[THE HAVEN]

Dane’s yellow enforcer uniform rattled as he ran through floor thirty two halls. Jay could barely keep up. How could someone in all that gear move so fast?

“Is this a static breach thing?” asked Jay.

“No, it’s the Healer Killer,” said Dane.

Jay nearly tripped over his own feet.

“You brought me for the Healer Killer?” asked Jay.

“Someone reported him on this floor,” said Dane. “We need to move quickly.”

“So we’re finally going to kill that asshole,” said Jay.

“We’ll try,” said Dane.

The two of them turned a corner --

A man in his underwear stood at the other end of the hall, covered in horrific tattoos: an inverted dog without legs. A lizard made of tongues. And a woman’s bloated face, full of holes

Saliva dribbled from black suffocated lips, curving into a corpse’s smile. His empty eyes focused on a door - unit 32022. One hand knocked on the door. The other gripped some sort of shotgun-bazooka.

“Freeze!” shouted Dane. That was a rare tone for Dane; Jay kind of liked it. So dominant and commanding - Jay smacked that thought from his head.

Just then, the door opened. A blond woman answered, hair gelled back, striped stockings, oversized glasses --

BANG

The Healer Killer took her life.

“Shit!” yelled Dane. “Take him out!”

Jay unleashed a thrall of bullets. Dane’s lightning licked the floors and ceilings. But the Healer Killer slipped into the unit, out of harm’s way.

Dane and Jay smashed through the door, milliseconds before it slammed shut. The Healer Killer pointed his gun at a glowing green computer --

BANG

Another Zero Space character, lost forever.

The Healer Killer smiled at Jay and Dane, raising his weapon once more --

“PIERCING SHOT!!”

A level two bullet cleaved through the Healer Killer’s weapon, then dragged his insides across plain beige wallpaper. The tattooed man fell sideways, vacant eyes wedged wide open. His smile held steady, like the grin of a discarded puppet.

“You did it,” said Dane.

Jay’s pistols shook in his palms. The Healer Killer - dead, at his hands. Just like that? It didn’t feel real. No one would believe him. Would he get credit for it? Would he want credit for it?

“Holy snap!” shouted another voice from nearby. “D-Did you guys just save me?”

Jay and Dane turned their heads towards a young man with spiky brown hair. ‘Man’ was pushing it. He didn’t look a day older than eighteen. A large scar extended from his cheek to his chin.

The man nudged a desk-mounted microphone out of his sightline.

“W-What’s going on?” he stuttered.

“The Healer Killer is dead,” said Dane. “You’re safe now.”

Dane winced at the woman’s corpse.

“It’s too late for your mate,” said Dane.

“D-Did I get her killed?” asked the man. “I-I’m the healer here.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” said Dane. “Blame the Healer Killer.”

Jay scratched his head with his pistols - he was just here for the fighting. Trauma counselling wasn’t his forte; he could use some himself.

Jay’s pistols brought a hard stare from the spiky-haired man.

“Hey weird question,” said the man. “But uh, could I see your pistols?”

“No,” said Jay.

“Did you shout Piercing Shot?” asked the man.

Jay pushed his pistols deep into his jeans.

“No,” Jay lied.

“Shae?”

Jay froze solid.

“Holy snap,” said the man. “Shae, it’s me! Bez! I’m the Deadly Skulls healer!”

Dane snorted. Another rare sound from Dane.

“Shae, you saved my life!” said Bez. “Wait, why do you have those guns? Are you an enforcer?”

“Kind of --” said Jay.

“No he’s not,” Dane interjected.

“Holy snap,” said Bez. “Can I interview you for my Haven cast? This is amazing!”

“I gotta go,” said Jay.

“Meet you back in-game,” said Dane.

“Wait, are you a Feather Bird too?” asked Bez.

“That’s Dane,” said Shae.

Dane glared at him.

“You just outed me,” said Dane.

“Holy snap!” yelled Bez. “Shae and Dane! I thought you two were assholes after the Dragon Sword, but you just saved me!”

Bez wept.

“After you betrayed me, Master Valdi, he --”

Bez ran his finger across the long scar below his eye.

“I know you were just playing,” said Bez. “But Master Valdi takes the game so seriously. He --”

Bez stopped short.

