Chapter 388: Still alive

“Jesus H Christ,” Carl said, watching the six man team take down their first round. They were in the holding cell waiting for their own match, but the system still let them watch their screens.

Becky and Tommaso watched, too, as Seamus ended at least four players with his cataclysmic new power.

Becky got a little shiver up her spine, glad the crazy Irishman was on their side. But also glad he was afraid of Mason.

“I’d survive it,” she said, “but I’m pretty sure y’all would be fucked.”

“I’d warp out. Probably.” Carl slapped Tommaso on the shoulder. “But my man here would fry like I-talian sausage.”

Tommaso winced and glanced at the timer at the top of the waiting cell.

“We should talk strategy, eh?” He wiped at a bit of sweat on his brow. “I know I’m…ahh…not vital, maybe. But…”

“Just listen to Becky,” said Carl with a yawn, as if it didn’t make much difference. But Becky could tell he was nervous. He’d been swiping a hand over his baldness and tapping one or the other foot for a good minute. The older man shrugged. “She’ll call a target. Get him slowed for me with that sticky new glue thing you’ve got. Throw bombs at whatever. Try not to die.”

“Right. No problem.” Tommaso took a deep breath. “Try not to die.”

Becky wasn’t that worried. Her only real concerns were teams that could a) find Carl before he shanked someone. Or b) a group of players so fast and defensive Carl couldn’t actually get at anyone.

The first seemed possible, the second not so much. But even if they did find Carl, Becky’s aegis would make him basically as tough as she was until her mana failed. And unless they could get away entirely, there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell they were going to outlast him with that awful dagger in their guts.

“Stop worryin’,” Becky said, taking a breath and cracking her neck as the video blanked. She tried to pull up Mason’s fight but either it was already over or they didn’t have enough time. The timer changed colors as it counted down the final seconds.

“OK. Here we go.” Carl looked calmer now that the thing was starting. He winked at Becky then vanished, and even though Becky knew she was looking right at him she couldn’t even see a blur.

“So I’m just…chargin’ out, then? Guess I should use the mace. Make ‘em think I’m actually scary.”

“You are scary.” Carl’s voice seemed to appear from nowhere. “Just…you know. In a really useful, but not murderous sort of…OK scary isn’t the right word. Effective? Which is still kind of vague, actually. You’re like a…”

“Ah shut it.” Becky transformed her Familial Shield into its mace form and took a few steady breaths as the platform raised. “Keep back a little,” she said to Tommaso. “And feel free to run whenever you need. Just like we practiced.”

“Staying alive. Feeling free to run,” Tommaso echoed, wiping away some more glistening sweat.

Water dripped down the edges of the platform as it raised. It smelled like mud and algae, and as the players came up Becky stared out at what looked like an old, run-down dam. It was broken in places, a few streams leaking out, the old and breaking pavement everywhere covered in wet filth.

“Great,” said the invisible Carl, his footstep appearing as he walked out. “Just fucking great.”

“Well.” Becky shrugged. “At least they can’t hide too well, either.”

“I don’t see them.” Tommaso, unlike Carl, seemed only more anxious now that the fighting was close. He was taking deep breaths and looking around with restless eyes.

“We’re fine. Everythin’s fine,” Becky said, searching. The ‘roof’ looked like actual open sky with an actual sun, the arena so big there were no obvious walls. But there were concrete pillars all over that blocked most of their sight.

After not finding any sign of the enemy team, Becky eventually started walking out. The men followed in silence, Carl’s footsteps a bit concerning and pretty obvious, Tommaso’s nervousness about the same.

After passing only a few pillars Becky saw movement from the corner of her eye. She turned, just seeing some kind of scout pop back behind a pillar.

“East side,” she gestured, moving straight at him with her mace in her hand. She didn’t know if it was a trick or an ambush but she didn’t really care. She just wanted them out and obvious for Carl to start murdering.

Carl’s footsteps just…stopped, which probably meant he’d warped somewhere. Tommaso was standing a bit back, hunched down and watching the pillars like a squirrel. Becky was about to roll her eyes and tell him to move up when she heard the arrow fly.

It whistled past her, straight at Tommaso. The Italian’s paranoia and reflexes saved him. His body contorted as he flailed and slipped on the mud, but he dodged.

Another arrow followed but Becky was charging now. She activated Synchronized Shield, which didn’t last long and used up some mana, but those arrows wouldn’t touch Tommaso for a good minute.

“He’s there! There!”

Becky didn’t look back to see where Tommaso was pointing. She was annoyed at using mana and wanted that scout to pay for his boldness. She heard him running now on some kind of raised concrete platform. He whistled as he leapt off the opposite side, and Becky just caught sight of a black cloak as it vanished.

She didn’t even slow down, leaping off the back of the platform to follow.

Straight into three waiting men.

Becky pulled her Personal Aegis’ radius in to its tightest form mid-air—basically covering her skin only to save energy. She also transformed her mace back into her Familial shield, then hit the ground and launched herself at one of the men with a shield charge.

A blade slashed her back. A spear knocked her in the side hard enough she stumbled, shield holding easily but not totally absorbing the force. Her target fell back and threw a knife at her face, but it bounced off the metal covering her arm.

She knew she’d probably screwed up in jumping off. If she was any other player in Nassau except Mason (and maybe John) she’d probably be dead. But she wasn’t.

The blows kept coming from all three angles. Becky blocked and spun, watching her Reflective Burst charge. She could loose it already to reasonable effect, but she wasn’t sure where Carl was and didn’t want to catch him in the blast.

After another few hits she almost did it anyway. Then the man in the dark cloak hissed and tossed a blade in another direction, way off its mark as he flipped backwards. The world lit with blinding light.

Becky cursed and hid behind her Shield, crouching to reduce her size and make it hard to actually hit her. The whole world was white light and she couldn’t see a single thing.

God damnit, Carl.

She blinked and listened to footsteps. To grunting men and the metallic clang of weapons. A pained groan. Someone fell. Something…squished.

As Becky blinked again and again and the world returned Becky stood and found one of her attackers lying in a pool of blood. Everyone else was gone. Two Carls were chasing and fighting the other men, one unable to catch his target, the other being held back from a kill by the guy’s spear.

Becky took a breath and checked her energy and mana. Mana was half, which meant Carl must have taken some hits. Her energy was a good half down but already rising. She snorted. They’d hit her pretty fast and reasonably hard. But they were no dracolich, that was for sure. They hadn’t even come close to killing her.

The guy on the ground groaned and tried to crawl towards his sword. Becky supposed she should have realized he was alive because the system didn’t announce a death. She knew she would have to finish him.

But Becky had killed plenty of things in her life on the farm, and this wasn’t even permanent. And when a thing needed doing, it was best just to get on with it. She walked over and raised up her Familial Shield, then slammed it down with all her strength on the back of the man’s neck.

The system blared out its kill trumpet. Then again a second later. Becky turned to see Carl number two had stopped worrying about the spear and just charged, probably getting stabbed once or twice and draining Becky’s mana some more before murdering his second player.

The other Carl vanished with a pop. The knife thrower looking confused as hell but came back to try and finish the fight. Becky stood and started moving, knowing they had this in the bag.

“Still alive!” Tommaso shouted, grinning from behind a pillar.

“Good. Now glue that son of a bitch. I’m tired of running,” Carl shouted.

Becky turned her shield back into its mace, and all three of them walked towards the last man standing.