Chapter 02-03

After the sibling squabble that had just occurred between Obsidian and Lift was over and Lift admitted defeat, she would be responsible for the repair bill. If, that was, the city determined that the repairs were a priority. Sometimes the damage did not get repaired unless a player or other entity came in a paid for the work.

Alex and Obsidian walked out of the main door and out onto the sidewalk. A city repair crew was already on site.

“So, what do we do now?” Obsidian asked. Alex stopped to watch the crew start its work.

A white vehicle had pulled up to the side of the building parking in parallel with the damaged wall. Six slots opened where drones flew out and, like worker bees, soared to the sixth floor. They began to reconstruct the missing section of wall piece by piece.

“You know I forgot about that cost.” Alex said absentmindedly watching the drones work to repair the building, “we have to make sure that we win. Given that this is a villain city, I’d bet we are billed every time.”

“Yeah, my sisters always end up with the bill.” Obsidian said with a smirk. She crossed her arms over her chest.

“You’re that confident in your abilities.” Alex asked shaking his head. He rested his fists on his hips proudly. One thing that was sure, the hero thing was going to get old quick. The first time that he had played, before becoming an admin, he had been a villain.

“Until I’m proven otherwise, I have no need to doubt.” She said with a curt nod.

“Fair enough. Come on, I’ve gotten us some missions.” He said motioning for them to head down town to the city square.

“What’s this mission that you speak of?” Obsidian asked in a comedic tone. She happily followed right behind Alex.

Alex felt ashamed of himself in comparison to Obsidian. She had an organized costume and identity. His Aether identity was not so well put together. His powers were so new to him that he had no clue what to do to really use them together, his costume was a joke. Normal clothes, plus a half mask that just covered the area around his eyes was not really doing it for him. Until he got some cash though, there wasn’t much that he could do about the situation. It was hard for him to feel like a leader when she was obviously stronger than he was at the moment. Her only down fall was that she only had one power.

“First thing, we are going to see if we can help the citizens of the city in a demonstration against the villainous leaders of the city.” Alex explained as they walked.

“Thank goodness. I was thinking about going to this rally, but my dad was being kind of a wad about the whole thing.” Obsidian said with a sigh of relief.

“You have more details about the event?” Alex asked.

“The biggest issue that they are protesting is the unfair work conditions at the docks, but there is always the ‘hey why are you guys such dicks’ issue.” Obsidian said.

“Could you elaborate?” Alex asked. He stopped so that he could turn and look at her.

“Wait, how long have you been in this city?” She asked stopping as well. She attempted to rub tension out of her forehead with her fingers.

Alex pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time. He did some quick math in his head jokingly counting on his fingers. He purposely drew out the answer.

“About six hours.” He said with a smile.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Obsidian said dramatically throwing her hands into the air. She walked over to the wall of the nearest building and started to pound her head on the bricks. Dust fell from each contact as the brick crumbled.

“I mean, I know that this city needs a hero. And I know that there are two rival gangs that fight for control.” He said holding out his hand towards her.

“They aren’t rivals anymore. They struck a truce a few months ago, about the same time as the exodus. They are in the government. They are the police.” Obsidian said tapping her foot with frustration.

“Alright, so instead of fighting two groups we are fighting one larger one.” Alex said with a shrug, “No big deal.”

“You are so nonchalant. Don’t you take anything seriously?” She said and crossed her arms in a huff.

“What can I tell you? I just don’t.” Alex smiled. They turned and started to walk towards the city center. People were already gathered in the street. Hundreds of people held up signs that screamed about the unfair conditions in the city.

“You need a permit for this type of gathering!” A man standing at the top of the stairs yelled through a megaphone like device towards the crowd. Alex didn’t need any more information to know for a fact that he was military police. He wore a black uniform that covered his entire body. A sliver badge with a gold center dangled around his neck. I baffled him that the Goldys could get so much power.

“You’ve made it so hard to get a permit so that you can control us!” A man yelled from the crowd.

