[THE HAVEN]

Jay woke up, slumped across his desk chair. The fight with the Deadly Skulls had exhausted him. A quick nap had turned into eight hours of sleep.

He stretched his legs, letting out a long yawn. Oddly, his injuries didn’t complain about it. Not his fractured shin. Or his broken ribs. No pain at all. His fingers rubbed at his torso - everything was in working order.

He flexed his knees back and forth. No aches. No cracking noises. Just normal, functioning legs.

Something was wrong. Maybe the pain was so bad, he didn’t feel it anymore. Or maybe a grisly infection lurked below his bandages - a numb bleeding hole, crusted up with every color of the pus rainbow.

He poked at his shin bandage. No fresh blood. No scabby lumps. It couldn’t be possible, but –

Jay ripped off the bandage –

His wound was gone.

Jay gripped his chair to avoid falling out of it. This wasn’t possible. How had he already recovered?

He tore through bandages on his chest and arms – his body was pristine. Maybe this was a dream? No, that didn’t seem possible; Jay hadn’t dreamt since he was a kid.

Anton practically kicked Jay’s door down, already home from work.

“Jay, move your ass,” Anton barked. “Infirmary time!”

Jay froze in place. Anton would notice the wounds, or lack thereof. How could he explain this to Anton? He couldn’t even explain it to himself.

“I, uh, already went,” Jay stumbled. “While you were at work.”

Anton narrowed his eyes.

“Uh huh,” Anton said. “Last time I checked in on you, you were passed out, right in that chair. If this is another excuse to –“

Jay turned his chair, revealing his uninjured body.

“What the hell?” yelled Anton.

Jay stuck to his answer. The truth made far less sense.

“How did you, do that, so fast?” Anton asked, observing Jay’s ex-wounds. “I mean, the elevator line alone must have taken a few hours…”

“I, uh…”

“Did they inject you with green juice?” Anton asked. “I hear that stuff is crazy. Super experimental though. It’s public already?”

Jay had no idea what Anton was talking about. “Yes.”

“What the hell?” Anton repeated. “Green juice is real? I thought my enforcer buddy was messing with me!”

Jay didn’t comment. He let Anton fill in the blanks.

“Sorry for doubting you Jay,” Anton said. “That took guts going to the infirmary alone. I’m proud of you.”

“Yeah,” Jay stuttered. “So, is it cool if I just chill here then?”

“Nope!” Anton said. “You’re coming with me. Social time!”

* * *

Jay followed Anton through the halls of floor twelve.

“Seven… Eight…”

Jay counted each passing unit door. He had no trouble walking at all. This was confirmation; his injuries were gone.

“Eleven… Twelve…”

No signs of fatigue either. His legs weren’t giving out. His lungs took in full breaths of air. Strange. It was almost like his illness –

“Sixteen… Seventeen…”

No, it couldn’t be. Jay wasn’t at his limit yet. Yeah, that’s what it was. That’s what it had to be.

“Twenty-one… Twenty-two.”

This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t possible.

“Twenty-six… Twenty-seven…”

Twenty-seven doors - Jay’s previous record, surpassed. Impossible. His illness had only gotten worse over the years. It wouldn’t just go away. Maybe it had gone into hibernation, waiting to resurface in an even worse form.

“Jay, you okay?” Anton asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” said Jay. For once, he meant it.

The two of them reached the elevator line, walking right past it.

“Wait, where are we going?” Jay finally asked.

“Front of the line!” Anton said.

An enforcer stood near the elevator door, holding what appeared to be a steel boomerang.

“I’m Anton, here to see David.”

The enforcer nodded, stepping to the side. Another set of elevator doors stood behind him - the enforcer elevator. Anton and Jay hopped aboard, much to the chagrin of everyone else in line. This elevator had less space than the main one, but it moved way faster. It smelled better too.

Thirty-eight floors later, the elevator slid to a stop, opening into a giant glass dome. Torrential rain beat on this glass dome from all sides, trails of water weaving around it like slithering black hair. This was the Haven rooftop. Only enforcers were allowed on the roof; they threw wild parties up here.

“Good to see you Anton,” a lone enforcer said, a cigarette lit between his lips. “I see you brought the kid too.”

