Three guards covered the back gate. This gate is only meant for shift changes, and doesn’t need as much protection as the front, where prisoners are usually transported to and from the facility. Back to the guards though. They’re lightly armored with grey black pieces covering their arms, shoulders, chest, and legs. Helmets cover most of their faces and heads, except the chin area. Let’s see… standard issue assault rifles seem to be their weapons of choice; I’d guess they have shock pistols stashed away somewhere too. Prolly won’t use em though, they’re really only meant as backup.  

I could take the guards out simply enough; There’s a weak spot in their armor. the tricky part would be making sure they don’t sound any alarms. I’ll only have one shot, at the shift change. The new guards won’t be expecting it. Once the old guards leave the gate, I’ll dash in and go from there.

        You’re probably wondering who I am. My name, for now, is not important. But, you need something to go on, right? My handle is Blue Shinobi. I inherited it from my dad. Now it’s time to live up to the namesake…

        Shift change. Now or never. The guards, just basic fodder FPS soldiers, begin to shuffle in and out of the gate, respectively. That’s one… two… and there goes all three old guards back in the gate and gone. I make my move. As I run to the gate, I begin to form my weapons. Time to tap into my mana.

        You don’t know what mana is? Alright, I’ll give this a shot. Mana is a Power Player’s “magic force”. It’s not real magic, it’s all a part of the gaming grid. A Power Player has three power sources. Mana is one of them, generating mostly intangible abilities into solid form. I command Ice, for example. The other two power sources are Stamina, which is used up by a Power Player’s physical strikes and direct damage dealing weaponry, And health, which is your basic HP. Once a Power Player reaches zero health, that’s it, game over.

        Wait, you don’t know what a Power Player is? How the hell is that even possible? Been off world or something? Hmm… describe a power player? Hold on… lemmie deal with these guards first.

Let’s tap into that mana, shall we? I’ll summon some Ice and form it into three kunai in-between my fingers as I run. Then as quickly as they’re formed, they’ll leave my hand in one quick throw. All three hit their targets. Each of the new guards grab their necks at the jugular. They get about three seconds to acknowledge what happened before their bodies begin to destabilize. They begin to pixilate and defragment, until nothing is left. By the time I reach the gate, they’ve completely disappeared.  Such is the death of an NPC.

        Ah, right, NPCs. Kinda goes hand in hand with the Power Player explanation, doesn’t it? Trust me, it totally does.  Let me explain. NPCs are Non-Player Characters. Everything about them makes me sick. These camps wouldn’t exist if not for them. My father would still be the man I knew if it wasn’t for them.

        Not enough ‘splainin? Yeah, I get you. Let’s get into a bit more explanation. I’m sorry, I can get a little ahead of myself sometimes. A lot of the times.  Comes with the Shinobi playstyle. Every move has to be planned in advance, gone over time and time again before a strike is made. Millions of combos to memorize. But I’ll try to fill in the gaps as I go.

        So, the world as we knew it? Gone. A relic. A fantasy even, to some. Back then, gaming was still fun. It had evolved from a pastime to a legitimate sport. It evolved even further still, from a sport to THE sport. Technology gave us the ability to no longer control a character, but to become one. And I don’t mean simple VR. That was only a precursor. I mean, you literally become a character, a hero, a champion. You were you, but now you accessed the gaming grid. Directly. You crafted your gear, your armor, backstory. Soon whole teams were forming. People were writing their own games as they happened. Every Character was a real person now. The healer wasn’t just static in the background casting spells. The militia wasn’t just some guy you met online. You grew as a team. You formulated plans as a team. Your teammates weren’t just friends, they were your family, brothers and sisters in arms. Gaming became as real as gaming could be. It was glorious.

        And, as you can see now, it became terrifying.

        Can’t figure out the controls to the gate. I didn’t figure on the NPCs advancing their algorithms so well and so quickly. This is waaaaay more advanced than just taking out an NPC scout. I knew I shouldn’t be doing this. It’s a bad idea. But I’m here. I can’t back down now. Three guards deleted, I can’t just walk away. There’s a slim chance the prisoners get blamed, and I can’t have that held over my head.