“What?” asked Jay.

Bez pointed a shaking finger in between them.

Both Jay and Dane whipped around - the Healer Killer was back on his feet, smiling with bloated lips. Blood and organs leaked from a gaping hole in his gut.

“Shit,” said Dane.

Dane’s hands moved on auto-pilot, spraying the room with his enforcer weapon. Walls, chairs, and guild propaganda fell victim to a stream of unwieldy blue lightning. But not the Healer Killer. He leaned past the electric beam, bending like a shadow before bolting out the door.

“Shit!” Dane repeated.

Jay stood paralyzed. The Healer Killer acted like Bander’s zombified roommates: an empty vessel, steered by a malevolent force.

“Stay here,” said Dane to Bez.

“Can I watch?” asked Bez.

“No!” Dane yelled. “Stay in your unit!”

Jay and Dane burst into the hallway. The Healer Killer sprinted ahead, arms and neck dangling from his shoulders as if made of jelly.

“Code red, floor thirty two,” Dane shouted into a walkie talkie. “Requesting immediate lockdown.”

Red strobing beacons ignited on every corner, accompanied by an angry metallic siren. Jay had seen these alarms growing up. Anton would just say “stay inside,” without disclosing further details. Knowing what Jay did now, maybe that was for the best.

Dane’s blue beam swiped past the Healer Killer, ripping through striped wallpaper and paintings of fruit. Cyan sparks rained across the beige carpet below.

“He’s out of range,” said Dane.

The Healer Killer rounded the corner --

“PAUSE SHOT!”

Ten Seconds Remaining

Jay added a Ricochet Shot for boosted accuracy.

Nine Seconds

And a Piercing Shot for increased damage.

Eight Seconds

That would do it!

BANG

Jay’s bullet launched --

-- Through the Healer Killer’s head.

And that was it. Piercing Shot plus Ricochet Shot was a worthless combination. Bullets couldn’t ricochet if they pierced through everything. Lesson learned.

The bullet drove through the Healer Killer’s skull regardless, planting bits of face and eyeball against a number that read 32154. That didn’t perturb the Healer Killer; he turned the corner without breaking his stride.

“Sorry for getting you into this,” said Dane.

“I got me into this,” said Jay.

They rounded the corner -- the Healer Killer was gone. Only a carved strip of flesh remained, fluttering on the ground like a sheet of loose-leaf paper.

“He got away,” said Dane.

“How?” shouted Jay.

“I don’t know,” said Dane. “Same way he always does.”

An image resided upon the Healer Killer’s flesh - a lizard made of tongues.

“If he’s full static, he’s an even bigger threat than we realized,” said Dane.

Boiling blisters bubbled to the surface of the Healer Killer’s severed skin.

“Dane --” Jay squeaked.

“He’ll come after Bez again,” said Dane. “Bander might be safe, since she moved --”

“Dane!” Jay squealed.

Something rose from the fleshy strip: a long snout and two longer claws, ripping itself free from an impossibly small space. A slender salamander emerged, coated in bumpy pink scales. Its curved figure was thrice the length of its forked tongue, and equally flexible.

RISSSSS

It’s tongue made a rasping sound as it licked across the air, tasting its surroundings: the salty rustles of the carpet. Cold metallic unit doors. And paintings of fruit, that tasted nothing like fruit.

Its gaze settled on Dane and Jay, staring at them with two big black eyes, pupils wider than bowling balls and darker than the static sky.

RISSSSS

The lizard’s tongue vibrated, a steady rhythm of sound weaving down its darkened throat. Its long lizard tail whipped against the wall, cracking striped wallpaper and the steel behind it.

Dane aimed his weapon - the lizard scuttled backwards several feet.

“It moved out of my range,” said Dane. “It knew.”

RISSSSS

The lizard’s tongue vibrated with Dane’s words.

Jay took careful aim. If this static monster was anything like the last one, bullets wouldn’t help much. The most he could do was slow it down.

Time for a combination: Ricochet Shot to aim, and Poison Shot to maim.

“VIRAL SHOT!” - Jay came up with that name on the fly. Not bad!

RISSSSS

The lizard ducked beneath Jay’s bullet, arching its torso up as the bullet bounced back. Then it donkey-kicked, letting the bullet slip between its legs.

