Chapter 06-01

It wasn’t a very lengthy walk back to the Hero Bureau from the factory and when they took it at a run it was like they were there in a heartbeat. What used to be the hero district, where the bureau was located, was right on the edge of the Western Industrial District, also known as the WID.

It started with the smell. The harsh smell of smoke filled the air. Alex wanted to think that is was just because they were in the industrial district and there were just some factories working overtime. A large plumb of smoke in the same direction as they were traveling sharply pushed that thought out of his head.

Alex put on as much speed as he could when the smoke came into view. Obsidian fell in line right behind him. They rounded the corner bringing the destruction of the building cause by the sun card into view and a split second later the Hero Bureau. The building was a blaze huge flames having engulfed the whole structure.

A man wearing a suite of futuristic armor stood before the main door. He held Dick by the neck whose feet were dangling inches off the ground. It was already too late. A four-foot-long sword that was nearly six inches wide was driven hilt deep through Dick’s chest.

Blood ran down Dick’s face. His head slumped over to one side. The armored man withdrew the sword slowly, the blood being flung cleanly from the blade, and sheathed it on his back. He tossed aside Dick’s body like it was nothing. His limp, lifeless form crashed into the ground and rolled into a heap on the street.

Alex yelled at the top of his lungs and ran at the armored man. He did not have a clue what he was going to do, but he was not going to stand idly by and watch. Fist clenched he drew back with the intent of using Seismic punch but lacked the energy. He focused as much energy as he could, but the punch fell shallow ringing harmlessly off of the man’s armor.

Alex stumbled back breathing heavily. The armored man turned slowly towards him. He began to chuckle which morphed into a maniacal laugh.

“Alex!” Obsidian yelled.

“You have been warned and yet you continue.” The armored man said. His voice was deep chalky, sounding like it was being run through a voice changer.

“Who are you?” Alex snarled.

“I am the Knight of Swords!” The man said.

“So, I’m guessing you work for the priestess?” Alex asked. He took a deep steadying breath. He didn’t have any Energy serums, nor was he going to restore a significant amount of energy to be able to do anything with any time soon.

“I am the hand of her Swords.” He said swelling with pride.

“I see that she has to send someone to do her dirty work,” Alex said with a smirk, “She can’t even confront her own daughter.”

Alex never saw the back of his hand. When it connected with his face, he went from standing to soaring through the air in an instant. Crashing into something solid, like a wall, was the last thing that he perceived.

~//~

Disconnection, Emptiness, the panicking feeling that something was missing. These thoughts where what invaded Alex’s mind upon his death. When Alex played my supers before he had become an admin, he had died several times. Like this time each of those deaths was him getting in way over his head.

Nothing made the incident any less jarring.

It seemed like forever that he floated in great black nothingness. In normal situations a player who had been downed, killed or otherwise, would find their way back to the world traveling on a tendril of spectral light. In some situations, the player would have to wait because other players had the chance to resurrect them before they respawned, but that only usually happened when they were in a party or a mission group.

Like the account management page something was wrong. He began to panic, the thought that he may not make it back and this being his only death began to take over his mind. Finally, the ribbons of light began to appear in his mind. He couldn’t say that he saw them because he couldn’t see anything, but they were there, and he followed them. Feverishly he pulled himself along moving towards the end goal of resurrection, he hoped.

He felt warmth spread through his body. It started at his feet and made its way up through his head. Finally, he was given the chance to open his eyes. That was when he dropped six feet down onto where his bed was supposed to be. He crashed through the fire damaged floor and continued to fall another ten feet. The next floor crumpled around him. He fell until he finally found concrete with his back.

Alex laid on the floor gasping for air, but his lungs couldn’t take hold. He had taken over half his health in damage landing so roughly from his respawn. The thought of ending up in an endless loop of dying and reviving in midair did not appeal to him. Act ivating his Flash Heal skill his breath rushed back into his lungs and he sucked in a deep breath of air.

There were two truths in Alex’s mind. One, he had respawned in the fire damaged Hero Bureau. Two, he was completely nude. His phone was the only item that would respawn with him, they were soul bound items. He searched around his body for the device but couldn’t find it. That was when he started to hear a sliding noise from over his head. When he looked up to see what was making the sound the phone hit him in the nose. This did another ten points of damage and his nose started to bleed.

It took a few moments of pinching and leaning his head back before the bleeding stopped. He wiggled his nose to try and work out the pain that the impact had left behind. As much as he didn’t want to, he unlocked his phone because there were several notifications waiting for him.

-Death

-Your life was snuffed out. You should be more careful. Don’t pick a fight you cannot win.

-Your Heroic points have been reduced to 10. (You are still a hero)

-Your Villainous points have been reduced to 0. (You are still a hero)

-Your Hero Tier Points have been reset to 0.

-Your Villain Tier Points have been reset to 0.

-13,270t 75% of your thread has been removed from your account and returned to the global fund. Thank you for your death.

Alex couldn’t help but think that the message was a little bit snarky. He didn’t really remember them having so much attitude in the past, but he continued.

-Its MIDNIGHT!

-You had a bad day!

-You Defeated 47 Villains

-You Earned a Total of 8000 Experience Points

-Congrats! You’ve leveled up! You are now level 5!

-You now have 3 Power Points to spend! ([email protected][email protected]!#$<@#%)

-You may choose 1 Feat of Power to Increase your inner power.

- Congrats! You’ve leveled up! You are now level 6!

-You now have 3 Power Points to spend! ([email protected][email protected]!#$<@#%)

-You Earned 0 Heroic Points (10) (Congratulations YOU ARE A HERO!)

-You Earned 0 Villainous Point (0) (Congratulations YOU ARE A HERO!)

-It’s Sunday

-We’re sorry with your death you did not receive a payout from the Global fund.

-Please try harder to stay with the living next time.

Relief flooded over his body when he still received his levels that he had earned. The damage to his bank account was bad enough and he would have gotten tier 3 which would have been over twenty-three thousand thread, but at least he was alive. With everything going on he assumed that might not be a guarantee. That was until he saw the next notification.

-Your Factory is up and running!

-100,000t Net income

-(-)29,000t operating cost

-(+)7,100t deposited into personal account

-(+)17,750t deposited into Calson’s personal account

-(+)46,150t deposited into Factory’s operating capital account

As much as he wanted to stick with the hero path Alex just didn’t think he had that nature in his veins. The problem was the larger the gap between the heroic and villainous meter the faster, or more hero tier points that he would receive from each event, mission, or battle. It was tiresome to be good all the time. He didn’t know how the greats did it in the comics. The he hit himself in the head because they were fictional characters and that was how they were so perfect. In reality it would be more like the Watchmen.

Taking another look at the factory’s expense report again he felt that Cal was taking home a huge cut. Granted Alex assumed that his actual daily income would be less because he sold the factory’s stock and still had to hire employees to work the machines, but dang. Alex felt a little cheated.

The thought of laying in the ash and soot of the destroyed building crossed his mind, but Alex decided to climb off the floor and get back to the grind. Digging through a few only partially singed closets, he found himself lucky to find a sheet that he could wrap around himself. He unlocked his phone so that he could send Obsidian a message.

Aether: Obsidian, are you alright?

He didn’t know what had happened to her after his death nor did he know for sure how long he had been out. There was only a single midnight message, so he figured it was less than a day, but with all the things he’d seen that weren’t quite right he couldn’t be sure what was going on.

Obsidian: You’re ALIVE!

Aether: Yeah, I made it. Where are you?

Obsidian: I’m at the factory.

Aether: Alright, stay there. I’m on my way.