Calm down. Analyze the panel. Four button key required out of a combination of sixty-four buttons. Simple enough… numeric input… yeah… simple…  so sixty-four times four… that’s like 256 different combinations? 257…? Yeah screw this. Freezing the controls sounds like a very bad, very noisy messy idea, but it’s all I got. I’ll probably set off the alarms with a wrong code anyway. I hold my hand up to the control pad. Tap a little more mana… Instantly the LCD is frozen. And one good elbow… there. Panel broken. Good. Gate open. Good. Now what?

        Ok, inside… No guards in the immediate vicinity. Knew this gate was poorly guarded. Hmm, stairs one way, hallway another. Best bet is the security room. I need to know the interior layout. Where do they hold the prisoners, where do the guards patrol? This place has to have surveillance. I bet I’m being spied on right now. The fact that no alarm has yet sounded tells me the cameramen are very poor at their jobs. That’s good for me.

        I’m heading up the stairs. Seems like the more logical choice. If I built a prison, I’d want the muscle on top, looking down on the rabble. Intimidation factor. Ok, no guards at the top of the stairs, good. No guards heading down the hallway, good. Forward march.

This place is drab as hell, bt dubs. Grey walls, generic grated floor. Factory pipes and tubes everywhere. This is why humans designed the games back in the day. At least they’d spice it up with an outrageous color scheme. Guess the NPCs weren’t really looking for style points though. Just a box to stuff people. Sick, uninspired bastards…

        Ok, while the coast is clear, back to the catch up. Gaming got big. Team building got Big. I said all of that already, ok. Well it all got so big that it eventually melded. Platformers, First Person Shooters, Stealth Strategists like myself? We all played together. And every other game in between. Soon, arenas were built. It was a huge deal. Superbowl? More like the Gamer Bowl. The game was called Power Player.  Remember that little nugget from earlier? Remember the team aspect?

Teams of five were built. There were two modes. The first one? Player vs Player, PvP, tournament-style. Those five teams pitted against one another for gamer superiority. Oh yeah, EVERYONE fighting EVERYONE. Glorious. Nothing sweeter than a boss FPS team taken down by Stealthers in a minute. Or better yet? Platformers taking down the FPSers. Rare, but awesome. Anyway, PvP got so popular that the second game mode, PvE, Player vs Environment, kinda sucked by comparison. I mean, it did its best, but there was nothing like playing another real live person. There was no way to re-create that. Sure, developers tried. AI was probably the best it’s ever been. But that’s still nowhere near as good as a person.

        Problem was, AI was damn good, for AI. Like, gaining sentience good. And… they started to not really love the purpose we’d programmed them for. Something about the live, die, live again model didn’t really resonate. In fact, it kind of fragged their digital brainwaves a bit. Enough to motivate them to start a coup.

        We never saw it coming. We were so busy figuring out ways to digitally destroy each other that AI figured out ten million better ways to actually destroy us. Economy tanked.   Military assimilated. Way of life, game over’d. The players tried to fight back. Gamers like my dad tried to fight back… But their sheer numbers were too much. And they were replicating more every day. Some players, like my dad, hid. Colonized parts of the earth that hadn’t been touched by technology. Yeah, those still existed. Tried to live peacefully. NPCs would send some scouts, like I said, but they never seemed too interested in overtaking the earth. Not that way, anyway.

        Then there were the gamers, like the people in these facilities, that weren’t so lucky. They were the captured, or the lucky of unluckies, the killed. Quick death. See the unluckies got a little role reversal. Most days they just live in a prison their whole lives. But once every week or so, The NPCs decide to play a game. And guess who dies for them this time… Over and over… just like they did. Seems to be the only real thing NPCs like to do.

        There’s the security room, sweet. Ok, so let’s take a quick scout outside. No guards at the door, good. Two cameramen. But they seem to be distracted by some NPC game replays. Good, I’ll just…

        … not do anything, because there appears to be a gun barrel at the back of my neck. Shit.

