Rave, Rave, Revolution! Second Beat!

--- Maya ---

She shook her head, her eyes snapping open as she turned back to the stage.

A strange sense of calm overcame her, the voices in her head calming down to a buzzing excitement and little more, as her headache and rolling stomach both began to fade.

“Alright… fuck it.”

Pushing her way through the crowd she made her way over to where the initiates were being forced to line up to take their turns to fight the wolf.

She was stopped by a member of the guild leaning against the stage and making sure none of the initiates tried to chicken out.

“What do you want?” The guard asked, the music surprisingly quiet so close to the speakers.

(Decker must be manipulating the sound so the guild members can explain the rules to the recruits…) She thought to herself.

“Hey, sorry… I got stuck in the crowd when Decker was asking for volunteers.” She told him, pretending to pant as if she’d just ran her way to the stage. “I’m not too late am I?”

The guard eyed her for a moment before waving her through. “Nah, don’t have it in me to stop another gamer, go on in.”

“Thanks!” She took two steps forward before stopping. “Oh, I almost forgot!”

“Wha-aaggh!” The guild member seized as she tased him with enough electricity to leave him stunned, any light or noise being covered by the lights and music of the rave.

Leaving the guards unconscious body leaning against the stage, she quickly made her way to the line of initiates, slowly pushing her way towards the front of the line.

“Hey, no cutting.” An initiate wearing glasses told her.

(If he wanted to join up than that means he’s as good as a member already.)

Deciding there was no reason to feel any guilt, she kneed the asshole and pushed past him and the other male initiates who were all giving her a wide berth now, while the few female ones looked like they wanted to give her a pat on the back.

She ignored the way the ones who didn’t want to be there were cringing away from her with fearful gazes.

“Anyone mind if I take first round?” She asked making her way to the female guild member standing between the initiates and the wolf. “No? Cool.”

“Not bad, for a newbie.” The guard told her.

“Thanks, so how’s this work?” (And when can I get close enough to break that mixer board?)

“Fairly straightforward, pick a power-up and step onto the stage.” The guard explained, gesturing to a number of items laying on a table next to the stairs, several of which she recognized as power-ups from a number of classic arcade games.

(Ooh, fire flower… but there’s the mallet!)

“So, how do these work?” she asked, hand drifting between every other power-up as her inner gamer begged to go wild. (After all it won’t hurt to use their own stuff against them.)

“Got to figure that part out for yourself newbie.” The guard laughed, giving her a smile.

“Right…” She shook her head, before freezing her hand inches away from one of the power-ups, the whispers in her head suddenly so loud and numerous that they were drowning out all sound.

Pulling her hand away, she swallowed down a fair amount of apprehension as she suddenly recalled Decker’s words to those being forced into the guild.

(“After all, once you’ve had that first hit of madness, you’ll realize just how much of a game life really is.”)

The table of power-ups suddenly took on a much more ominous purpose, than helping the recruits through their challenge.

“You know, thinking about it… I might be better off on my own.” She told the guard as she turned back to the stairs.

“I appreciate the enthusiasm kid but trust me when I say you want one of- agh!” The guard’s encouragement was cut off as she once more used her Hand Cannons to tase another guild member.

“Yeah, no, I’ve already got my own.” She admitted, letting the guard fall down the steps in full view of the guild’s initiates.

(Really is no backing out now.) She told herself as she saw the mix of confusion, hope, and rage drifting through the initiates willing and un.

Continuing up the steps she made her way onto the stage, and stopped as a spotlight hit the stage, leaving only her, Decker, and the wolf visible.

“Oh, ho, and we’ve got our first player of the evening! A kickass girl who looks ready to kick ass!” Decker cheered, hyping up the crowd. “Don’t let anyone tell you girls can’t game, sister!”

(You know if he wasn’t an asshole gang member he might actually be kind of cool.) She decided, giving him the middle finger.