This was Anton’s mentor, David. He never seemed to like Jay much. Especially after Jay got sick.

David blew out a jet of smoke. “Jay, are you here to watch your brother get his ass kicked?”

Anton let his blue sparring gloves do the talking, assaulting David with a flurry of punches.

Jay ignored their fight, wandering near the glass dome’s edge. But not too close. That glass barrier was the only thing between Jay and a fifty-story fall into a deadly maelstrom of the unknown.

Anton fought defensively, parrying incoming fists with his blue gloves. He had known David since he was a child; plenty of time to learn David’s weaknesses. If Anton could just dodge or block David’s blows long enough, David would grow aggravated and –

David lunged towards Anton with a reckless fist. Anton grabbed David’s wrist, hurling him into the ground.

David’s spine shattered… several glass beer bottles. The injury sounded worse than it was.

“Give up?” asked Anton. “Or do you need me to punch you a few times?’

“You got me, you got me,” said David, tapping out.

David rose to his feet, wiping glass shards out of his protective enforcer suit.

“Just like I taught you Anton,” David said. “You’ve gotten better, or I’ve gotten older.”

“Probably both,” Anton said.

David chuckled, lighting another cigarette.

“You can always rejoin my program Anton,” said David. “You’d be a tremendous enforcer.”

“Sorry Dave,” Anton said. “Gotta look after that one.”

Anton gestured towards Jay.

“You’d choose the kid, over everyone in the Haven?” David asked.

“Yup,” said Anton. “I’d be a terrible enforcer.”

David let out an insincere chuckle, turning towards Jay.

“What are you looking at Jay?” asked David. “The static?”

Jay was mesmerized by the black rain’s ambience. It sounded like a thousand little centipedes trotting above him, each wearing little tap-dance shoes -- Jay smacked his own head; that was a weird thought.

“Jay, do you want to know what the static is?”

Jay snapped out of his trance. Everyone in the Haven wanted to know that.

“Dave, don’t,” warned Anton.

“There’s monsters in the static, Jay,” David said. “Horrible monsters, just outside our Haven walls. Much worse than what you’d see in Zero Space.”

Jay rolled his eyes. David was just trying to scare him. Monsters didn’t exist outside of Zero Space. And they definitely didn’t exist outside the Haven.

David tapped a strange, needle-thin gun against the glass dome.

“Those monsters, Jay?” David continued. “They want in here. They’re just looking for an opening. And when they find one, they’re going to break through.”

“David, stop it,” Anton said.

David pressed his ear against the glass dome.

“If you’re real quiet, you can hear them out there. Listen Jay:”

Beyond the beating black rain, a faint sound echoed. A rattling. Like dry sticks, grinding against sharp stones.

“That’s the big one Jay,” said David. “It’s waiting for its chance. If it ever gets in, everyone will die. It’s up to people like me, and maybe Anton, to stop that from happening.”

David knelt next to Jay, venting smoke through his nose.

“Somehow, Anton thinks your life’s worth more than that.”

Anton’s blue boxing glove hooked David across the jaw. David was now on the defensive.

“Come on Anton, I was just messing with the kid.”

“Now you’re messing with me!”

Jay returned to his thoughts. David’s words seemed impossible. But then again, a lot of impossible things had happened lately. He couldn’t rule it out.

Still, if there were monsters out there, someone must be talking about it.

* * *

Jay logged onto his computer, browsing to the main forums.

HAVEN [MAIN] POSTER TOPIC VIEWS AdmiNForcer49 *PINNED* Healers - do not answer the door if you don’t know… 26,809 MedicineMann !!!NEW AT HEALS!!! NEVER EAT BREAKFAST AGAIN WITH… 31 NPCnis3 how do report player 25 FartSlayer27 Can I change my special power? 233 Pyranoid00 My name’s Pyra. I like you! Message me for a fun surprise… 4

It was always a mistake reading the Main board. Still, it was a necessary evil - a mandatory first stop on the way to other, better forums.

Shae searched the forums for Static.