        “A Power Player? I thought you guys were all dead.” his voice sounds a little digitized and pixilated. Nails on a chalkboard to me.

        He leads me into the security room.

        “Look what I found guys. A Power Player.”

        “Wow, might as well walk in here with a VCR.”

        “What do we do with him?”

        “I think you should let him go.”

        All four of us spin around. No way. No fuh-reakin way.

        It’s Red CyberKnight. One of the most legendary members of the first ever platformer team. Living legend. Look at that gleaming armor. Hot Rod from head to toe, shined up like the first time they ever walked into the arena. That glistening red and black helmet. Blinged out red body armor. White gloves, white boots, white accents on the chestplate, elbow plates and knee plates! It’s really him! I’ve only seen from the tapes my dad showed me. But he looks exactly the same. I can’t believe we’re standing here together! …in the middle of a prison… with guns pointed at us. Right… no more fanboy.

        In a flash of red, CyberKnight materializes his sword and stabs the guard that had me dead to rights square in the chest. I don’t’ hesitate, and immediately ice kunai the other two. All three delete quickly. And I’m left standing with one of the greatest gamers to ever live.

        “You’re Red CyberKnight, from the CyberKnights Team!”

        “Yeah, we kind of liked the symmetry of our gamertags. Who knew it’d catch on with every other team. Blue Shinobi, right?”

        “Not THE Blue Shinobi. Just A Blue Shinobi. The original was my father. Wait, you’re not THE Red CyberKnight, are you? I mean you’d have to be like… Fifty or something?”

        “You’re as young as you feel, kid.”

        “Holy shit! THE Red CyberKnight!”

        “Yep, so… what exactly are you doing here kid?”

        “Right, I keep forgetting we’re in a prison. Sorry I’m just… extremely fanboying out right now…  so I was gonna… break everyone out?”

        “You sure sound confident there. Probably shouldn’t have left your guard down with the soldiers.”

        Things were going good for a while there…! But… my dad would have checked his back. I should have…

        “Yep. You’re right, absolutely right. Good call. That’s why you were the leader. My dad was primary on Shinobi. Had some great plays. Showed me everything he knows. Been taking down NPC scouts near my colony for years now. He’s a good leader, but you’re THE GREAT leader!”

        He tilts his head to the side.

        “Don’t sell your old man so short. Doesn’t this seem like a little bigger of a bite to chew than scouts though, kid?”

        “I’m… realizing that… I don’t know, I just… I just felt like it was time to strike back, you know? Dad always said stay hidden, but I thought that was just his old gaming ways.”

        “Your dad sounded pretty smart. This is an awful lot for one Power Player.”

        “I guess it is. But don’t you ever just get tired of being… oppressed I guess?”

        He stands silent for a minute. Looks down at the floor. Crap. I offended him didn’t I? My goddamn big mouth. Of course he feels oppressed. We all feel oppressed.  Wait, he’s chinning up.

        “Every day, kid. Every damn day…”

        WOW! SO COOL! THIS GUY IS LIKE GI JOE AND CAP ALL ROLLED INTO ONE!

        “Wait… how did you even know I was here?”

        “I’ve been scouting this place a while. I think my son is a prisoner here. I was trying to find the best way in and out for a couple of days. Then I saw you dashing in and taking names.”

        “Ah. Yeah… my bad… prolly should have thought that through a little better…”

        “Well, we’re here now. What did you have planned from here?”

        “Um… get to this room… and then look at the cameras… find where the prisoners are… and then I got nothin…”

        “Swell. Well I’ve been scouting this building for days, as I said. I know where the prison yard is. But, I didn’t have a great way of getting to this room… until now. That big red button over there overrides the safety locks to the prisoner’s shackles. Problem is, it doesn’t override the doors to the yard. Someone has to open it manually.”

        “So… I should use my stealth to unlock the door! Then you push the button and we all run out of here!”

