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Elysium, the virtual reality game of the century and a game that will go down in infamy. Why you may ask? It took the media by storm and decimated the known gaming powerhouses. It gathered gamers of all platforms and united them under one game. A game that offered everything from RPG and Sci-fi to first person shooter and horror. There were over 50,000 beta testers working out the kinks in its three worlds; Genesis, Exodus and Elysium. It took decades before they announced its release and it soared off of the shelves just as quick as it was put on the shelves. However, a year into its release a group simply known as R3v314t1on, had hijacked the servers and massacred hundreds of thousands of players in Genesis' city, Killion, now know to all players as the Killion Genocide. Many tried to escape the game but sadly to no avail. Panic set across the multiplayer platform and plunged the game and its players into chaos. Areas that were considered safe from the changing PvP world were no longer and groups started to form, banning together for survival, others for greed and power. The game's developers had attempted to shutdown the game and eject everyone from it but the plan failed. "You lose. Servers taken. Pray for mercy: R3v314t1on" was the email sent to the creator and developers. The know dubbed terrorist group had taken those on the game hostage. Attempt after attempt of retrieving control of the servers failed and with each attempt tens of thousands were killed due to their persistence. A final idea was proposed from a hacker/beta tester of the game to gather a group of skilled players to take the group out from the inside and the governments of the world gathered together and formed a special digital anti-terrorist group known as UNCAF, or better known throughout the media as Project: Savior. Made up of people of all ages, they were to be sent in to find this group with the help of former beta testers and hackers sanctioned by the government through the means of pirated IP addresses, special hacking capabilities and other appropriate means. In addition to the formed group, the creators of Elysium removed the level cap for the hand-picked players, allowing them to ascend to new heights in order to combat this evil group. The leader's true identity of R3v3l4t1on, "Glitch" as he referred to himself is a mystery, hiding in secrecy with the help of its other members, possibly in the world of Elysium. Will this group be the ones to save those trapped, or will they fall victim to the plans of Glitch and R3v314t1on?



In the meeting room, the game's heads, among the ranks of designers and beta testers sat, awaiting the entrance of the Creator and the UN officials. "What do you think Mark. Do you think he will go for it?" Johnathan Geng, a digital artwork designer asked with a bit of a nervous tremble. Mark was one of the beta testers, specifically the one who came up with the idea of a organized anti-terrorist group comprised of the best players of the game. He shrugged with a sigh. "I can't say. But its the only shot we have. We cant reset the server without killing everyone. We can't get into the server through the game without one of our own getting sent to the hospital. What other choice do we have?" John looked down towards the ground with his chin resting on the back of the chair. Silence remained the rest of the time until the doors swung open and everyone sat up as Senji Yoshimaru entered holding a stack of folders. Behind him a few representatives of the UN and the UN's new task force UNCAF, all here for the most important meeting of their lives as it would dictate the future of this mission. Senji stood at the end of the table and looked at the faces he had come to know very well in the past couple months. "Afternoon" he greeted with everyone responding in their own way. The creator sighed as he dropped the folders on the table with a few papers sliding out. He looked towards Mark and gestured for him to come up and take a look at the folders.

"This is the list of people you and your coworkers had come up with. The best in the game. Players of different ages and different ranks but all show a talent for the game. Are you ok with this? This is your team you will be responsible for." The added bit of responsibility for their lives unnerved him a bit. Mark grabbed the folders and looked through them.

"Yeah...Yeah these are the ones we want. Well rounded team - at least one from each class an - Whose this?" Mark furrowed his brow and looked up to Senji.

"What's the matter?"

"We - nothing. It looks good." Mark stopped himself as quickly as he could.

Mark nodded and licked his lips before sighing. "Ok then...What's the plan?"

Senji stood back up and adjusted his suit jacket. "We send the message to them. That the U.N needs their help and we will offer them whatever they see fit."

"And if they refuse?" A hacker on the opposing side of Mark questioned.

