watch a lore video or wiki-diving, but you probably knew that already. To keep it short there were two versions of Vatborns, we're the Mark II clones. Our minds were copy pasted from real life humans from the 21st century, from a diverse set of backgrounds. Overall, an interesting way to implement our real life selves in the post-apocalypse. Not sure how a salaryman is in anyway comparable to a soldier, then again, I've known a fair few soldiers and let me tell you, we're all dumb as rocks too. Salarymen, kindergarden teachers, train conductors, all smarter than the average grunt.
But the Mark I clones, well, we don't know much about it. What we do know is that they were far dumber than us, more like bots than thinking fighters. What they lacked in intellect and tactics, they made up in pure strength. From what little lore we know about the wars on Mars, we know they were used primarily on earth in huge numbers. They needed officers on them at all times, kinda like RTS units if you think about it. Quality vs quantity, right?
Well, Thunder Warriors are all quality. Lots of quality.
So you wanna know how we found all this? Well, it first started off with our flight from the Killbox. Black Dog fought through an entrenched hall until we met Klein and the FuurinKazan, and I admit, it was a bit of a haze with how we survived. But anyway, since we were a bit away from the slaughter, we decided, why not explore?
The places we went through were pretty empty, what with most of the forces in the Killbox. We wandered about here and there, trying to find the Doctor and finally finish this damn quest. Shot a bunch of low level security guards, wiped out some Stormtrooper squads, repeat.
That's where we found ourselves in the higher level labs. Lots of science equipment we didn't understand. Most of the scientists were already evacuated, so that's where we ransacked the labs.
We found some pretty neat lore on them. You know, text documents, audio logs, scientists going mad because they lacked ethics. The quintessential "I strapped AK-47s to a silverback gorilla/praying mantis hybrid and Bob's been poking a stick at it for 80 hours, now it's escaped" sort of deal. That's the thing with scientists and wizards, no sense of right or wrong.
Thanks to some quick hacking from Ginrou here, we were able to find an armoury not too far from here. It wasn't a lot of ammo, mind, but it was enough for us. Got a few nifty grav-barrows to go along with it. That's when the radio sounded and ol' Makarov here called us, gave us the coordinates where the HQ was.
As we were traveling to the HQ, I decided to dig into the lore that Ginrou got from hacking the terminals. Most games tend to keep it short, a couple pages at most. Even games with literal books on them are often separated into multiple entries and rarely it ever goes a thousand words. GGO is not most games.
Some of you may wonder, where on earth these metal giants came from? That, my American friend, is an interesting tale in itself. Would it surprise you that
Thunder Fighters are actually Vatborn?
That's right. These monstrosities are, technically speaking, Vatborn Mark III. Whereas Vatborn Mark II's like ourselves are legion and immortal, lacking the physical might of our predecessors, Thunder Fighters are a combination of Marks I and II. They're big and powerful, they handle a .50 cal as easily as a rifle, and they have power armour, something only the Overlord's finest have. What they traded in being singularly powerful, however, they lacked in immortality.
But we need to get to the AI - see, most humanoid fighters we fight are basic packages of routines. It's really not changed all that much, it's just that GGO's AI just happens to be very good. Even when I served back in the military, I hear the eggheads talking about integrating video game AI it into our robots. No, can't say much more than that, it's classified. Also, I'm too old and dumb to get any of that gibberish anyway.
Thunder Fighters have machine learning. Not that AI art crap, I'm talking about real revolutionary stuff. You've probably heard about how Zaskar has ties to some militaries, personally I don't think that's true, but these NPCs are able to make complex decisions on the fly, the kind only high grade military computers use.
There's an attribute only NPCs have called Aggressiveness. It kinda works like morale in other wargames, it's what determines if a squad stands and fight, hang back, or go all in. Militia have an Aggressiveness of 4. Stormtroopers 7. Thunder Fighters 10.
The Heitaroi have
15. I don't think anyone here has an Aggressiveness of 15. No, not even you, Kirito. I don't care what you say, you are not going to jump on a tank and cut at it. Asada, you better stop him if he does. And the Golden Guys, the Heitaroi? If Thunder Fighters were
homo novo, then these guys were
homo ultima.
You know, it's funny. If you think about it, the more we fight, the more we're scared. We've gone on, what, almost a day of fighting, racking up all the XP. But because the XP we have is temporary, if we die we lose all of it, losing all the time and progress we put into the game. I'm no therapist or military historian, but this is more or less the opposite of how real armies work.
Okay, okay, calm down, I'm getting to it. You wanna know how Klein got his spear? How we killed, what's most likely, the single most powerful enemy in the game?
So no shit, there we were, stuck behind enemy lines, hunted down by an army of elite soldiers and bloodthirsty demigods; low on ammo, low on health, half our bionics were busted, and halfway to the HQ was, what do we find? Good guess.
Golden Dickhead called himself Ajax and he was blocking the way. Quite literally, he's a big guy. You think Thunder Fighters are big, these guys were bigger. Now at this point, I've actually fought a fair number of Thunder Fighters, so I knew what I was fighting against. But killing one deer does not make one an expert on deer.
Satou there? Lost his arm because he gave the dude a finger. Kunimittz, lost a leg for the same reason. I even lost an eye. Thank God for Doc VicVek and his expertise. I'm pretty sure the asshole was toying with us. He could have killed us all in one go. Our guns did nothing. We threw all our explosives at him and it might as well as attacking a tank. A tank on legs with a spear.
So we retreated, collapsing doors and halls behind us. My certificate in bomb disposal was finally paying off. We found ourselves in what we think is a foundry, the kind to make power armour.
Before you ask, no, none of it fits. None of them were finished either and there weren't any workers on the factory floor to bully. I don't know how smithing actually works but there
was a big vat of molten metal. I think you know where this is going.
We had escaped a bit ahead of him and set up our trap, hacking all the turrets, strategically placing heavy stuff overhead, chains everywhere, the works. Klein, of course, being the brave samurai that he is, volunteered to be bait so everyone can unleash on the big bastard from relative safety. He did not, in fact, pick the shortest straw. Write that down, journo.
So Klein stood right in the middle of the foundry, weapon in hand as the big bastard kicked the doors down. The most clown shit happened in this order:
1. An engine was dropped on his head. Did nothing.
2. Every turret opened up on him. Did nothing.
3. At least ten grenades, both real and improvised. You guessed right, nothing.
So what worked? As Klein, engaged in katana on spear combat (and somehow standing his ground), the vat of molten metal hung above and the trap was activated.
And it completely fucking missed because the bastard just swung his spear and spilled most of the vat elsewhere. Who knew that moving a vat of molten metal was actually slow? He just waded through that shit as if it was nothing. Like fucking water. If he was a Thunder he would be fucking dead.
Sorry for the cursing, the wife tells me I need to work on that. Got another cigarette by the way? Thanks.
So here we were, in cover, ready to watch Klein be murdered when our saviour arrives.
CHAD came through the door like a demon, climbed behind the guy like a cat on someone's back and unloaded both of his handguns under the helmet. It was then, finally then, we killed him. Guess even fancy advanced power armour has its weakpoints.
So I said to CHAD-san, "You know, we weakened him for you," and he just shrugged and said, "Oh, I thought that was a Thunder Fighter."
Jackass. Don't tell him I said that though.
We got back to the old hydroponics bay just in time. Now, everyone's running around like headless chickens. Not much ammo, most of us battered, but I hear that one of the Virtue guys found something very useful in our next fight and are having Zakon working on it. Time will tell, I suppose.