SEARCH RESULTS

…gave me static electricity when I touched it. Never handling another…

…it’s just a bunch of rain. They call it static to keep us afraid, so they can…

…i’m ecstatic that the devs are finally cracking down on players who don’t…

Nothing useful there. Shae typed in Static Monsters.

SEARCH RESULTS

…get thrown in the static. Monsters like him don’t deserve a guild like…

…the static symbol to get past the lightning trap. The only monsters in there are…

…those r my monster kill staticstics. if u think u can do beter, cum find me and…

Still nothing. It didn’t help that the Haven search feature was lousy. Not that Jay had ever known a better one. One more search. This time, for Rattle.

SEARCH RESULTS

…I like the way it rattles when I walk. It turns heads, until they realize it’s my…

…just rattles on and on. Just cuz hes raid leader, he think he has good stories but…

…be careful, the boss has one last death rattle that hits your party with boiling…

Again, nothing. If there was something relevant in there, Jay would never find it. Or maybe the Haven admins were deleting posts – that was a popular conspiracy theory.

One more place to look:

HAVEN [SCARED_FOR_LIFE] POSTER TOPIC VIEWS GoldFashioned1 i think my unit is haunted. it could be pipes, but the bathroom… 1,091 TrashPanda4 If you see a man in a red suit and a mustache RUN. This man is… 842 HotLinks112 *GORE* Healer Killer take another victim CAPTURED ON LIVE… 4,083

A post about the Healer Killer? Interesting. Shae usually didn’t click on gore posts, but he’d make an exception this time. It was probably fake anyway.

The video within was captured from a low-quality wall mounted camera. It held grainy footage of a woman, alone at her computer, browsing the forums. Nothing unusual or interesting about that.

Several minutes in – a persistent knock from her door. The woman answered, meeting a blurred figure on the other side. It looked like a man, wearing next to nothing, with tattoos all over his body. His shotgun fired --

BANDER: Shae, get your ass in the game. Me and Asira are waiting. Guild HQ

A pop-up chat window, right over the good part. Whatever. Jay got the gist of it. He didn’t want to see someone explode anyway.

SHAE: What do you want?

BANDER: come find out

“Jay, dinner!” Anton yelled from the other room.

“Be there in a sec!” Jay yelled back.

ASIRA: Shae please hurry, please

BANDER: Shaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

SHAE: OKAY

Jay grabbed his Zero Space headset.

[ZERO SPACE]

Shae arrived at his Guild HQ. Bander stood nearby, polishing his wooden staff. Asira performed a cool trick with her orange swords, just in time for Shae to see.

“Finally,” Bander said. “What took you so long?”

“You never log on this late,” Asira said.

“I was sleeping,” Shae replied. “And, uh, being social. Not by choice.”

“There’s a goblin mission to do, slacker,” Bander said. “Chief’s real mad at you and Sizey for making her wait.”

Mad at Sizey? That means SizeMatters1420 hadn’t done his goblin mission yet either. At least Chief’s anger would now be distributed across both of them.

“Wait, how do you know about the mission?” Shae asked.

“Everyone knows about it, idiot,” Bander said. “You need to pick a team.”

“And we’re going to be that team!” Asira said. “Me and Bander. We’re the team.”

“And me,” said DangerFace869, appearing out of nowhere. How did DangerFace869 find Shae so quickly? The demonoid was like a magnet.

“No, no, and no,” Shae said. “It’s my team. I get to pick!”

“And exactly who else were you thinking of picking, idiot?” asked Bander. “We’re the only ones that can tolerate you.”

“I don’t know,” said Shae, refusing to admit Bander was right. “Umi’s pretty good on offense. And Chroma is one of our better healers.”

“Sizey scooped them both up already,” Bander interjected. “You’d know that if you weren’t late!”

Shae grew tense. Umi and Chroma were solid choices. If SizeMatters1420 already recruited them, Shae could be at a disadvantage.

“You need us,” Bander said. “If we help you, you owe us.”

“Exactly what would I owe you?” asked Shae.

“You have to take us on the Goblin King mission!” Asira said.

This seems like an odd request. Shae didn’t know why anyone would want to fight the Goblin King.

“You’ve seen the Goblin King forums, right?” Shae asked. “Do you want to end up on that board? Mangled, for everyone to see?”