"Then I feel that this will end with a lot of families grieving over their lost family and friends. Now...We cannot think about this. We must get in touch with them. I want you and those over there to log into a secured server that we have managed to build and send the message out. This meeting is over." Senji turned and left leaving those from the UN behind. "Alright guys and gals we have work to do and we have no time to spare!" Announced one of the sanctioned hackers as he gestured for those of his trade to follow out of the meeting room.

As the meeting was adjuoured, Mark remained behind with the files and glanced them over. He remained silent for a moment before standing up and left to join the other hackers.



A figure stood at the window, over looking his new digital kingdom. A pleased smirk on his face reflected back at him. A few feet behind him his right hand, Ceberus stood, his hands behind his back.

"Isn't it beautiful?"

Ceberus furrowed his brow, not understanding.

"The view Ceberus, the view." He commented.

"It is sir."

"Do you know why?"

"No sir."

"Because-" He turned around a devilish smirk still rested on his face.

"Because this is the epitome of man's engineering. The sky, the water, the wind. Everything. Everything from the tallest tower to the smallest pebble, delicately coded to match that of the real world." He picked up a glass on the table and ran his finger along it.

"Even down to the texture of this glass was coded to match its real texture. Everything about Elysium is magnificent."

"Yes sir...Sir?" Ceberus looked up to him with his head slightly tilted. as a holographic message flickered in front of him.

"Yes?" He cocked an eyebrow.

"The Black Rose has found out that the U.N is recruiting a group of players. Some sort of Project: Savior?" He furrowed his brow.

Glitch narrowed his eyes and snapped his fingers, bringing up the same message. "I see." The simple response came with slight aggravation.

"Ceberus you will keep me in the loop about this new group and send the word out to our hunter groups." Ceberus nodded and brought up his message board as Glitch turned to face out towards the view, his face reflecting back at him in admiration.

"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star... How I wonder what you are... Up above the world so high... Like a diamond in the sky... Twinkle Twinkle Little Star... How I wonder what you are..."

The sound of a piano being accompanied by a young voice resounded throughout the inn. An orange haired male was sitting in front of the piano, his fingers gliding through the keys, pressing the right one at the right time. There was a menacing staff leaning against the piano but no one seemed to mind it. A young blonde girl was standing beside the piano, gripping a staff while singing in tune with the tune of the piano. It was a calming sight; as if watching two siblings play out a sweet tune in this hellish environment.

It had been quite some time since they had all been stuck in this virtual reality. Many hated the prospect of it, others liked it while other remained indifferent. People like Yukihiro couldn't care less. This was their reality now, you just had to accept it and everything falls into place. While he didn't like the aspect of being ruled under R3v314t1on when those terrorists killed people who didn't bow under their banner. He was bothered by the Killion Genocide. It was lucky that he had not been in there when it happened. He was planning to though. It was in a split second decision to go to a mission instead that saved his life. He was one of the few players who didn't attempt to log out at the time of the happening and only finding out that they couldn't log out from other players. He still remained indifferent though. He didn't care.

His parents did. But he soon stopped them from doing anything lest they risk his life.

The final key was played and the people in the inn clapped. Yukihiro bowed his head at them while rubbing the back of his head and held a grin on his face. He then turned to Alisia, who had breathed out a shaky breath. He stood up and then placed a hand on the shoulder of the child AI. "You okay? Did you have fun?"

Alisia smiled at her owner and nodded, "That was really fun! Thanks for teaching me the song."

Yukihiro patted Alisia's head. She may be an AI but he saw her as a little sister. Just like how he saw his two other AIs as family. He then looked towards the two people who had seated themselves on the bar. They both were holding a mug of mead and were talking. Letting go of Alisia and grabbing his staff, the two headed for the bar and then the male slung his arms around them. "Geez, you two reek of alcohol. I know you're older than me but I'd rather not have you fight drunk."

"I will not go down easily from a mug of mead Hiro." Indriel pointed out before standing up, her two hands sheathed safely on her sides.

"Neither will I!" The obviously drunk Christian yelled out. The three looked at each other and then back at their intoxicated ally. "Two mugs of mead ain't nothin'!"

"Hiro, I'd rather not travel with Christian like that. If you please?"