"So there you have it," said Dyne, pulling another drag. "By the way, you're buying burgers for this, right?"
"Well, if I can find this diner you're talking about, sure," said Mason, double checking what he wrote on his PDA.
"Hey, hurry up!" someone behind the line yelled. "I've got an exam to study for!"
"Sir, please extinguish your cigarette before entering the clone vat," said StonedScientist, not even looking up from the console. "You might set yourself on fire."
"Ah, fiiiine. Can't even smoke in a post-apocalyptic hellhole," he grumbled.
The longest aircraft carrier in the world was the USS Enterprise at a whopping 341 meters, decommissioned way back in 2012. The current largest aircraft carrier was the USS Gerard Ford class at 337 meters, a bit shorter but no less impressive.
When she was a kid, Sinon had seen the USS Doris Miller in the distance while on a vacation at Okinawa. It was docked at the naval base there, like some sort of slumbering kaiju. The scale of it awed her.
FullDive games had taken scale to a maximum, without the nation-destroying costs of making such weapons. She was level 3 when she first rode to the outskirts of SBC Glocken and it was only by looking at it from the horizon did she realize how it was less of a ship and more of a mountain range. Even the humble Ark Biologis was only a twentieth of its size.
One kilometer wasn't particularly long, seeing as most assault rifles these days could hit at half that and GGO was pretty accurate in regards to ballistics. Of course, the one massive downside for «Sniper» builds like herself was it was really hard to use one in a dungeon.
In traditional video games, there was nothing stopping a player running up to someone and shooting point blank. In a Full Dive game, you had weight, smell, sound, texture, discomfort and actual biomechanics to consider. The Lynx, compact as it was, was still a big kitteh.
The game compensated this by having really big dungeons, but it still wasn't enough. Snipers ruled the Wasteland and thankfully most of the sniping perks were easily transferred to a «Designated Marksman» build. So when CHAD had asked her to set up at a sniping spot, she was all over it.
It occurred to her, despite her kitteh form and catgirl form, she did not actually specced into any sort of close-quarters related perks, instead insisting on long-ranged rifles. Not very optimised, admittedly, but she'd like to think she pulled it off.
The 'deck' of the ship had likely at some point served some sort of noble scientific purpose. There was a small army of Argyraspides on the deck, the most hardened and grizzled of warriors, carrying what was clearly a fair amount of Clearer gear on them, with a few «Uniques» on them. There, someone was carrying M134 Minigun, looted from the late (and no doubt very angry) Colonel Honshu. A squad had souped up M23 rifles that still bore the emblem of the Mobile Guard. There were also a fair number of RPGs around too.
A few «Flesh Turrets» were being set up behind sandbags in front of the tower. A murder of «Corvo-Bats» were patrolling the sky and a single «Jet Dragon» was curled around the main tower, her target. Its scales were black, thick as plates on a tank, and it was missing an eye. Her job was to ensure it had no more eyes.
A curious looking rocket was parked roughly in the middle, taller than the main tower itself with robed scientists poking about it, no doubt performing foul commie black magic or whatnot.
Numbers wise, they were 4.5 against 1. Strength wise, it was more like 10 against 1. All in all, not good odds.
But Sinon didn't care at this point. Win or lose, she was going to sleep for an entire day and use the rest of her days to manage all the errands that she had been avoiding. Then she and Kirito would go find a nice inn to stay at, eat some delicious food, soak in some ancient hot springs, and maybe, just maybe, get herself some good di-
"
Sinon, you really need to learn how to not accidentally broadcast your dirty thoughts."
"
In my defense, you do find them enticing," she said, wiggling her eyebrows, only to remember he couldn't see them.
"
Stop trying to choke me with your tail."
"
Nyeh? What are you gonna do about - OW! Don't bite my tail you idiot!"
Her third eye opened. "So
that's how it feels to be on the receiving end."
The two of them finally reached the top of the radio tower. It was small, probably half the size of their bathroom, strong winds blowing at them and Kirito's long luscious hair blowing in the wind as if he was in some shampoo commercial and Sinon's not so impressive scarf doing the same.
It was a mechanical ritual, setting the Lynx on the grated floor, tight as it was. There was nowhere near enough ammo to kill the Stormtroopers, much less the Corvo-Bats, the Jet-Dragon or the Heiteroi, the last of which she couldn't see and that worried her more than the dragon.
And here they were, at the bow of the ship with only a single radio tower for Sinon to snipe from. She felt vaguely guilty leaving comments on the forum with how unchallenged she was with
Warlords of Syria. Some developer must have gone and read through all those comments and probably said to themselves, "I'm gonna show these goddamn tryhards. I will make an enemy that is the very essence of Git Gud."
Sinon thought the Thunder Fighters were that. How wrong she was.
She held the precious .50 BMG into the sky: It looked no different from a usual round, green tipped to denote it was special. But in it was the single most potent dose of «Anti-Mutie» poison Vladimir had concocted. A single dose, in theory, could have killed a «War Behemoth». In practice, it would be sufficient to take out the big dragon for a while.
"You mean 'take out' as in kill, right?" she had asked.
"No, I mean take out as in, 'take out of commission'. I'm not sure for how long either."
"It's not gonna kill it?"
"Well pardon me, miss catgirl, but it's not like I had time to test it out in a rigorous and well conducted environment." He clapped her on the shoulder. "Try not to miss, there's only one bullet. No pressure."
"Yeah, no pressure."
There was in fact, a lot of pressure.
They waited for the signal. There were a dozen lifts on the runway where equipment was being brought from the depths of the Ark. Machines, tubes and other doohickeys that probably served no actual purpose but served as very important set dressing to showcase the sciencey-ness of the science equipment. But what was notable were the power generators, chemfuel powered of all things. The nuke at the power plant must have hit the Ark harder than they thought.
The great control tower the Jet-Dragon was resting around was no doubt where the Good Doctor and his bodyguards were. It didn't even need to fire its many cannons at her, a single flap of its great wings would have thrown her and Kirito off the tower and to their deaths, had it not been for the jump pack he was currently wearing. The moment she took her shots, she and Kirito would immediately be off.
"What do you think's gonna come out those elevators?" asked Kirito.
"Probably the rest of the survivors."
"A hundred battered players with not enough ammo, broken armour, against an entrenched position? Just so we can respawn from our eleven cloning vats?" Kirito sighed. "I'm ready to be done with this. We totally aren't gonna win this, are we?"
"Oh, cheer up. There's one good thing that'll come out of this." Sinon was already aiming at the dragon's remaining eye. She had never killed a dragon before, now she thought about it.
"What's that?"
"I'll spend more time with you."
For once, Kirito was red-faced and speechless. He was gapping like an idiot. "I-I …"
Was this it? Was this the feeling of victory? Of charming the opposite sex? Was this the mythological … rizz?
It took all her willpower not to be giddy about it. Sadly, she didn't have the time to enjoy it.
Next to one of the science equipment near the rocket, another lift came up, a variety of boxes and crates for the rocket. An engineer with a crowbar came to open one of them only to have his face shot off from a massive handgun. The two engineers next to them were immediately dispatched by the same killer. The last of the engineers made a run for it only to be skewered by a tanto courtesy of another person coming out of a crate.
Dyne holstered his Mk23. "Hiding in boxes, never fails!"
Klein dommed a nearby Stormtrooper and racked his shotty. The rest of the FuurinKazan and Black Dog had immediately manned the sandbag fortifications and stripped the guards of their ammo. "Quick! Destroy the rocket!"
