Chapter 04-04

Sleep was what Alex wanted, but sleep is not what he got. There was a part at the back of his mind that felt a little smothered, claustrophobic thinking that his body was locked in the sleeping tube and there was nothing that he could do about it. With the Account management system gone it left only confusion. He didn’t intend on leaving the game any time soon, but the option being gone made his skin crawl.

When the sun was up, a seemingly beautiful day, Alex snatched his phone up from the bedside table, or rather the stack of random debris that was being used as a bedside table. He opened the messaging app and went to his friend Mad Mind Melana’s conversation.

Aether: Are you awake?

Alex sent the message and put his phone down on his chest while he looked at the ceiling. He wasn’t really wanting to panic, but he needed someone to talk to that would understand his concern. If he was the only one effected by whatever was going on, he needed to know. Luckily, he didn’t have to wait long when his phone chimed, and the screen awoke brightly.

Mad Mind Melana: Yes, I am.

Aether: Is there any way that we can meet?

Mad Mind Melana: Um…

Aether: Please, I won’t take much of your time. I just have a few questions.

Mad Mind Melana: Meet me on the roof of the building you are in. I’ll be there in ten minutes.

Aether: I’ll be there.

At that Alex closed his phone and threw his legs over the side of his bed. The points that he had allocated in his powers had done a good job fixing his body. Not only did he not have any bruises or wounds, but he felt like he had more energy, and felt more vital. He still had eight skill points that he needed to allocate, but he had time later to get that done.

Donning his costume, he figured that he should be ready for the day after their meeting. There was a great deal of work that needed to get done. If they were going to reach Tier three, they had to complete a hand full of missions and probably a hand full of randoms as well. A few years had passed since his income and his level were based on the systems within the game, but he felt that he was getting back into the swing of things.

Walking through the front room he passed Obsidian who was sprawled out on the couch in what seemed like an incredibly uncomfortable position, but she seemed to be enjoying herself. He walked past her and slipped silently out the front door into the hallway.

If not for his flight ability Alex wasn’t sure if he could have circumvented the debris that blocked the stairs to the roof. He supposed that he could have climbed a fire escape on the outside of the building, but he didn’t have to bother. With a silent thud he landed on the roof and found that his friend was already waiting for him.

She looked exhausted. She moved like someone, or something had just beaten the shit out of her. Walking softly, she approached the small half wall that encompassed the entire roof and sat down.

“Mad Mind Malena.” Alex said with a nod. He walked over and sat down on the wall next to her. Folding his hands in his lap he tried his best to avoid being awkward.

“Just call me Malena, Aether.” She said with a forced smile that was filled with exhaustion.

“So,” Alex started to say, but he stopped and looked down at his hands in his lap.

“So.” She said simply. She too looked down towards the ground where her feet dangled.

“What’s going on with the account management system?” Alex blurted. He was trying to find the words to be calm and gentle with the subject, but it came out as a panicked child.

“We don’t know.” She said shaking her head. She sighed and leaned back on her hands. The upper half of her body was leaning over the edge towards a six story drop below.

“So, it’s everyone?” Alex asked with anticipation of the answer flooding through his mind.

“Seems to be. Everyone that I’ve talked to has lost access to that system. Tons of people nervous about their dues.” Melana explained.

“Damn.” Alex said under his breath. He was thoroughly relieved that he was not alone in his issues.

“That’s not the worst part.” She said shaking her head.

“What could be worse than that?” Alex asked finally turning his gaze towards her.

“The admins have lost the admin commands.” She said her eyes remained fixed on the ground and completely unfocused.

“Have you started over as a new character?” Alex asked in surprise.

“No, I got to keep all of my powers and all of my points. I have two hundred and fifty levels and nearly seven hundred power points.” She said with a shrug.

“So, do you get three power points every level?” Alex asked after doing some quick math in his head.

“Yeah. I have these.” She pointed to her glasses, “Broken admin glasses. An artifact from an older version of the game. Patch two, I think. From before the admin powers were built into the character. There is a whole slew of admin artifacts around the world. You just have to know where to look.”

“Alright, why didn’t I know about them? Why didn’t you tell me before?” Alex nodded feeling a little relieved to know where the extra points were coming from.

“One, I tired to ask you to come on a dig where I found the ones that I gave you over a year ago. I think your words were, ‘I don’t have time for a stupid artifact’ when your replied to me.” She said look up at him sharply.