"Right." Yukihiro pointed the staff at Christian and he depixelized. He then placed the head top part of the staff on his shoulder and paid for the mead that the two bought. They bid farewell to the inn dwellers who cheerfully told them to come back if they can. They were a regular at it after all.

"Where are we going next Yuki?"

"Uh... Killion?"

Indriel looked at him unsurely. "Killion?"

Yukihiro shrugged. "Wherever the wind takes us then!"

And with that, the trio had set off to only RNG knows where. Yukihiro kept on rambling about teaching the two female AIs about the outside world. They'd never get to experience it since they were only in-game, but he might as well tell everything. From children songs to idols, he told them. It was a good past time and Alisia always looks so impressed.

"...I was almost dead. Just a few more seconds and I would be gone forever. You saved me man...you saved my life." A player with his helmet off choked out. On his knees with tears streaming down his face.

The player by the name of Salvation, or Sal for short, sighed. "Yeah, I get that. Look, it's good that you understand how close you came to dying, since it means that you'll learn from your mistake...but it's been over an hour" Sal helped him to his feet "you should really get back to a safe town. In fact, I'd suggest leaving Genesis altogether. You don't seem like you're cut out for life in these parts...no offence."

"None taken, you're completely right after all. I just...I never really played Elysium like a game...you know? I pretty much used it as a Virtual facebook...if that makes any sense?"

Sal nodded "You'd be surprised how many other people are like that. Sure, they're a massive minority, but still far more then I ever expected. Then again...even one person like that is more then I expected." After his little tangent, Sal gestured for the other player to continue.

"Right, so anyway; I never really played the game as a game back before it got hijacked. By the time my life depended on my ability to fight, it was too late to learn. I've played Dark Souls a lot, and the only real teacher in that game is trial and error. Now however, just a single error and it's all over. So I just stayed put in Exodus for safety, you know, just wait this whole thing out. But I got so tired of that. That's when I decided to stop hiding. So I came to Genesis, since I heard it was a good place to train. But then...well...you saw what happened."

Sal just nodded. Honestly, the fight wasn't as pitiful as the poor guy seemed to think it was. His aim wasn't bad...or at least it wouldn't have been, if he wasn't shaking so much. In fact, the fight was pretty close, there was a chance he could have one on his own...but Sal just wasn't willing to bet someone's life like that. ''The smart thing to do would be to have him go back to Exodus...but that's not going to work. He's just going to get more and more stir-crazy until he pulls something like this again.' Sal sighed "Alright, here's what you're going to do; you see that Sanctuary right to the south?" Sal pointed at said Sanctuary

"Yeah" was the other player's simple response

"That's Griston. It's pretty small by Sanctuary standards, but I know a guy there. Ask around for someone named Thunder Cracker. If you tell him that Sal sent you, he can get in the Watchmen. They're basically the players that work as guards in there. They even sometimes even organize training outings. It might not be the most glamorous gig, but I think it'll do wonders for you."

Based on his expression, the other player clearly agreed "I...t-thank you so much. I don't know what I can ever do to repay you"

"Just pay it forward. That's all I ask." Was Sal's reply.

"I-I will, and thank you so much!" With that, the other player took off.

'He should be fine this close to Griston. The only mobs in that direction all have small agro range. After his brush with death, he should steer clear of them' His work done, he pulled off his helmet and took a swig from his flask. 'Now then...I wonder if there are any other wayward souls out here today. Putting his helmet back on, Sal resumed his search for people way in over their head.

"Breath... take your time aiming... place your finger on the trigger... wait for an opportunity... fire." whispered an electronic muffled voice. The rifle echoing in the large barren wasteland of Genesis, the sound vibrating off every wall, almost impossible to track. The group of mid level player killers desperately searching for the location of the sound that killed their leader, quite violently in fact. Another crack echoing off the walls, followed by another, each one hitting their target. Eventually all that remained was a group of low level players huddled around each other.