Dyne already had his rifle grenade primed and ready at the end of his rifle and shot at the rocket, danger close. Fire and smoke engulfed it.
His eyes widened. "Wha - are you shitting me?"
There the rocket stood, unharmed. Scorch marks in a neat semi-circle at the base and a faint buzz and distortion in the air where the grenade exploded. "There's force fields in this game?! How is this thing even powered?!"
"Uh, boss. Best we deal with the enemy first?" said Satoh, pointing at the incoming enemy with a bionic hand.
All around them, the Clearers popped out of the lifts, killing engineers and guards alike. Argyraspides were already marching out in full, half of them shooting from their entrenched position and the others advancing towards the rocket. The beast behind them opened its one yellow eye.
The great black dragon unfurled itself from around the tower with the gracefulness no one would expect from such a massive beast. Steel claws dug into the tarmac, tough leathery wings unfurled, a great shadow awakened. The turbines on its back were warming up as were the cannons underneath its wings. Sinon had one chance. She looked through her scope and got comfy as Kirito brought up his binoculars.
The eye of a dragon was the size of a plate, bigger than any living animal today. Yet as big as it was, it was still a thousand meters away. Kirito gave her all the math she needed but even that, she was unsure. She was a crack shot sure but …
"Hey," Kirito whispered. "You can do it. I believe in you."
Sinon grinned.
Cold as ice. She pulled the trigger and the bullet went flying.
The dragon's head snapped back as if it had been slapped by a god but nay! Tis' was the work of Saint Browning's 50 BMG, blessed be his name, guiding his faithful!
The dragon's roar shook the Ark. It stumbled backwards, its massive hind leg slipping off the side of the ship as the rest of it fell off. A cheer came from the lips of the Clearers as more popped out of the elevators. It was not dead, that was for certain, but that was the biggest threat removed and Sinon let out a sigh of relief.
"Yeah! You got it!" Kirito shouted and Sinon almost jumped off the tower as she felt a sting on her behind. "That's my girl!"
"The dragon's not dead yet!" A puff of smoke could be seen where One Eye had dropped and she had no time to gloat. "Searching for other high value targets."
The Lynx struck true as Sinon took out an officer unwisely pointing aggressively and yelling at their subordinates. More players popped out from the elevators, two of which including armoured up forklifts and lifter robots. Sinon briefly recalled Major Nikita threatening her the rest of the men reporting this use of 'technicals' lest she lose face amongst Zakon commanders.
It didn't take long for the Covid-Bats to come at them. They completely ignored the ground forces and come at the radio tower. Sinon began shifting her aim but Kirito laid a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, I got this."
"Try not to use up all the fuel."
"No promises," he winked and was off into the sky.
When Major Nikita contacted him out of the blue regarding a, well, blue cat, Vladimir was not too far from where the Zakon had set up their HQ. So he came by quickly, hoping for a quick paycheck while he was doing scientist related sidequests.
He just didn't expect to be dragged across from Syria, through Anatolia, down south to Greece, and doing whatever the hell he had been doing the past how many weeks.
It had occurred then to Vlad that Nikita and her guild was still, for the most part, still only paying him the standard's contractor fee. He should bring it up next time he met her and negotiate for higher pay. The reason she liked the Zakon i Dolg was mostly, unlike other guilds, they did pay above the standard rate assuming he did above the standard job.
As much fun as he had been having (and a lot of exhaustion to go with it), he really needed to go back to writing his thesis. Maybe he should just, as the French called it, answer the Call of the Void.
He just needed to … let go …
A fist smacked against the hull of the ship and the scientist returned to (virtual) reality. "Get your head in the game, Vladimir. We're almost there!" said Wahyu.
Vladimir looked to the left, where CHAD seemed to be a kilometer away, and unwisely looked down, which might as well be looking from the top of Mount Elbrus and felt weak. "I don't think I'm going to make it, friends."
"Just move, damn you!" growled the other Virtue, Gabriel if he recalled. "We didn't come this far for you to pass out!"
"Don'tlookdowndon'tlookdowndon'tlookdowndon'tlookdown …"
He should have given Pinky-chan to the Virtues, but neither of them could control her, and she only listened to him. Just like his babushka's cat.
The scientist was squished between Wahyu and Gabriel, barely moving. Sure, Vladimir had no problem dissecting corpses, animal or otherwise, or going into sewers or bogs or other gross stuff. Real life mind, video games were a cakewalk. He also didn't think he had acrophobia but this height made him reconsider …
A great weight suddenly pulled at his back as Vladimir held on for dear life. The rope around their waists and the makeshift picks digging into the metal had been the only thing that saved them from falling to their deaths. Gabriel and Wahyu bravely held the shaking scientist in their arms and pushed him against the ship.
The scientist deigned to take a look and saw a big beastly dragon, treshing on the ground below. It looked to have flatten a flatbed on the way down. The soldiers below were like little ants, trying to help the oversized lizard. Guess Sinon had put his bullet to good use.
And he also made the mistake of looking down, damn his curiosity. "I'm going to be sick …"
After what felt like an eternity of shimmying, he found a hold in which he climbed himself upwards the platform, just behind a stack of crates. One by one, the Virtues hauled themselves up to safety and checked their guns. Wahyu sent his drone forward as the rest prepared themselves.
CHAD checked up on him. "You okay?"
Vladimir closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Ah, cyka. I'm okay, I'm okay," he said, his accent slipping. "Give me a minute."
"And Pinky-chan?"
He produced the slime from his satchel bag, the creature within the cylinder was vibrating vigorously, like an overexcited child who ate too much candy, except if the child was also thirsting for communist blood. "Yeah, I got her."
Wahyu appeared next to CHAD. "I've scanned the area. The Heitaroi are unawares and the huge amounts of fighting has redirected their forces to the Clearers. I could count two of them going towards the Clearers. Sir, they're not gonna make it."
"A necessary sacrifice for the mission." It didn't surprise Vladimir at all that CHAD was so blasé about that. You didn't get to be called Mister Shinigami without getting results. "Anything else?"
"There are six Hetairoi blocking the way to the target. I can hack the turrets, but that's it."
CHAD nodded. "Vladimir, Pinky-chan, please."
It only then just occurred to her Pinky-chan would be no different. He sighed. "I don't think my dart rifle will do anything against power armour."
"Don't worry, we won't ask you to join, just your pet."
Vladimir wasn't offended at all, he was a scientist, not a fighter. "Alright, but you do know you're all going to die, right? No amount of canceled Nineties H&K guns or Anti-Mutie ammo is going to help with that.
"Never underestimate the power of gamers, scientist," he said without a hint of irony or sarcasm.
"We're doomed."
With a swing that would have made Yu Darvish proud, Klein sent not one, not two, but three heads flying into the air with a single swing of his spear. He laughed maniacally at the ease of it, how the world tremble against the might of the second coming of the Demon King of the Sixth Heav - "Ow! Hey!"
"Get in cover, o' glorious leader!" said Harry One as he dragged the mad samurai into cover, saving him from a barrage of machine gun fire. "Look chief, I know you wanna be like Kirito-san and -"
"Excuse me? Who the hell do you think taught him the ropes?" Klein was the reason Kirito was even into FullDive gaming in the first place!
Harry rolled his eyes. Nearby, Dale was laying down fire with his machine gun alongside Harry's machine gun drone. "Yeah okay, look - we all wanna go swords against guns but we're way too low level for that."