“The Goblin King drops a Level 2 material, idiot,” Bander said. “We want it!”

A Level Two material? That was a new one. Shae could guess what it was though. Thanks to Smith, he was all too familiar with Level One materials.

“I want to know what my ability would do at Level Two,” Asira said. “My ability kind of sucks at Level One. I hear having a Level Two gives you more SP too.”

“And I’m coming, because you’re my mentor,” DangerFace869 said.

“I am not!” Shae yelled.

Shae depressed his palm with two fingers, pulling up the list of missions:

MISSION LIST MISSION NAME DIFFICULTY Watching the Birdwatchers **** Box of Secrets * A Date with Danger ** &n^!!..5yY?q....+qr~m+qr..w>oOO‘]~mlw>+qr5yY --- Forest Footrace with Farlogg the Fast ***

Shae breathed a sigh of relief – same missions as yesterday.

“If, and only if I say yes, we’re doing A Date with Danger,” said Shae. “You all know that one?”

Asira and Bander nodded in unison. DangerFace869 pointed at the weird glitch-y mission.

“Let’s do that one,” DangerFace869 said.

“No,” Shae interjected. “I already told you, no glitch missions!”

“I want to see it,” DangerFace869 said.

“Listen to your stupid mentor,” said Bander. “Glitch missions are buggy. They can make players permanently lose their accounts. Some players even say they’ve seen a –“

“Shae!” a deep voice interrupted. SizeMatters1420 landed with a thump, leaping down from the upper floor.

“I’m headed to my goblin mission,” SizeMatters1420 said. “Just wanted to drop by, and say good luck. Get it? Because I dropped down from --”

“Still haven’t done your mission either?” Shae interrupted. “Chief’s probably mad at you.”

“I was working yesterday,” SizeMatters1420 growled. “What’s your excuse? Oh that’s right. According to Chroma, you were getting your ass kicked by Deadly Skulls!”

“We kicked their ass,” DangerFace869 chimed in.

SizeMatters1420 glanced at DangerFace869 – who was this demonoid? There were too many new players; SizeMatter1420 couldn’t keep track of them all.

“Is this your crew?” asked SizeMatters1420. “Asira and Bande? Not bad. I don’t suppose either of you want to join a real team? I’m looking for a fourth.”

Shae wrapped his arms around Asira and Bander, pulling them in close.

“Sorry Matt,” Shae said. “These are mine.”

Bander bit Shae’s fingers. Hard. Touching Bander was always a mistake.

“It’s Sizey to you!” growled SizeMatters1420. “What about you, demonoid? You want to ditch these losers?”

“I won’t ditch my mentor,” DangerFace869 said.

“I’m not your –“

“Mentor?” Sizematters1420 interrupted. “Shae’s more of a tor-mentor. Get it? Because traveling with him is torment –“

“Your puns are stupid,” said DangerFace869. “Don’t insult my mentor.”

“What are you going to do about it, demonoid?” SizeMatters1420 taunted. “You’re in no place to make demon-ds. Get it? Like demands –“

DangerFace869 kicked three parts of SizeMatters1420 in this order: Knee, groin, face. The third kick knocked SizeMatters1420 down, allowing DangerFace869 to lock in an armbar – a skilled fighter’s hold.

“Tap out, or I’ll break your arm,” DangerFace869 warned.

SizeMatters1420 was in a pickle. He didn’t want to lose face, but he also didn’t want to lose his arm. His palm slammed against the ground several times. The fight was over.

Shae, Asira and Bander stood in silence. No one had ever defeated SizeMatters1420 in hand-to-hand combat. This demonoid had potential, maybe beyond all of them.

SizeMatters1420 rose, relocating his arm with a snap.

“I gave you that one, since you’re new,” SizeMatters1401 said. “But when I’m done following some stupid bird watchers around, we’re going to have a rematch. And when I’m Raid Captain, you’re all going on permanent rat duty. Get it? Because you’re all a bunch of rats.”

SizeMatters1420 stomped off. He was a formidable competitor, and Shae knew he wasn’t bluffing about the rat-thing either. The triangloid was just petty enough to follow through.

This next mission would either result in a better life, or a lifetime of rats.