“Ha! And she’s got some spice to her too!” Decker laughed. “I have got to introduce you to Nix’s party after this! But that’s for the after-party, right now it’s time to start the game!”

She turned her attention to the monster wolf that had been holding its ground. Odds were, dragging her fight out with it until she could get a direct shot at Decker was her best bet, but at the same time if she took too long than the guild would realize something was up with the two guards she downed.

(Slow and steady.) She reminded herself, feeling a slight buzzing from the whispers as she eyed the mob in front of her.

“On this side we have my wolf-y friend that we’ve already been acquainted with. And on this side we have the kickass gamer girl, equipped with the…” For the first time since the rave had begun Decker well and truly lost his smile. “You don’t have a power-up.”

(Well, there goes my plan.) She sighed, before powering up her Hand Cannons. “Don’t worry about it, I made my own build.”

“Huh, so you did.” Decker nodded, eyeing her intently before snapping his fingers. “Fight.”

Without preamble the wolf lunged at her, forcing her to roll to the side if she wanted to avoid being mauled apart.

(Damn it,) She cursed quickly rolling to her feet. (I really am going to have to thank Izzy for teaching me out to take a fall.) She probably couldn’t manage it if she’d actually been hit, but the little bit of experience she did have was just enough to save her.

As the wolf began to turn towards her she rushed forward and slammed both of her Hand Cannons into its side, releasing two bursts of electricity before shattering the wolf into a cloud of pixels.

“Huh, not bad.” Decker admitted, before regaining his smile. “But let’s see how you do with more than a single creep to kill.”

The entire stage began to thump to the music as three more swarms of pixels formed in the air before exploding into a pack of wolves surrounding her on all sides.

She glanced over her shoulder at Decker’s stand, she could try making a run for it, but at the same time, (I’d be leaving my back to the wolves… literally…) She thought, eyeing the wolves just waiting for a moment of weakness.

“Alright, might need something a little louder here…” She admitted, clenching her fist and revving her hand.

Losing their patience, the wolves began to close in forcing her to run or be torn apart.

Able to feel one of the wolves nipping at her hoodie as she ran, barely outpacing it, she spun around slapping it across the face while releasing a burst from her hand cannon. The blow wasn’t enough to pixelate the monster but when combined with the beast’s momentum, it sent the wolf tumbling off stage and into the crowd of party goers forcing them to back off screaming.

Watching the monster crash, she didn’t have enough time to avoid the second wolf painfully tackling her to the ground.

“Shit!” She cursed, barely keeping the beast at bay as it tried to tear her face off.

“You know normally my pets aren’t this dangerous,” Decker taunted her, “but I felt an uninvited guest, smurfing the bronze tier, deserved something of a… higher difficulty.”

(Dios mio!) Her eyes widened. (I’m bronze tier, fuck!)

Unwilling to let that stand she released a burst of electricity into face of the wolf attacking her, before pulling her other arm back as it gave off a guitar riff and slamming it into the beast’s face as she released a sonic blast from her cannon, shattering the mob into pixels.

“Shit…” Forcing herself back onto her feet she eyed the wolf growling at her from a few feet away. “You know what…” Lunging at the beast, she grabbed it by its head before using a sonic blast to slam its face into the pavement hard enough to pixelate it. “Fuck you and your pinche perros!”

Huffing she stood up as both of her Hand Cannons reloaded her back to three shots each, leaving her with sixteen power and a number of bruises.

Turning a glare on Decker she pointed a finger at him and yelled, “Chinga tu madre!”

Decker threw his head back and laughed, before looking down on her with his cheshire grin. “You know what? I think I’m going to deal with you personally.”

The sound of a record screeching tore through the air, as all of the light and music began to fade as an all-consuming black began to creep in from the shadows.

“But just so you know, noob?” Decker began as the shadows finally reached her, leaving her trapped in darkness. “You never pick a fight with the server admin.”