"I just need to ask Kirito about the KFotoSvsF and we'll be fine!" Just need to find enough grenades and up his AGI to make it work.
"Look man, just shoot!"
"No! I worked hard to get this oversized spear and I'm gonna use it!"
Klein stood up from cover and was struck in the shoulder, ripping apart his already crumbling pauldron. "Okay, maybe this one time."
For all the hard fighting, Klein wasn't dumb and he knew they were losing. Black Dog was trying (and failing) to figure out how to get through the forcefield around the rocket. He felt something was wrong.
He scanned the deck and noticed a fair number of missing soldiers. He at least knew the Virtues were up their spook bullshit, but where were -
Dale's gun stopped firing. Klein turned around, only to notice something bump against his leg: Dale's head.
The shout was stuck in his throat as he felt something wet on his shoulder and found that he was within a great shadow. Slowly, he turned around, and found himself facing gold.
Skewered upon the Heiteroi's massive spear was Harry himself, the bloody spearhead runned through his stomach as he threshed like a fish out of water. Blood spilled down the shaft, down onto the giant's crimson cloak. The horror held Harry up like he was no lighter than a feather, his gun dropping onto the deck with a clank.
"You have slain Comrade-Brother Ajax," said the golden creature. "You wield his spear like a toddler who found a branch on the ground."
He whipped his spear forward, throwing Harry off the deck, screaming to his end. The Hetaeros shook his head, tutting like an annoyed parent.
Gunfire pinged off him as more players focused fire as the golden armour ate barrages of 5.56mm like it was nothing, Issin and Kunimittz yelling at him to run away. He may as well be standing in the rain with how much it bothered him.
"Prepare yourself, warrior of capital. I, Brother-Comrade Heracles, will be your end."
There was no other warning, only action and reaction. Klein stepped backwards and let go of his Spas-12 as it was split in twain. He reached for the power spear and blocked the spearhead, sparing his head from his shotgun's fate. His bionic arms creaked and cracked under the insane force that descended upon him.
"Only my comrades could have parried that. Impressive for a clone."
One second, Klein was holding on for dear life, and the next, he found himself flung backwards ten feet. He skidded backwards into a pile of science equipment, his HUD on high alert notifying him of broken ribs and collapsed lung. The Oxygen meter now visible, going up and down as he breathed in and out.
Dynamn rushed to Klein's aid, blades popping out of his forearms. Klein called out, to tell him to stop but there was nothing he could have done as the Hetaeros lazily swung his spear aside, cutting off a leg and sending him sprawling. The samurai was already up, spear in hand, rushing to save his friend.
The giant took a fighting stance and jabbed at him which Klein sidestepped. He sent a flurry of stabs at the enemy but it was slow, clumsy, the power spear more like a pike with how heavy and long it was. The Hetaeros was toying with him, swatting aside his attacks, using the power spear with one hand.
"Why. Won't. You. Die?!" He can't believe he was thinking it, but Klein owed Kayaba an apology: not a single mob in SAO was this overpowered.
"Enough of this. This ends here," declared Brother-Comrade Heracles and went in for the kill.
Thunder cracked as his head snapped back, as Heracles clutched his eyes, blood spurting like a fountain. Kirito descended from the sky like a bloodied angel covered in bits and gore of Corvo-Bats. All his weight and mass forced upon the spinning teeth of the chainsword cut across the Hetaeros, shoulder to waist. The inner workings of the armour was exposed and Klein took his vengeance.
He buried the spearhead into the giant's chest, scraping through hardened ribs, puncturing one of its hearts. Klein wretched the weapon out just as another round of .50 caliber exploded its second heart. The Hetaeros fell over, less like a man, and more like a great tree, his corpse cracking the tarmac.
Klein took a knee, clutching his chest. Kirito placed a hand on his shoulder. "You okay, bud?"
"Go … go help Dynamn!"
Sinon came to, smoking Lynx in hand. "Sorry, Klein. He's gone, too much blood loss."
Klein hammered the tarmac. "Damn it! Ah, ah, my health's depleting."
Kirito procured a vial from his pouch. "Can I offer you a stim in these trying times?"
"Winners don't use drugs."
"Check your character sheet."
Klein's peeked at his status elements under his healthbar and saw he had a hefty -30% debuff to his movement. "Winners
sometimes use drugs."
They collected themselves, Klein ordering Kunimittz and Issin to collect the gear of their fallen comrades. The remaining squads of Mubarizun troopers rushed past them, laying down covering fire. One Corporal Hamza was pouring accurate fire from his M27 into a squad of Argyraspides as two Hetairoi were approaching rapidly, moving more like cars rather than anything human.
"I'm running out of men and ammo, tell me you can kill more of the bastards!"
"Kill them? I barely survived two!" He looked around. "Hey, where the hell is Nikita?"
Something rumbled underneath. The tarmac cracked and not twenty feet away from them, a great metal beast rose:
It had seen better days, this old girl. Even during the final days of Earth, nations around the world still used them as their primary fighter jet. It looked to be in the process of refitting, only to be punted into storage to collect dust. Yet, somehow, the Zakon i Dolg had attached missiles to its wings, and the victorious form of Major Nikita standing on the windows, bayonet in hand. In the cockpit was a grinning Sergeant Gregory, his eyes mad from the deadly condition of playing a video game too long. The Zakon soldiers came to, acting as its honour guard.
"Is that -" said Kirito.
"An F-16?" finished Sinon.
Nikita thrusted her bayonet towards the enemy."Aim! Fire!"
Double missiles exploded from the wings and struck two advancing Hetairoi, turning the golden tin cans into paste. It was so sudden, so fast, that Klein had to blink and rub his eyes. Geez, if only his crew had that kinda power.
The F-16 had taken center stage so much that Klein didn't notice the second metal beast that had come up with the jet. Tadao stood in the spurs of his cybersteed, popping shots with his Winchester. "They're retreating! They're retreating!" he shouted joyfully.
At that point, his remaining samurai had come to. Issin handed him Dynamn's P90. "How the hell did ya' get your horse back?!"
"You'd be surprised by what you find if you scavenge hard enough!" the cowboy answered.
Kirito's eyes widened. "Did - did you disassemble my Lyubimaya to fix yours?!"
"They're both my horses, I was just lending it to you! And don't worry, I saved her brain, we can fix that later. Let's call this one Lyubimaya 2.5."
Nikita stepped off the canopy of the F-16 onto the back of Lyubimaya 2.5. "Six left, let's get moving! Zakon, move!"
With the overwhelming firepower of the Vulcan cannons acting as covering fire, Klein led the survivors of his guild towards the tower. At some point, they had all ceased to be their individual guilds: FuurinKazan, Black Dog, Zakon, Warhawks, Mobile Guard - no, they were Clearers. United in one goal, one vision. He had not felt such social cohesion in a raid before in his many years of MMO gaming.
And sure, maybe being post-apocalyptic slave-soldiers for a bunch fascist trillionaires was a bad thing, but it's the thought that counted.
The guns of the F-16 had done most of the work, tearing through most of the Argyraspides. Their cover blown to shreds, many were trying to hide themselves in whatever little cover was left, whether it be a shot up crate or the broken remains of a Flesh Turret. Some were even piling the corpses of their comrades to save themselves.
But they held.