        “Yeah… your stealth skills aren’t exactly wowing me at the moment. I think it might be better for a more experienced Player to go for the door. Once it’s unlocked, I imagine it’ll set off the alarm. Taking down a small back gate for troops is one thing. This door is the whole shebang. We’ll probably have to fight our way out at best. But… at least it’s a chance. After you press that button I’m going to need you to make it to the yard as quickly as possible. We’ll need all guns blazing.”

        Wait… so I press the button? Awesome. Blue Shinobi… resident button pusher…

        “Sounds like an outstanding plan. I can’t believe I’m being given orders by Red CyberKnight!”

        “Head in the game, son.”

        I compose myself and nod. He nods back, turns and leaves in a blur of red. Camera check… wow, this place is really lightly guarded… I guess the NPCs are getting cocky. And using FPS AI for guards? They’re like, the worst at everything. Kinda surprised that the prisoners haven’t broken out themselves. Guess it helps to have weapons.

        Speaking of, Red CyberKnight is coming to the prison block. Looks like the prisoners are asleep. Lights out. Makes sense. Just like he did here in the security room, Red wipes out the minimal guards. Too easy. He’s at the controls now. I can’t believe how cleanly we’ve swept this place. Looks like he’s found the control panel. Guess he’s attempting to crack it. I can’t believe how cleanly we’re sweeping this prison. A few more seconds and I’ll just slap the big red button. I can’t believe they’d even install a button like that into the prison. And in the security room? Weird place for it. Shouldn’t it be in the warden’s office or something? These NPCs are dumb. Their old age must be showing. Software upgrade necessary. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this whole setup is some kind of… no…

        It’s him. Another CyberKnight. THE other CyberKnight. Green CyberKnight…

        Back in the gamer glory days, Red was heralded as the leader of the CyberKnights. No pro team really assigned leaders directly, as in, hey, you are our leader. The five team system was designed so that everyone covered each other’s bases. Some players knew tactics better than their teammates, and then the next go round would have to defer to their team for strategy.  But even still, whenever I watched a team play, one player usually gravitated to the lead position a majority of the time. They made the plans and gave the orders, and a good team knew to follow or lose. Red was that leader. The defacto Power Player everyone thought of when they heard the word “leader”.

But one year he suffered an injury right before the finals of PvP. Most teams would forfeit. They’d rather lose as a team, together. But being at the finals, no one wanted to see any team win by default. And then a gamer stood up.

        He’d tried out for the CyberKnights when they were forming. But he just barely didn’t make the cut. Now was his time to step up. Red was willing to give up his gamer key, but the officials and the fans felt that that was cheating. So on the fly, in an unprecedented event spawning from an unprecedented incident, the gamer was modded his own gamer key at the finals, without ever having competed in the tournament itself, let alone one match. And for the first time ever, six gamers fought on one team. He became The Green CyberKnight, and the team went on to win.

        But after the tournament, officials said he had to give his gamer key back. Red would heal up, and once that happened the CyberKnights would be forced to return to a five-person team again. It seemed inevitable that the team would want Red to stay. And as long as Green had the CyberKnight key, he couldn’t try out for other teams. But on the day that Green was supposed to turn his key in, he never showed, fading away into the ether. He’d disabled his key’s locator too, a trick we’d all learn when the NPCs took over. He was never heard from again. Some speculate that Green might have even been the cause of Red’s injury, a potential truth that game officials wanted to cover up. They said that, jealous of being nudged off of The CyberKnights, Green altered something in the semifinal round, or sabotaged Red’s key in some strategic location, or even just snuck into Red’s house and Misery’d him in his sleep. Rumors went on and on. But one fact remained, Green disappeared with the key, and was never seen again.

        At least until today. Gotta find the audio. Maybe there’s a PA so I can warn Red. So many damn buttons! Let’s try below the monitor… volume… well crap… better than nothing I guess…

        “I know you’re there.” Red. Ohmigawd he is the coolest…

 He turns to face Green.

“I’ve always wondered if you’d come back.”

        Green says nothing.

        “I wonder, is it even still you in there? The man I knew back then, I mean. So many of us have fallen. You were probably in the best position to survive the NPCs, already in hiding after all. But even a lucky man has a bad day… every once in a while.”