Having already moved before the last man was dead the player known as Reaper had already moved on towards his next target. Moving along the edges of the great caverns quietly, smoothly, almost ghost like. Only stopping to make sure his surroundings are clear. He stops just above two groups having a fire fight. A bunch of known bandits against a sanctuary traders escort, the bandits were high levelled with two Goliath's surrounded by 4 unique Battleborns. The trader escort however were mostly mid levelled Battleborn with a caretaker in the rear, all low health and only firing when safe. Reaper sets up his rifle about one and half kilometres away from the fight. He sets up between two rocks, limiting the view anyone has on him, only slightly showing the barrel of his rifle.

"Breath... Calculate the radius... both Goliath's will be eliminated as well as two of the battleborns... activating charge..." Reaper whispered to himself, activating his final beam ability, the weapon slightly glowing as it starts to charge. He aims and waits till the charge is ready.

After the three minute charge time he fires. At first all the sound in the area is muted, everyone stops, it feels like time has slowed down to the point where you can see a woodpecker flapping its wings, a thin blue line passes the bandit players, who all start to look towards where its coming from. Then suddenly the shockwave of the beam comes first rendering them shocked and deaf, then a ten ft wide beam hits them completely disintegrating the two Goliath's and two of the battleborn. The two battleborn left are to shocked to move, as are the traders escort. Reaper however has already moved, leaving them to finish it themselves. His mask expressionless, the face under the mask however has a smirk
"Never get's old..." he chuckled, walking towards the closest sanctuary to finish his day.

"Clear out, motherfuckers! Wooo!"

Triss was a dervish as she slashed savagely through the small group of newbies before her. The battery embedded in her chest, usually a bright cyan turquoise, was glowing with intense crimson light as she redlined, activating Overdrive three separate times. A second Light Strike came out and she circled around behind, tossing the knives and reeling them magnetically back to her hands. The red light flickered back to blue, her form blurring to incredible speeds. Through it all, a smile remained plastered to her face and exhilarated laughter bubbled from her lips. The angry hum of her plasma knives searing through the air rose and fell as she slashed.

"And that--" hummmm "is why--" hummmm "PK'ing without knowing your target's level--" hummmm "is a really bad plan!"

In short order, the low-leveled players had been dispatched. Laughing exultantly and deactivating her knives, she transmatted her grav-cycle, mounting the sleek machine. A beautiful object in Genesis, she could only imagine how ugly the people on the other worlds would call it. A banged-up red and ash-gray vehicle with Jericho emblazoned in black on the side, it would take far worse to damage it than anything those socialites in Exodus could dish out. She stroked it, cooing to it softly as she cranked the accelerator, gunning the cycle across the dust. Before her, hovering in the sky, gleamed a huge floating city. Sanctuary: Killion. Once her virtual haven, the escape from endless hours of drudge work as a dishwasher, it had metamorphosed into both her home and her prison.

The shrieking insectoids around her screamed, launching their bodies at the vehicle only to bounce comically off. As she drove, she slid open her menu, opening the PM window and tapping in a message:

Took care of PK'ers. Credits expected upon arrival in Killion. Triss

Jabbing the send button, she grinned in satisfaction. Those players had been grouping up on low-leveled soloers for months. That bounty would be worth a fortune.

They sat in front of computers that circled around the room like a cybernetic Round table with Mark, aka K1ng 4rth0ur at the end. The sound of keys clacking with each stroke as they secured the server. It ran off of multiple I.P addresss and through multiple government servers, including the ever so famous TOR.

"Mark we secured the sever"

"Connecting to players' IP Addresses"

"IP addresses secured"

"Rerouting them through TOR and Onion servers"

"Accessing players' stats"

"Players' stats accessed"

"Alright good. Let me know when you connect to each player." Mark scanned the room before taking a sip of coffee.

"Player Aurora Locke, @The ghost in black connected."

"Player Jack Tenesia, @jman221 connected."

"Player Harayuki Hiro, @Polaris North connected."

"Player Cassidy Barton, @Lemons connected."

"Player Caribe Anne Holgun, @LovelyAnastasia connected."

"Player Mike Cove, @Card Captor connected."

"Player Bobby Hill, @ProjectOdin connected."

"Player .... Wait hold on..." THe one hacker squinted his eyes at the screen as his fingers ran along his keyboard over the various keys. Mark looked over to him to see the man shaking his head before slamming his fist onto the table.