The next few minutes was like a boxing match of historical proportions: two of the best duking it out in a battle of stamina and endurance. There was no tactic to it, no smart maneuver, no thinking nor strategy nor daring-do - it was two sides shooting each other until the players ran out of ammo, and then charging at the enemy with bayonets, clubs, pipes and grit.
Fists struck faces, broke teeth and noses; men and women were dragged to the ground and beaten and kicked; hair was pulled, throats were slit; Kirito split men from shoulder to waist; Klein skewered, stabbed and gutted fools; Sinon blew heads with her rifle and tore throats with her claws. The savagery of games was made manifest.
A Stormtrooper was thrown to the ground with a swift kick from Lyubimaya 2.5, striking at him like two warhammers. Before he could pull out his sidearm, the fronthooves descended upon him and split his head like a melon.
And just as suddenly, silence descended upon the battlefield. Only the sound of faraway combat and the blowing wind could be heard.
A
pssh sound came up and everyone had their arms up. The Wall had an energy can in hand. "WHAT? THE WALL IS THIRSTY AFTER THIS BUTCHER'S WORK."
Nikita sighed and holstered her grenade pistol. "Zakon officers, do a headcount. Find some ammo, heal the wounded. I need to talk to CHAD." She pointed at Klein, Sinon and Kirito. "You three, with me."
"Guys, take five. I'll be right back." Klein didn't realise his hand was still shaking, stopped himself and thumbed the off button on the spear, powering the blade down. He saw that Kirito even had the shakes. "You okay, dude?"
"Yeah, yeah, hold on." He flexed his left hand and Klein saw the vial of white liquid on his DAB instantly drain, veins on his arms popping blue. "I got it."
"Is that the last of your «Detox»?" asked Sinon, worried. "You aren't gonna reap the XP rewards if you overdose."
"I'll be fiiiine. I got one more. I'll just ask Vladimir-san for some extra, he's with CHAD-san, right?"
They reached the base of the tower to see a bloodbath where there was a sizable hall attached to it. As hard the fighting was with the Argyraspides was, as hardened and desensetised as they were from the almost day-long playing session, the vision of slaughter shocked even them.
Seeing the dead Virtues was like seeing a dead tiger or other mighty animal. They were the game's best player, at least in the Japanese server, and to see them dead and slain was horrifying.
The slaughter took place in a large nondescript hall, the kind where there was no real use had it been an actual building in real life. No, it was long and wide, and at the end was the stairs leading up the tower with barely anything in it saved a few, now shot up and broken pillars, and a few mandatory crates and barrels for set dressing.
Makarov, the newest member of the Virtues and second-in-command was split in half, his organs spilled all over. Neither Kirito nor Sinon ever saw the man use a gun ever since he joined the Virtues, his days being highwaymen almost an eternity ago. He had his namesake's pistol in hand, still smoking, and two large holes in the visor of a Hetaros. How the hell 9×18mm could do that, no one really knew.
There, Wahyu's corpse was stuck to the ceiling, the spearhead tucked under his chin as his killer's corpse was still grasping onto the shaft. Said killer had his comrade's power spear rammed through the back of his spine, the mechanical servos in the arms and legs still twitching; as if the dead decker had magic-hacked his way through advanced power armour and puppeted a Hetaeros to kill a fellow comrade. There were also noticeable turret ports in the ceiling, cut apart by something sharp; no doubt used against the giants.
Said puppeteered Hetaeros hung his head, blood spilling from his neck as a spearhead stuck in the nape of his neck, clearly coming from one of the broken power-spears on floor.
Bits of pink slime were stuck to the remaining two Hetairoi, arms and legs, digging into the floor, their corpses posing like golden statues. These two had suffered the most amount of gunshot and explosive damage, as shown with the still smoking barrels of the XM8 rifles, the spent casings of Anti-Mutie ammunition and explosive rounds neatly piled together. Yet one of the Virtues, Gabriel, was pinned to the wall from a great javelin throw and the others were similarly cut in half, their bodies missing limbs, their chests split open. Nakam had his head hanging by a bloody thread.
Five of the Republic's best warriors, gene-crafted with advanced sciences, created by one of the smartest human beings to ever exist, wearing space age armour created for war across the galaxy versus six men in 21st century men with robes over their flak armour, using guns made in the 1990s - what a sight, what a battle, they had missed.
Yet most notable was a missing gasmasked corpse …
Something moved in the corner of their eye, Nikita raised her AK at it. "Don't shoot!"
Vladimir exited the cardboard box he was hiding in. The scientist looked like a mess but appeared to be unharmed. He looked just as shocked to see the results of the Virtues versus the Hetairoi. "What the hell happened here? Oh no, Pinky-chan!"
Nikita lowered her Stetchkin. "Vladimir, I need a sitrep."
The scientist was futilely trying to scrap his pet slime back into his glass case. "The Virtues needed a force multiplier to assassinate the Doctor. While you guys attacked the Republic forces head on, the Virtues would have tried to sneak in and do the deed."
"Wait a second, we were bait!" said Kirito. "I would be really offended about that but weirdly I'm not!"
"Where is CHAD right now?" asked Sinon.
Vladimir gestured his head towards the remains of the bulkhead door of the tower, a clear case of Pinky-chan's doing. "There's ten Hetairoi in total, and one was already killed in the Ark …"
"And two were slain by the F-16's armaments …"
"And one was killed by yours truly!" said Klein, slamming his fist to his breast and immediately regretting it. "Kirito and Sinon here helped, of course." Both helpers rolled their eyes.
Vlad looked around and counted the corpses. "So that leaves one. The captain-general herself. She's the one that sliced up the tanks. And I don't see CHAD around here at all …"
"He's facing her alone. Madness," said Nikita.
"I don't know, major, CHAD-san's pretty tough," said Kirito, but there was hesitation in his tone.
"Alright, so what we need to do is rally everyone and -"
A bubbly yellow and black drone flew through and out of it came Mason's voice.
"Major! The rest of the Ark is counterattacking!"
"What? We've sealed the entrances to the flight deck!"
"
They're through em'!"
Nikita cursed again. "You three need to go help CHAD. I've got this mess to deal with. Mason, get me the radio!"
At that, she left. Klein, Sinon and Kirito looked at each other. Then they looked at Vladimir and all three of them extended open palms. "What?" asked the devastated scientists.
"Drugs, please," they said simultaneously.
Like a lot of dungeons in video games, the tower seemed to be far bigger on the inside than the outside.
The corridor was dank and rusty, a far cry from the clean and white interior of the ship, more akin to the abandoned hydroponics they had made their base. The only thing new was the cabling on the walls and ceiling, humming with power. The bulk door was open and there was blood on the floor.
They followed the blood trail, up and up the stairs. None of the remaining power spears were usable on the account of all them somehow being permanently deactivated though none doubted the golden giants were less effective without the power blade's effect. Kirito was mighty upset at that and stuck with old faithful.
They were on the fifth floor when Klein stepped on something soft and all them yelped in surprise. "CHAD-san!" Klein shouted.
"That's me, alright. So much for the cheat code," he said, thumbing at the IDDQD on his helmet. He coughed, lifted his gasmask and spat blood. "I hope one of you has pumped points into «Medicine»."
Klein and Sinon patched him up as best they could as Kirito kept watch. Amazingly, the man was missing no limbs, not even any fingers, though his left leg was completely busted. The sniper secured a splint onto it as tightly as she could. Kirito pumped said leg with a shot of «Davai», making him stand straight.
"What's the situation outside? I hear gunfire."