Jay gasped.

“M-My Ricochet Shot,” stuttered Jay. “I-It missed!”

RISSSSS

The lizard’s tongue vibrated.

“It’s reading our minds,” said Dane. “Your Ricochet Shot uses a mental path. It knew the path.”

RISSSSS

For each step Dane took towards the lizard, the lizard took one step back.

“It’s staying out of my range,” said Dane.

RISSSSS

“Pin it with your normal bullets,” said Dane. “It can’t dodge them all.”

“Got it,” said Jay.

RISSSSS

The lizard’s tongue vibrated. Pink scales bulged and contorted into a familiar shape.

Jay’s pistols raised towards -- Anton.

Both of Jay’s pistols lowered, followed by his jaw.

A bumpy pink salamander snout no longer stared back at him. Instead, it was Anton’s face, stradling the Salamander’s neck like a fleshy mask. Anton wore the same terrified expression as the night Jay died, an expression forever burned into Jay’s memory - the last glimpse of Anton he ever saw.

“Jay,” said a voice inside Jay’s head. “Please help me.”

That was Anton’s voice.

“I’ll do anything,” said Anton’s voice. “I’ll give you anything. Just please, I’m begging you, don’t hurt me.”

Anton’s final words, bastardized. Vivid memories tore through Jay’s mind. Fresh trauma resurfaced - visions and emotions that he’d struggled to lock away. Jay tensed up, tears rolling down his face. His fingers refused to function, hands shaking uncontrollably.

“Weird,” said Dane. “This thing can shapeshift too. Don’t know why it picked Anton.”

Jay glanced towards Dane.

“Hold up,” said Jay. “Y-You know Anton?”

“I trained with him,” said Dane. “I didn’t know him well.”

Dane paused.

“Jay, how do you know Anton?” asked Dane.

“I, I --” Jay struggled to answer.

RISSSSS

Anton’s lips pursed, flicking out a lizard tongue.

“Nevermind,” said Dane. “Shoot it.”

“I --”

“Whatever you want, I’ll do it,” said Anton’s voice in Jay’s mind. “Just please, I beg you, don’t --”

“Shoot it!”

Jay opened fire with trembling hands. His bullets blasted around Anton’s face, hitting everything but the lizard.

“Jay, aim!”

RISSSSS

The lizard’s tongue vibrated.

“Wait,” said Dane. “Its tongue --”

Dane watched waves of bumpy flesh drift across the lizard’s forked tongue, mimicking the rhythm of his words.

“Our words,” said Dane. “It’s reading our thoughts through our words.”

“H-How?” asked Jay.

“I don’t know,” said Dane. “It’s a static monster. We don’t know their limits.”

The lizard marched backwards in a slow and steady retreat, holding Anton’s face hostage.

“Back-up will be here any moment,” said Dane. “It knows this. It’s going to flee.”

The lizard moved faster. Dane matched its pace, forcing Jay alongside him.

“We can’t let it get away,” said Dane. “This thing’s going to kill a lot of people.”

Jay stared into Anton’s horrified eyes. He knew this wasn’t his brother, but his stubborn brain wouldn’t concede. Maybe the monster could get away; that would give him a few more precious moments with his brother --

Jay smacked that thought from his head. Hard.

“Jay!” yelled Dane.

“Jay!” yelled Anton.

“PAUSE SHOT!!”

Ten Seconds

Pause Shot - level two. Jay needed a second to process all this. Or ten seconds. Maybe more? Level two’s time limit was unknown; he assumed it was longer than level one.

Anton’s voice vanished from Jay’s mind. Nothing but a nasty static trick. Hopefully now Jay’s subconscious would believe him.

Nine Seconds

This lizard thing was fast. Very fast. At this range, it would dodge anything Jay in Jay’s arsenal. If only Jay could move closer.

Wait --

He could!

Eight Seconds

Level two Pause Shot allowed Jay to move -- best ability ever! But still, what good would that do? If he moved too close, the monster would maul him when time resumed. And static monsters were only vulnerable to enforcer weapons.

Seven Seconds

Too bad Dane’s enforcer weapon was out of range.