"Kev what is it?" Kevin looked at mark with a furrowed brow.

"He DoSed me."

"He did what?" Slightly surprised.

With a grunt Kevin turned the screen to Mark. "He DoSed MY ASS OUT OF HIS CONNECTION! I gotta reboot!"



Mark ran a hand through his hair. "Alright just record this message for him if you can. Starting video feed in 3...2...1"

"Ladies and gentlemen good afternoon-"



Those gathered in the small place talked lightly with each other, mostly confused about the odd loading. They had a simple message from the UN asking about assistance but that was all. Now it was time to actually contact them. The message screen popped up and any attempt to remove it failed. "Ladies and gentlemen good afternoon...or evening. I don't know what it is for you all but here its around 1:30pm. I am Mark Kissenger, lead sanctioned hacker of the game Elysium and in collaboration with the UN we managed to secure a server in order to send this to you. I'm sorry but this is a one way transmission to lessen the chance of being located and no, we cannot pull you out of the game this way since it would be too dangerous. Myself and a few other beta testers, some of you may have played with or against, hand picked you for this thanks to your skills, combat prowess, class knowledge and other aspects as well. We have also tried getting in touch with another player who goes by "Spectre", but he seems to not to want to have us contact him as of now but besides that, we choose you because we think you can stop R3v314t1on. As you know, R3v134t1on was the cause of the Killion Massacre and has killed thousands of players after that as well, making him the world's most wanted man at the moment."

"Time to lighten things up a bit. Senji the creator, the hackers and myself have managed to remove the level caps for all of you as you can see in 3...2....1."

If they were to look up, they would see that next to their name, the level numbers disappeared, proving that they were no longer capped.

"Also if any of you need anything in game just leave a personal not in you Codex and we will see what we can do. Also after R3v314t1on is removed, the UN has promised you all anything you want as reward for your cooperation in taking down the international cyber terrorist group. Now with this being said-"

Marks screen minimized slightly as a face popped up on screen.

"This is Mayhem, one of the founders of R3v314t1on. He currently resides in Santuary Killion." He sniffed as he took a sip of coffee again.

"We think he may know the whereabouts of their leader who was dubbed "Glitch", by himself of course. Egotistical bastard. Anyway we need you to capture him and get him to talk. The UN does not care what happens to him afterwards. All in all he lost his rights after his actions. Mind you this order comes from a unanimous vote. Afterwards take back and secure Killion. Once this is done Genesis should be good." Mayhem's face was then added to their Codex under: People.

"Now to your question you all are probably asking yourself. Why Pyre? Well-"

He leaned in towards the camera.

"Pyre is currently one of three Sanctuaries that are still in the control of players, their overall defenses are made of Goliaths and Overwatches while their main force is made of a mix of...well, every other class and subclass you can think of. We have sent word to a player known as Minxy, who seems to be one of their captains. We want you to make contact with her. She has agreed to help you get into Pyre."

Mark sat back again and sighed as inaudible words were spoken.

"Look I'm sorry for all of this but we need you. Millions of families need you. I can't stay on this any longer as we apparently have someone trying to find you guys out. We will contact you later."

The Screen went black and shutdown the HUD of the players.



The man ran, panting and throwing people out of his way with his good arm as the other had been shot clean off. The man's eyes quickly scanning the rooftops above, looking for the phantom who shot it off.


"NO! NO FUCK YOU! IM NOT TELLING YOU SHI-"

T'ceeewwwwwww

The man's head exploded in tiny hexagonal fragments of data as he disappeared off of the map indefinitely. In the distance, a visible eye softened as the scope lowered as he muttered something under his breath. The "breee-eeeeeeee" of his optical lens adjusting to the normal view echoed quietly in the abandoned construction space on the 20th floor of what was to be an office building. The figure stood and strapped the rifle against his back and made his way to the opposite side of the half constructed room where a ledge lead down to a dumpster below. Before he could do anything, a recorded message had popped up on his HUD, illuminating his face slightly. He narrowed his eyes and sighed as he brought up his messenger. With a tch, he sent the message and then brought his attention back to his destination. An AI with a female's voice entered his ears. "Height: 250ft, Contents in container: Unknown, Terminal velocity will hit at: 1-hundred feet." The figure side as he took a step near the ledge, his arms out to the sighed as he lept out and down to the dupster below, any trace of him vanishing after he reached his destination.