"Counterattack," said Klein. "Listen, CHAD, buddy - you are in no shape to fight. You need to -"
"I'll be heading down and helping Major Nikita repel enemy reinforcements. I'll be more of use down there than here."
Klein slammed a fist against the wall, spooking Kirito and Sinon. "Damn you, man! Get a hold of yourself! You don't have to be a hero!"
"That's what I said."
"Oh, right. Sorry. Got a little too excited." And nervous, likely because of the drug. His palms were sweating and not for the first time Klein cursed how realistic video game tech has gotten.
"Listen," said CHAD, his tone more serious. "You need to make sure they don't launch the rocket. If not, then this whole mission's a failure."
"Dyne-san and Black Dog are still at it, though he hasn't gotten past the forcefield," said Sinon.
"Why, what's going to happen? Is the entire gameworld going to radically change and be made worse?" said Sinon, laughing nervously. CHAD only stared at her with his mismatched red and blue lenses. "Please tell me it's not."
"Some sort of superweapon, it'll wipe out every 'pure' human in all of Greece, so just us clones. In essence, a total reset. Worse than a nuke or antigrain warhead, at least that'll destroy our equipment. My intel says they've already detonated one on the Hong Kong server. Imagine all the scrap weapons, the outdated armour they have, replaced …"
"Which means …" Sinon's ears twitched. "The Republic will just loot all our stuff!"
"All the Mosin-Nagants? Modern rifles. Every Stormtrooper, shiny new ARs and Aks. No more reused technicals from
Warlords. They'll get proper armour, looted from the Mobile Guard, Ashigaru Corp, Black Arrow and everyone else. And they'll have enough time to rebuild their forces, all the «Great Worms», «War Behemoths», «Jet Dragons», we'll have to do this all over again." He chuckled. "Nefarious game design. Probably won't do them any good scores on Metacritic though. It's already taken a beating."
"You know, it's a good thing this game wasn't released in the 2020s, because a man-made virus designed to screw over a good chunk of humanity will probably attract the wrong crowd," said Kirito.
He took off his warbelt and handed it to the swordsman, his FK BRNO and Manurhin MR 73 still hanging, with not much ammo left. "Good luck in there. If all else fail, then I have a backup plan. By the way, does anyone on the ground have a functioning RPG?"
"Probably? Why?" ask Sinon.
"Plan B."
A boot kicked down the double doors of the room, chainsword, power spear and AMR raised.
The last of the Hetairoi stood impassive, spear in hand, more fitting in her gauntlet than in the torn tactical gloves of Klein. Behind her, the Good Doctor Fabius Asclepius was merrily tapping on the console. The figure of the rocket on the flight deck visible as were a notable amount of Corvo-Bats.
The high power handguns materialised in Klein and Kirito's hands, booming like thunder in the room, yet the bullets bounced off the scientist's forcefield. Not even his bodyguard deigned to move a muscle. "Hey, knock it off!" she scolded, and felt a sense of déjà vu washed over her.
"Damn essential NPCs, always ruining my roleplay," Klein cursed. "What is this, a Bethesda game?"
"Ahah, I see my would-be-assassins have arisen from their coffin-vats," said Doctor Fabius Asclepius, not even bothering to tear his gaze away from the computer screens. "At least, two of you. I see my little experiment with feline DNA has gone awry. The last time I saw you, you were but a small blue fur ball."
"This blue furball can still kick your ass!"
"Give it up, doc! You're not leaving this room alive!" said Kirito. "Also, very impressive that you remembered me! Most games tend to not go that far when it comes to their writing!"
He laughed evilly and communist-ly, turning towards the vatborn. "It matters not. The rocket is about to launch! Soon, the world will be cleansed!"
"What the hell you babbling about, you old coot?!" Klein demanded.
"The rocket shall be launched into the sky and detonate! «FASHDIE» will be released into the atmosphere ensuring complete global saturation!"
"That'll kill everyone! Well, okay just us!" said Sinon.
"I can't believe you're committing a genocide!" Kirito scratched the back of his head. "Well, I mean, if there's anyone that deserves it, it's probably us!"
"Enough talk! Captain-general, take care of our guests. The rocket will launch in five minutes!"
At that, the numerous screens in the room started a timer counting down. The Vatborn took a step forward only to stop when the golden giant struck the butt of her spear on the floor.
The Hetaeros moved forward, her footfalls shaking the room like an earthquake, red eyes glowering from behind the visor. The hair on their napes stood, Sinon baring teeth and flicking her tail.
Her voice was like the judgment of a righteous angel, both filled and lacking humanity. "I was there, hundreds of years ago, when Mankind killed itself. My father told me we would make a better life elsewhere.
"I was there, in the stars, when the Explorator ships tried to sabotage each other in transit to Mars. The missile that struck our cryopods killed countless of my comrades."
The spearhead lit and hum with power, certain death manifest.
"I was there, when we threw millions of clones at each other, for nothing but a speck of red dust. We didn't even have a way to terraform the planet. An endeavor doomed to failure, headed by greed and bullheadedness."
The timer on the screen was at 4:45 minutes.
"But maybe, just maybe, I can fix this world here. The world we ruined. And I'll do that by clearing it of scum like you."
The players' grip on their power spear tightened as they took a fighting stance. All three injected Davai into their veins.
"You've gone a lot farther than you should have, but then you haven't met Athena Hayward either. Your ride's over, fascist. Time to die."
Mason should have been helping his fellow players repel the attack. He should be laying down his life for the glory of capital and the Overlords and all that, but with his puny Uzi and his even punnier snubnose, he doubted he would be much help, and the higher level players could do more anyway.
So he did what he did best: cower behind a box and record footage with Nahla.
With all the chaos around him, the Corvo-Bats taking the skies and the explosions, well, exploding around them, they wouldn't notice a single drone in the sky.
Mason was already at peace that they would lose. They would be overrun, the rocket would launch, the entire game reset and player wipeout imminent - the devs already hinted this was going to happen and he had to sign an NDA to not tell the others about it - and they would have to redo the whole thing all over again. The Clearers would be pushed out of Corinth, back to the Frontlines, back to Volos, then way back to Istanbul.
Well,
these players would. As for Mason, he had enough of the game just fine. He'll take a few days to rearrange his notes, a few more days to write up the review, translating stuff from Japanese to English and then be on the next plane trip back to New York. Well, he guessed he could spend a bit more time in the hot springs and enjoying delicious food …
So busy was he imagining eating ramen, he didn' notice the dead man next to him. "Mason. A word."
The journalist stood up and snapped a salute, something CHAD had never asked anyone to do but everyone did anyway. "Sir!"
The man looked more like a zombie than the legendary soldier that he was. He had an RPG-7 slung on his back. "I need to get to the F-16. Help me."
"There's an army on the way here, if you don't realise! And it'll only get worse!"
Then, right in the middle of the ship, where the rocket stood tall and Black Dog was still trying to get through the forcefield, a great shadow came to. One-Eye had returned, a red blanket over his shot eye, and multiple soldiers riding atop it. The members of Black Dog saw it coming just in time as they hid behind the rocket as a gout of flame engulfed the deck, the forcefield they were trying so hard to destroy saving their lives.
"It got worse," CHAD stated calmly.
"I can see that!"
"Regardless, I need to get to the F-16. I've asked Major Nikita if I can borrow one of her armoured forklifts and need you to drive it. Commissar Tadao and the Wall have agreed to be our escorts."
"But … but …"
"Just imagine how good it would look in your review."
Damn, he got him there.