        Green draws his CyberSword. He takes a step forward.

        “So, I take it that you’re with them, then… This whole thing was some elaborate ruse… I should have known. It was too easy to trace my son here. It’s been too easy infiltrating this prison. Was all of this to draw me out? I know I’ve always been a threat to the NPCs, but I never thought I was such a thorn in their side to warrant all of this…”

        CLANG!

        Red just barely gets his sword up to block Green’s slash. They remain locked for a moment.

        “You and I never really had a proper duel, did we? We really should have. That would have been fair. For the record, I had nothing to do with the rumors. I know you didn’t cause my injury. It was a simple mistake on my part.”

        Green jumps back and swings a flurry of strikes at Red.

        “But you’re not upset about that, I’m sure. It was leaving the team. You finally made it, and you won a great victory, and we all just yanked the rug out from under you. Like I said, a proper duel. Fair.”

        Green swings at Red’s head, but red ducks and sweeps Green’s legs. He points his sword at Green’s neck, silently imploring him to yield. But Green Parries Red’s CyberSword away, rocks to his shoulders and springs to his feet, continually attacking.

        “Your strikes are angry. Are you actually trying to kill me? You know that won’t work. Not with the CyberSwords. No Power Player weapon was ever meant to harm another, save NPCs. It was a basic design of the game. Officials couldn’t exactly sell a game that risked death. You definitely know all these things… so why are you doing this? What are you trying to do? I guess you could lower my HP to zero, that would log my key out of the grid and I’d be helpless. But you seem to want to kill me, and we both know you’ll never land a strike on me.”

        CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! Thrust to Parry, Parry to Thrust. Strike. Stab. Jab. Slash. Their moves are so fast I can barely keep up.

        “You ask me what I’m trying to do?” says Green. He talked. That can’t be good. “THIS!”

        A flash from Green’s hand. Red falls. He’s clutching something… something sticking out of his… stomach… It’s a handle. The handle of a weapon. Some sort of dagger. He’s gasping for air.

        “H-How…”

        “We’ve been making improvements.”

        Shit. Shit. Shit! He’s dying. Red’s dying. I have to do something. But I’m no match for that. Red CyberKnight was no match for it, and he’s a living legend. It’s just like he said… I’m a kid in this game. Barely know a goddamn thing… what can I do? I’ve got to do something.

        Press the button. Release the shackles. The prisoners might be mowed down, but they also might be able to defend themselves somehow. And if I can get to the door I can get them out. Finish the mission. Get them back to the village. Maybe our wave of destruction scares Green off. He is only one guy, right?

        I’ve got nothing else…

        BUTTOOOONNNNN SLAM!!!

        Alright, back out into the hallway. Left, right, left. Aha, Prison Block. Red’s still on the ground. Looks like Green is walking over to Red, reaching out for the dagger. If he pulls it out… that’s it, game over for Red. No Continues. Can’t let that happen. Time to summon it.

        Most Power Players are able to craft their gamer keys around their playstyle. You start out with basic gear. But once you get ranked high enough, things get a little more malleable. Soon you’re forming a team around a similar playstyle, and once that happens, you all begin to fill the gaps in each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

The CyberKnights were platformers. While at times they needed more specific strategies depending on certain PvE scenarios, in PvP, they were mainly direct attackers. That’s really a Platformer’s main skill, the direct approach. My dad, however, was Blue Shinobi of the Shinobi Team. They specialized in stealth mostly, choosing to attack from the shadows and lure NPCs into traps. The CyberKnights had long since disbanded by the time Team Shinobi was formed, but my dad was one to always learn from his elders. He knew that despite the fact that his best skills were in hiding, sometimes he’d find himself in certain situations where just like the CyberKnights, he’d have to come at something directly.

See, each member of Team Shinobi had an element and a weapon. Element used mana. Weapon used Stamina. Dad’s element was ice, obviously. The rest of the team used their various elements as their trump cards. Since they were flashy and loud, they were really only useful as nukes to a ninja  in a nearly no win situation. My dad figured out how to use his element as his endless ninja weapons supply, however, and use his weapon as his trump card instead. Where the rest of the team picked standard metal ninja weapons, kunai, katana, throwing stars and the like,  my dad got a little… creative.