Yukihiro placed the staff on the ground and leaned on it, eyes trailing to both Indriel and Christian as they bickered back and forth about their strategy to take down a small group of players that have been quite unruly. They had picked up the quest after a small while of walking aimlessly around and sought out to find these people. They had already been given half the pay, they just needed to finish them off to get the full one. Apparently, these people were 'barbarians' and cared for no one but themselves. In the game, it wasn't too surprising. It was murder, yes, but it isn't as heavy as in real life, even if you were killing them in the real world as well.

"I'm telling you, I'll charge first and then you just give me cover." Indriel started to speak once more, punctuating every word with a hand movement as per her habit.

"But if I do that, we won't have the advantage of surprise!" Christian reasoned. "It'd be easier if you just stay back and wait for a couple to drop before going in."

The argument continued and Yukihiro simply sighed and looked at Alisia who had a pretty neutral reaction to it too. The two always did bicker, having different views on a lot of things. He then looked back at the small camp. There were six people there, max. He could see two Goliaths, one Caretaker, one Overwatch, and two Battlebornes, the kind that doesn't have weaponry. He was worried more about the Goliaths to be honest, they were beasts. Indriel has to chip off those armor before she could do anything. The overwatch wasn't really doing anything but chilling around. In fact, the guy hasn't even detected them yet.

"Christian, aim for the Overwatch first. It'll be a problem if he gets up and running. If you can get the Caretaker, all the better. Indriel, distract the others or defeat them, whichever you see fit. Alisia." Yukihiro said and the two nodded. It was usually like this. They bicker while Yukihiro thinks things through. Alisia cast a Shield spell on the two to buff up their defenses. Yukihiro nodded and the two took off.

Christian took out his hybrid pistols and then aimed carefully at the Overwatch who had been sitting down and balancing the chair on its hind legs. Two charged shots later and he was down and the area was in full alert. Indriel had rushed down, both swords unsheathed, and began confusing the Goliaths. They had sprayed their bullets at her but she was a fast AI. She had been grazed but was overall fine. They then felt something heavy on their backs to reveal that there were two skeletons clinging onto them. Indriel approached them swiftly, her swords glowing an eerie blue as she cut the two down. Christian had taken out the Caretaker and was now aiming at the Battleborns.

The fight didn't last too long. With Indriel's weapon advantage and Christian's range advantage, the two didn't stand much of a chance. They then walked back to Yukihiro who had sent a message to the quest giver and the money was almost instantaneously transferred to his account. "Good job guys." The three smiled at their master. "I say this calls for a-"



"Celebration." Yukihiro finished and then looked around the unfamiliar territory. The three AIs looked around as well and there wasn't really any results. They had been loaded into another place without his consent. He then noticed a message from the UN stating something about helping them and being loaded to somewhere. This must be the place. They could've at least waited until he read that note. He looked at the AIs who were curiously peeking at his menu and let them see it.

A man then appeared from the screen. Mark was the guy's name. Ah, so they were handpicked by a group of people to defeat R3v314t1on. Why they didn't come in the game themselves was because they didn't want more people to get stuck in a hospital, he guessed. He didn't mind though. His eyes went to his nametag and the level beside it as the cap was removed. That was nice. At least he didn't have to worry about being capped out anymore. Or well, after this, he doubted he would go back to Elysium if they ever succeed into getting out. And they were promised whatever they wanted. Yukihiro didn't really think much about it. His parents were rich so he actually got what he wanted, when he wanted it as long as he did good. He'll think what to do with that reward after he's done.

He then stared at the picture that had appeared. Mayhem. Oh, Yukihiro saw this guy before. In Killion, of course. He had visited there time and time again just for fun and he could see the guy roaming around. He tended to avoid Mayhem, since he wasn't really good news. So this guy was their target for now to get to this Glitch person who is apparently the leader of all of this. It sounded simple enough. Getting there ins't though. But he otherwise didn't say anything, not like Mark could hear him anyway.