So here he was, driving a forklift at 15 km/h,
into an enemy army
and their pet dragon. Tadao and the Wall were riding the cybersteed into range, hollering, shooting and performing rude gestures. This was definitely going into his review.
The F-16 was a fair distance away from the rocket as the remaining Black Dog came towards them, barely avoiding being shot by the Stormtroopers. The Jet Dragon had taken to the sky and perched onto the radio tower, using the height advantage to let loose with its gatling cannons at the players on the other end of the Ark.
CHAD dismounted the forklift. "Dyne-san, I need your men to buy me enough time to start up the jet."
"What? Why?! We should retreat!"
"Just do it. Help me get into the cockpit."
It took Mason, Tadao and the Wall to haul him up into the cockpit while Black Dog gave them covering fire. CHAD took the controls as if he was riding a bike.
"Wait, hold on, this thing has no ammo!" said Tadao. True enough, Mason saw that the F-16 itself had run out any ammo, neither missile nor bullets were attached to it.
"It has fuel. That's good enough." He flicked and pressed a dozen buttons that Mason did not understand. "You boys best retreat, it's going to be messy."
"CHAD-SAN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" the Wall asked.
CHAD shut the cockpit as the engines roared to life. "Finishing this fight."
Sinon had not missed this many shots since … well, ever. Not that Kirito could recall. He should do the good boyfriend thing and encourage her. "You're doing great, honey!"
Boom! The bullet struck through a monitor and a window. "Shut it!"
"You're the best!"
Which was the truth, considering Sinon hit a dinner plate sized target from a klick away, but somehow was missing every one of her shots indoors. Kirito blamed the combat drugs, she wasn't used to it.
The room was chaos: a maelstrom of melee and shots in the densely packed room, the mad scientist, the Good Doctor laughing madly as the timer . Walls were cut apart like paper, machines were destroyed as the fight went on but the Hetaeros and the Doctor went untouched.
"Your feeble attempts will only delay the inevitable!" he proclaimed, typing on his keyboard. The timer on the screens showed three minutes left.
The Hetaeros was facing down Kirito in all his stimmed up speed and power. The swordsman came at the giant with a flurry of thrusts yet not which she swatted away with little trouble. Her focus of parrying his attack was disturbed as the Lynx exploded within the room, four of the shots absorbed by the armour but the fifth struck in her mailed armpit, drawing bright red blood.
Sinon shouted a hearty, "Yes!"
Klein came running out of the corner spear raised. The spearhead crackled with power aiming at the Haeteros' backside. The giant turned, caught the spear under her armpit and yanked it away, striking Kirito with the shaft and breaking ribs.
"The entire world will be infected!" the doctor continued.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Sinon shouted.
The giant planted a foot on Kirito's broken chest and pushed, sending the much smaller player flying and backhanded a massive fist towards the samurai, striking him in the face and throwing him to the floor. She held her spear underhand and launched her weapon towards the sniper. The catgirl did a (completely unnecessary) cartwheel to the side, reloaded mid-flip and continued on firing, hitting her breastplate with all five shots.
"I don't have any more PTO, asshole! You're fucking dead!"
Kirito had never heard her this foul mouthed and decided he liked this side of her.
One minute left.
The mad scientist ignored the potty mouth. "A new genesis is at hand and I will be the Creator!"
Sinon moved to reload but the Haeteros was upon her. The giant grabbed onto the Lynx's barrel and bent it like an old timey cartoon. The sniper dropped her gun and reached for her tomahawk but the giant grabbed her by the neck and flung her to a rack as easily as one threw a pebble.
Kirito rose from the rubble. "Get away from her!" he yelled and rushed at her, ramming his chainsword into the giant's back. It missed her spine by a few inches as she turned about, almost wrenching it out of his hand. A handgun immediately materialised in his hands as Kirito emptied an entire mag of 7.5k rounds in her face.
She took the shots like a champ. The broken faceplate fell off her face, revealing the skintight visage of a once-woman, now turned monster. Her eyes were fire and her glare deathly.
He swung his sword, once, twice, the teeth of the sword chipping at the golden armour, before the commander caught his hand and squeezed, breaking hilt and hand both. She lifted him up with her other hand, with some struggle, and wrapped her bear paws around his neck.
"Enough is enough!" she growled. "Today is the day capital will lose!"
Kirito's turned blue as her vice grip threatened to break his neck.
"Today is the day the proletariat will throw off the chains of slavery!"
The swordsman struggled like a fish out of water, panic setting in.
"Today is - Argh!"
"Nyergh!"
Kirito was suddenly pulled to the ground as he gasped for air. The greatest warrior science has ever produced, thousands of years of dark research put into one being, was trying and failing to detach the furball currently stuck to her face. Neko-Sinon was going at it as hard as she was, sounding like one of those ASMR videos of kittens eating raw meat. The image was so prosperous he almost broke out laughing.
The timer counted down to zero. A great rumble shook on the Ark as the rocket ascended into the heavens.
Klein came rushing, skewering the Hetaeros in the back of the knee and for once making the transhuman cry out in pain. The power spear went deep, the blood on the spearhead immediately dissipated thanks to the energy field around it. "Kirito! Jump pack! Now!"
He immediately got it. Kirito unstrapped the jump pack off his back and threw it at Klein, who immediately strapped onto the giant's back. Sinon detached herself from Athena's face as she raked the fuel pod of the pack, leapt off the giant and immediately returned into her catgirl form in an instant, right before his eyes.
She had a flickering lighter in hand. "Sayonara, asshole."
A ball of flame erupted in the room as the jump pack ignited. The rush of the jetpack launched Athena ouf of the window of the tower, just in time for her to splat against the nose of a rising F-16, decapitating her in an instant.
The blast of the fighter jet threw everyone and everything in the room, people and equipment alike. Kirito went deaf as he laid on the ground.
Slowly but surely, he picked himself up only to be hauled up by his much bigger and stronger girlfriend. "We did it! We did it!"
"Aaah! Try not to hug me too hard - Argh!"
"Sorry about that," said Sinon as he put him on the ground, though he must admit, the feeling of her thick arms wrapped around his shoulder was not an unpleasant feeling.
The swordsman looked to the corner where Doctor Asclepius lay groaning on the floor. He reached for the syringe gun in his coat pocket only for Klein to come over and stomped on it with a satisfying crack.
"Game over, asshole! We've got you now!" he said, stepping on his neck, the SMG pointed at his face. Whatever force field he had was clearly gone.
At that, he only laughed. It was a very good evil laugh and Kirito must commend whatever voice actor who played him. "Fools! The rocket is already in the air! You're finished! A new world will dawn upon us!"
"Why you -" Klein racked the bolt of the P90 and would have unloaded had it not been for Kirito.
"Wait, Klein! We should bring him to Nikita, see if we can stop the rocket!"
"Our job is to kill him, not interrogate him! We're fucked either way!"
"We should do so, just to be safe."
"Ugh, fine! You owe me a burger for this."
They patched themselves up as best they could, Kirito's sword hand suffering the most damage in the fight, somehow, though Sinon and Klein would argue that the lost of their Lynx and power spear was the greatest casualty.
They marched him at gunpoint to where Nikita had set up a command center, but to call a guard booth as one was being extremely charitable. The Jet-Dragon was shooting its guns at the Clearers from a klick away, the advancing Stormtroopers coming at them in force. She was speaking to someone on the radio. Well, more like yelling. All around them, the players were either fighting or dying.
"CHAD, you will explain yourself!"