He didn’t want to nuke the player or NPC that found him. Because he was really good at being a ninja, and if you found him, you earned a fight with him. Of course, if you earned a one on one fight with him, it was going to be a brutal one, one that he didn’t plan to lose.

These rare, epic fights with his iconic weapon earned him the nickname…

…The Frozen Reaper…

I call for it. The weapon. I feel it phase in, materializing from the gaming grid itself until it becomes solid. It takes two hands to hold. The staff is weighty and even in my icy hands it feels cold. And the blade… the blade glistens translucent blue in the drab lighting of the prison. It curves out from the staff in a wide arc, about half the length of the staff itself, which is about three quarters my height, and it’s as wide as my midsection. I’m not as good as my father was with it, but I’ll just have to make due.

Green CyberKnight, it’s time you met the Ice-Sickle Scythe of The Frozen Reaper, Blue Shinobi…

SHISSSSHHH!!! I slice through the air, cutting through the area where Green used to be.

He dodged… I thought I had the drop on him… but he dodged… AND HE’S BACK AGAIN!!! I barely get the blade of the scythe up in time to deflect a stab coming straight down at my chest. The scythe affords me range, but like I said I’m not nearly so good with it as my dad was. Gotta make this quick. A long fight is to his advantage.

He lunges again and I duck. In the process of ducking I spin and slash at his torso. He jumps away and I turn my spin on its axis, aiming to spit Green’s head in half, right down the middle. He jumps back again and the blade digs into the ground.

“Didn’t you hear the geezer? You can’t kill me with that weapon.” He says. “And much like me to him, you won’t land a strike on me. You won’t drop my HP.”

“That’s ok. I pulled a page from your book. Distraction.”

His feet are frozen to the floor. I unsummon the scythe and run to the console Red was working on. I can see prisoners inside the block making exchanges with the guard NPCs inside. Now or Never…

Oh thank god, Red was nearly finished with the coding when Green attacked. One more button press. I really am the button master… Doors opening. Green has one foot free… working on the other… Prisoners start to pour out of the door.

“Run!” I yell, “Straight down this hall is freedom, But you’ll have to fight for it!”

The prisoners listen well. Green is still struggling, trying to swipe at passing prisoners.

“Hey kid…”

Red Cyberknight is still alive! I crouch near him.

“I’m going to get you out of here.”

“No, that’s not possible… The wound is… too deep… NPCs control… the hospitals… Just do me… one favor…

Red logs out of the gaming grid. His face is cracked and weathered, jet black hair, no trace of grey. His eyes are bloodshot… brown… fading… The dagger is still in his stomach and blood is everywhere…

“Give my key to my son… if you find him… Please…”

I clutch his outstretched hand, removing the key. He smiles. Then lurches… dead.

This was not how this was supposed to go… Green is free now. I have to leave. He lifts his hand. The dagger flies to it. He lunges at me… I was hoping to save some mana for the mad dash out… but this is the only way… gotta use it all…

I charge into my hands the most massive ball of ice energy I can. In one quick thrust, I throw it at Green. He has no time to react, no time to deflect it away… he’s concentrating so hard on killing me that his guard is down. The ball hits him in the chest and explodes in a flurry of ice and cold. When the mist settles, he’s a giant Green CyberKnight popsicle… That was my dad’s nuke… he never showed it to me… but I figured it out… just in case…

        My mana is too low… I’m losing consciousness. If I log out… if I leave the grid, the ice will disappear and Green will be free to kill us all. Prisoners are running in every direction. I can feel myself falling next to Red. If I lose consciousness I’ll log out. I shouldn’t have used so much mana…

        Arms. I feel two big arms around me. Not Green’s. I can see him in front of me as I blink in and out of consciousness. Whose arms? I don’t know… but they lift me onto their owner’s shoulders. Not long now… gonna black out… too much mana… Moving to the exit now… hope I get out… logging out… nighty night…