“You don’t want a people, you want cattle!” A woman yelled.

“Ready men!” The man with the megaphone yelled.

Two dozen other officers filed onto the stairs from inside of city hall. They all aimed assault rifles at the crowd. In unison they chambered their rounds. Red lasers showered down on the people in the front row.

“These men will fire if you do not disperse immediately.” The man with the megaphone ordered.

Alex clenched his fist and began to float up off the ground. Obsidian clenched her own fists and a sheen of purple energy rippled across her body. She began to move forward through the crowd attempting to blend the best the she could.

Behind the man with the megaphone the doors to city hall opened. A man in a suit walked out onto the top step. When he opened his mouth gold shown across the crowd.

“Mr. Gold King.” The leader of the officers said with a slight bow. Backing away from the center of the landing at the top of the stairs he handed over the microphone to the new man.

“My people. I don’t think that you understand how important to this community that you are. If these officers are forced to take action on this day, it will be tragic for both sides of this issue.” Mr. Gold King held up his hand in sincerity. Alex hung back and lowered into the crowd hovering only enough to see over the sea of heads.

“You want to control us! You want to use us! You pay us nothing and you’ve taken away everything that we work for while you profit and sit fat on high!” A man yelled from the crowd.

“I am working hard to grow this city. I want to give your home a boost to strengthen the economy and the people.” His obviously rehearsed speech was interrupted by a loud whooshing sound. Purple flashes of energy signaled a portal blinking to life behind The Gold King.

Turning in surprise he was assaulted when a severed head flew out from the portal and collided with his face. He somehow caught it, but when he realized what it was, he dropped it in a hurry. Alex leapt from the ground and hovered above the crowd. The head was of a man with sharpened teeth whose dying expression was of pure terror.

A man stepped through the portal. He wore a pressed suit. His hair was oily reflective silver and slicked back to super sharp points the curled upward. He had a dark beard and mustache that were very well manicured.

“Who the hell are you?” The Gold King asked stumbling backward from the portal and the head. Blood had stained the small bit of white shirt that could be seen on the Gold King’s chest.

“My name is Cyphon and I’ve come her to take this city.” The new man on stage proclaimed. He clenched his fist and looked over the crowd.

“Stop him!” The Gold King yelled pointing at the man.

The officers all turned aiming at the intruder. They all pulled their triggers at the same time. The hail of bullets rained across the top of the stairs slamming into the wall behind them man. A massive cloud of dust filled the air. It wasn’t until the dust began to settle did they notice that he wasn’t standing where he had been, nor was he laying on the ground. Cyphon was standing behind the Gold King.

His fingers reached out and grabbed the Gold king by the shoulder, whose body began to sag almost instantaneously. Cyphon pushed him down on to his knees. He drew a sword and with a swift movement the Gold King’s head dropped to the ground and rolled a few times.

The blade of his sword began to glow. In a burst of movement Cyphon rushed the officers. When he came to a stop there was a moment of stillness before all of the officers fell to the ground.

The sword returned to the sheath. Cyphon turned to the crowed wearing a wide smile. The officer who was leading the other officers looked up to the man who had just killed his comrades and handed off the microphone for the megaphone device.

“I have only one rule. Comply or die.” Cyphon let go of the microphone causing a thud that echoed around the crowd.

A purple portal of energy opened. Cyphon walked into the writhing energy vanishing from the pseudo stage. In an unnatural silence the crown dispersed in all directions and vanished into the city.

“That was not how I expected this event would go down.” Obsidian scoffed when Alex landed on the street next to her.

“I don’t think anyone thought things would go down that way.” Alex sighed.

“That changes your hero plans.” She said and shook her head.

“Not even a little bit.” Alex said trying to maintain the unwavering optimism that the Hero was supposed maintain. He led them down the street towards the docks. There was still another mission that they could do. Busting up a drug delivery would be fun and more than ever he needed to level.