"
No time, major. I will do what must be done."
"We have a fucking army on us and you're leaving?!"
"
Sorry, you're breaking up. Ksshhksshhh."
"You're just making up sounds now, you fool!"
"
Send my thanks to everyone. It was a fun time. This is CHAD, over and out." The line went dead and Nikita slammed the receiver down.
"Rocket's launched?" asked Klein.
"What do you fucking think?!" The major ran a hand through her silver hair. "We are fucked. We are sooo fucked."
There was too much profanity for Kirito to be comfortable with. "We can force the doctor to demand a ceasefire!"
"And why would I do that? The mission is complete, let the dragon consume us all in its flame!" he cackled. "You have nothing,
nothing."
"
No, not nothing, Chie-chan!" came a voice on the radio.
Nikita's head snapped to the radio. "George?"
The mysterious George on the other end of the line laughed.
"First Company's come to save the day like always!"
Even from three klicks off the ground, CHAD could see a flight of Chinook, Mi-8s and even a couple of Bell V-280s coming from the east. Who this mystery fleet was, he had no idea, too busy on the mission at hand.
GGO was able to realistically replicate G-Forces in jets. Part of the reason why fighter jets were unpopular was because they were too close to the real thing, needing very specific attributes to use them effectively. CHAD, obviously, did not possess the correct attributes, even if he knew full well how to fly one IRL.
The weight of gravity was crushing him, making him black out. He came and out of his consciousness, the splint on his busted leg already snapped in half. He was almost there. He had passed the mid-range clouds already, getting closer and closer to the rocket.
The sun shone on the dead earth, making even a hardened cynic like him appreciate the beauty of it. It may have been virtual, made up, false, but it was one he had come to appreciate the longer he played these games. He wasn't going to go back to the field anytime soon in this body of his.
His heart skipped a beat as he lost track of the rocket, only to realise he had shot past it. He was seven klicks into the sky.
Low earth orbit ranged from 160 to 1600 klicks, and the game, realistic as it was, could not replicate such heights. He forgot the exact number, but the actual ceiling of the game world was actually only about twenty klicks, give or take. He had one shot at this. Patting the console like he would a dog, he grabbed the RPG-7 by his side and pressed the eject button.
The window hissed and popped, launching with as he was propelled from the cockpit. The seatbelts on the old girl were old and snapped without resistance.
The rocket was coming at him, the forcefield module that kept it safe had been discarded to save weight. He hefted the RPG-7 and aimed down the scope. One shot.
The backblast of the rocket propelled him forward as the missile flew true. It struck its fuel section, igniting a reaction that consumed the entire rocket, including the payload in the snout. The rocket dismantled itself before his eyes as Mister Shinigami shot an extremely rare smile.
He plummeted to the earth, the debris followed after, enjoying the wind and admiring the sun in his final moments.
Game over.
Nikita could only watch in grim satisfaction as the forces of Zakon i Dolg 1st Company rappelled onto the deck. The duo Bell V-280s completely destroyed the black dragon with their missiles while the transport choppers provided covering fire. The enemy army that came from within the Ark was pushed back as easily as litter with a broom, into the panhandle that was the Ark, and other cleaning related phrases (she really needed to get back to her hotel job).
She passed cheering players, shooting what ammo they had left into the air. People were dancing, making merry, drinking and smoking. That journalist was going about, recording things with his bee-drone, Black Dog posing with the head of the dead Haeteros; one of them kicking the power armoured corpse, breaking his toes.
The name 'CHAD" keep repeating from their lips, like a sports slogan or a religious saying. Where the gasmasked man was, Nikita had no idea. Someone had reporting seeing the F-16 fall to the earth but not its pilot. Well, fuck him. She can deal with that later.
A well-worn Mi-8 landed not too far from where the players had set up. Two dozen soldiers, half of whom were combat medics, poured out and immediately began to tend to the wounded. They were led by two bears with ancient Papasha SMGs wearing thick greatcoats flanking a much smaller man, dressed in fancy white, wearing a red baseball hat and aviators.
Nikita snapped a salute at him, something she had not done in an age."Welcome to the war, general."
"Yo, Chie-chan. Looks like we missed a great party!" George Zenkou put both hands on his hips, still in cold weather gear instead of Wasteland wear. "I for one cannot wait for the report you'll write."
She was going to hand that duty over to Dave. "You'll have it, sir."
"And what's this? This the Good Doctor I heard so much about. He don't look like much. Not like this catgirl I've heard of. Mrow, you're a big girl!"
Doctor Asclepius had been tied up neat and tidily, hands behind his back. Despite it all, he didn't look all that upset that his plan failed. Sinon merely shrugged her very wide shoulders. "I'm taken."
Zenkou looked Kirito up and down. "Of course, you two ladies make for a very pretty couple."
"I'm not-" Kirito gaped and shut his mouth. "Ah, forget about it."
"You look like shit," said Nikita. "You need to stop taking those drugs."
Kirito waved his broken hand, making a horrible cracking sound. The black veins on his face and the fact he was shivering despite it being 32 degrees. A sneeze would have killed him. "I only got the one dose of Davai left and have no intention of using it, don't worry."
"What do we do with him?" asked Zenkou. "Bring him back to Glocken? I heard you were supposed to kill him."
"I don't know. Maybe." In truth, there was very little in the way of capturing the enemy alive aside from the bounty hunting guild questline, but maybe they would be given a bonus. The cash reward would probably be enough to cover all the armour, ammo, and manpower they used up. "You mind taking him in? I'm at my wits end."
"Anything for ya', Chie-chan. You know me, I'm good at cleanup. The heads of the other guilds will be coming over soon, including one Colonel Honshu. Heard he was a little bit pissed."
"Not my fault he insisted on dying first."
The bears were already taking him back to the chopper. "You won't hear the last of me, dogs of capital! I'll be back and raise another army! And you, catwoman, I'll have you torn apart and dissected!"
Kirito yawned. "Well, if you all don't mind, me and Sinon are going to take the world's longest nap."
At that, she whispered to him. "No, napping together?"
"Maybe next time, Sinonon."
The catgirl pouted. "Aww. Okay."
The two of them were disgusting. They reminded her of herself and her husband.
All eyes turned to the helicopter as they were a shout. One of Zenkou's man was lying on the ground, clutching his stomach as another was clutching his torn throat. The Good Doctor had a Grach in his bloodstained claw, and was aiming it at the closest target: an unarmed Sinon.
"DIE!"
Gunshots exploded all around and the doctor was dead before he hit the ground, everyone nearby had smoking pistols in hand.
Sinon lowered her arms, still in shock, and found herself unharmed. "Kirito?"
Kirito was stock-still, standing in front of her. The blade from his vambrace had sprung and the plasteel blade was partly chipped. At his feet was the 9mm bullet, cut in twain. He turned to see her.
The swordsman had the dumbest, biggest smile on his face. His eyes were red and blood dripped from both nostrils. "Shino. Look. I did it. I cut the bullet in half."
Then he collapsed to the ground, dead from overdose. Sinon's big blue eyes could only blink in disbelief.
The medics had already gotten to the bodyguards but it was Vladimir who examined the doctor. He pulled him up by the scalp to reveal a face dark as night, crimson eyes, no mouth and a long jaw that extended to its chest.
"Major, the doctor was a mimic!" he proclaimed. "Asclepius is still on the loose!"
Nikita massaged her temples, suffering from history's greatest headache.
She hated this game
so fucking much.