“I said that?” Alex said. He didn’t remember the event, but he knew that in his previous incarnation of NuValla he was an asshole. He had always felt that he was better than everyone else.

“Sure did.” She said simply but went no further.

“I’m sorry. I don’t really know what to say.” Alex said.

“New day, new life, new problems. Let’s not dwell.” She said.

“So, why do you look like you’ve just been through an epic battle?” Alex asked after a few minutes of silence.

“There is a little unrest in some of the main hub cities that have high player populations. When people started to push the boundaries and realized that we didn’t have our admin abilities they began to push us. Sure, with all of the power we have accumulated as admins we have an edge, but people can be relentless.” She said shaking her head.

“Damn. How long has it been?” Alex said softly again.

“It has been,” she checked her phone, “Just over twenty-four hours.”

“so, What’s the plan?” Alex asked.

Melana began to laugh. It started as a chuckle and then became a deep belly laugh. She clenched her side and doubled over.

“There is no plan. We can’t contact the outside world. Everything outside of this game just vanished. What happens if they pull the plug on the servers? What if they think that all of the players went brain dead?” She said wiping away a tear from laughing so hard. Alex didn’t really see what was so funny.

“I’m sure that there is some kind of explanation.” Alex said with a shrug.

“Alright, you find it and you let me know. If I find it, I’ll let you know. Sound like a deal?” She asked. She dropped down from the wall, “You know, I haven’t stopped thinking about the corruption that you said that you saw.”

“I know. I’ve been wondering if the two are linked.” Alex said biting his lip.

“Take care of yourself. Alex.” Melana said. She turned to face him and pressed two fingers to her temple. Instantly she blinked out of existence like she had never been there in the first place. Teleportation! Alex thought that he should have taken that instead of flight.

Standing on the roof he decided for the time being he needed to readjust his outlook on his situation. He had a piece of equipment that gave him a major leg up during the level process. He didn’t need to worry about paying his bill because getting removed from the game might be helpful at that moment. He needed to really start looking at getting a foothold in Winter Garden. This meant, bottom line, he was going to have to figure out and deal with the Cyphon situation.

He pulled his phone from his pocket. According to his bank account he had over twelve thousand three hundred thread to spend. He opened up the Vulcan app and started to examine the property around the Hero Bureau. He wanted to know how much money he was going to need to get property of their own.

Most of the buildings, even in their dilapidated state were way outside of his price range, but there were other ways of acquiring property. He just had to make sure that he was careful not to get many if any villainous points in the process. This was where he had to account for who was holding the building and what they were using it for. If he took over a drug den, sure he would get points for taking them off the street, but it would be worthless to him because it would cost a ton of money to convert it from a drug den. Even still, if he used the drug den then he would get villainous points.

A few blocks away there was a house that was label with a red outline indicating that it was occupied by a rival faction. He wasn’t sure if he could take it because the level indicator was just a bunch of question marks. A few more blocks away he found another building that was highlighted in red. The level on this larger building was ten. He figured that even though he was level four with his bonus Power Points at each level the playing field would be even.

Alex went back down to the apartment. When he walked through the front door, he made sure to slam it open as Obsidian’s wakeup call.

Obsidian shot bolt upright.

“Wakey, wakey.” He said with a wide grin. Her hair was plastered to the side of her face in sweat. She glanced around the room in a disconnected gaze.

“What time is it?” she asked smacking her lips.

“Six in the morning.” Alex said turning from where he had retrieved pizza at the dinning room table. He spoke with pizza in his mouth.

“No!” Obsidian whined slamming her head into the couch cushion. She slammed her fists down a couple of times for effect.

“We aren’t strong enough to fight at night yet, but we are getting there.” Alex said sitting down on a chair from the remains of the dining room table. He sat down just a little too sharply for the chair. It crumpled under him and the legs all shot out in different directions. He landed on the ground with grunt.

“I don’t care! I don’t want to get up at six in the morning!” She yelled into the couch. She busted out laughing throwing her head back.

“Get over it.” Alex said with a groan then a chuckle as he climbed up off the ground.

“Sometimes I wonder about this hero stuff.” She said sitting up on the couch and tried to smooth down her hair. Alex tossed her the last slice of her pizza from the night before.

“Don’t we all.” Alex said with a smile.

“What’s on the agenda for the day?” Obsidian asked devouring her pizza.

“I was thinking property encounter!” Alex said clapping his hands together and then rubbing them maniacally.