Maybe Jay could push the monster closer to Dane? Or push Dane closer to the monster? No wait, there was a better, more obvious plan here. Jay pried Dane’s fingers loose one by one, easing the enforcer weapon into his own hands.

Six Seconds

It took a moment; Dane had ten fingers.

Five Seconds

Jay darted across the hallway, enforcer weapon in hand.

Four Seconds

It was a long hallway.

Three Seconds

A very long hallway.

Two Seconds

Jay jabbed the enforcer weapon into the lizard’s torso, avoiding its stare. Last thing he needed to see right now was Anton’s terrified eyes begging him not to do it. That would really kill the mood.

One Second

Jay pulled the enforcer weapon trigger --

Nothing happened. That made sense; time was still frozen. Jay could manipulate a weapon’s trigger, but he couldn’t control what came out of it.

Zero Seconds

Time remained paused. Level two’s countdown was definitely longer. But how much longer?

Negative One Second

Eleven seconds total so far. Or was it twelve seconds? Did zero seconds count as a second? Jay’s internal metric was hella confusing.

Negative Two Seconds

Okay, that was enough - Jay could test this another time. He placed his other pistol against the lizard’s body.

BANG

Time resumed on Pause Shot’s command, leaving a small unremarkable hole in the salamander’s side. The enforcer weapon one-upped it, searing the lizard’s flesh and frying everything within. An alien screech rattled the halls, overshadowing the wailing alarm.

Jay couldn’t control the enforcer weapon; the enforcer weapon controlled him. It thrashed in his grip, nearly drilling a hole to floor thirty one. His weapon had no mind to read. No agenda. No plan. Just a feast of lightning, force-fed to everything in the vicinity.

The salamander was simply collateral damage. Blue lightning blended with red alarm light, casting a violet hue across sizzling salamander scales, bursting in the air like renegade popcorn kernels.

The reptile released one last wail as it disintegrated into a fog of black ash, wafting through hallwalls like a locust swarm. Only a charred husk remained - a shriveled shell, crumbling into nothingness.

CLANK

The enforcer weapon hit the floor. Jay was fried, both literally and figuratively. He collapsed to his knees, hair standing up straight, body shaking from the weapon’s vibrations.

In the lizard’s ashen center sat a shining silver orb - the same type dropped by the black worms in Bander’s unit. This was it! Exactly what Jay was hoping to find here. Perfect bartering material. He tucked the orb into his sweater pocket.

To the orb’s side was Anton’s scattered face. Same horrified expression, but now spread out across the floor like an unfinished puzzle. A final distressing image of the only family Jay ever had.

Jay sobbed beneath his Captain Lair mask, tears leaking across his shirt and into the ash below.

Dane placed a hand on Jay’s shoulder. Not a friendly hand. A stern, tight grip, pinching into his nerves.

“You locked up back there,” said Dane.

Jay struggled to answer.

“You can’t do that,” said Dane. “You almost cost us the fight.”

“Anton,” said Jay. “H-He --”

“I don’t care,” said Dane. “Quit your crying.”

Dane snatched his enforcer weapon back.

“This isn’t a game,” said Dane. “If you get distracted, people die.”

Jay wiped away tears.

“When you fight the static, you fight for the haven,” said Dane. “This is bigger than you. Whatever you’re holding onto, you need to let it go.”

Dane glimpsed silver in Jay’s pocket.

“I see that’s not all you’re holding onto.”

Jay tucked the silver orb deeper.

“Jay, give that to me.”

“No.”

Dane scowled.

“Give it to me right now.”

“I’m keeping it.”

“Why do you need that?”

“Why do you need that?”

The shadows and shouts of enforcers drew near.

“Jay, I’m serious --”

“Me too,” said Jay. “I know I screwed up. But we still won. This is payment.”

Enforcers closed in.

“Please,” said Jay. “This is important. Trust me --”

“Fine,” snapped Dane. “Just get out of here. We’ll talk later.”

Jay jetted as a crowd of enforcers surrounded Dane, applauding him for his solo efforts.

Jay collapsed against a wall, staring at the silver orb’s reflection. Dane’s words resonated with him; it was time to man up. But he couldn’t give up on Anton; Anton would never give up on Jay.

Jay refused to let go of his big brother.

He gripped the silver orb tight.