Staring at the distant sanctuary that was Pyre, he divided his attention between Mark and the location. Oh so they enlisted a person named Minxy as their leader huh? Well, if the top minds picked her for the job, he doesn't really care. That was when the video ended. He then looked at the three AIs who had smiles on their faces, glad that their master can finally find a way out. Yukihiro frowned and then looked back at the others who loaded after him. Interesting, truly interesting.

As she neared Killion, Triss noticed a message pop up on the corner of her HUD. Curious, she opened up the page, saw that it was from...the UN.

Huh.

She stared at it for a moment before giving a shrug and an uncaring "meh," closing it down and instead focusing on not crashing and dying. She was, in fact, so focused on the road that she didn't notice the white-blue teleportation fizz beginning to form around her body. Then her vision flashed white for a moment and she ended up launching herself and her grav-cycle into a particularly stubborn wall.

Swearing, she picked herself up. Her health bar was significantly depleted, and Jericho was smoking and flaming. A long string of subsequent curses spewed from her mouth, so much that she nearly missed the video pop up in front out her. As her level cap popped away, she stared with utter disinterest. She wasn't anywhere near the cap, so she really didn't care either way. She was months away from using this new "feature."

As the man shown on the screen flickered away, she stared for a moment more where it had been and ineffectual kicked her broken cycle. Looking around at the people that surrounded her, she found herself profoundly unimpressed. Oh, sure, they had bigger numbers; most had previously been level capped. But she could tell just by looking at them that they had things like "ethics" and "morals," none of which Triss tended to concern herself with. In fact, she'd known of Mayhem for a while. He was probably her most prominent client, so she really had no reason to want him out of power. He paid her well, and she loved the work. Why jeopardize it?

Shrugging, she kicked Jericho once more before stretching and walking away from the small group of people. "You guys have fun with that. Later." She'd find her way back to Killion without Jericho, and return to the status quo.

'Well...I didn't see this coming'

It was only a mater of time before the government got involved, that was something Sal had no problem believing. Maybe it was because of his brief time in the military, but a part of him knew that even with Revelation's (he refused to use leetspeak, even mentally) hostages, someone would eventually do something. While he might have been cut off from the outside world, he knew that people had to be up in arms about this. So much so, that it was more dangerous for the government to not do anything.

So no, that didn't surprise him at all. What did catch him off guard was that he of all people was contacted to help resolve this incident. 'Then again...I was in the marines, so that could be why. But...they weren't talking to us like soldiers. Was that to hide it in case that transmission was intercepted? No, that couldn't be it; that man said a lot of more important things then our military background would be. Then again...this is the UN, not the USA. Maybe, just maybe, this has nothing to do with my time in the marines, and if so, then the other players they contacted might not have the same background. So then we find ourselves back at the beginning; why me?' Sal shook his head 'Gah, I'm not getting anywhere. I just don't have enough information to draw any kind of conclusion. I just need to get to Pyre; I'll find my answers there.' His decision made, Sal started walking to Pyre.

As Reaper arrived in the sanctuary, a familiar figure stepped out of the shadows and offered him more work to complete.
"Hey Reaper, we just got a report of a group of PK'rs camped out near Layway Canyon, reward for these guys is 5k and you get half up front as per our usual deal. So What do you say?"
Reaper contemplated another run before sundown but gold wasn't a question anymore he already had the best gear he could get his hands on.
"No thanks Hank, i might head out tomorrow to deal with it though, ask me then." The electronically muffled voice made him sound brooding as always.
As he made his way home a message appeared on his screen. Something about helping a group out with something, it was a bit vague but wondered why they reached out to him. Just as he reached his door, a white-blue outline appeared around his body.
A forced teleport? Why? He readied himself in case it was a group of hackers planning to eliminate him.


He looked around, recognising the sanctuary Pyre about a kilometre out. He looked around and saw other players, each had their own look of curiosity or annoyance.
A face appeared on his HUD introducing itself as Mark. He went on to explain why they had been called. Mark mentioned the player Mayhem, Reaper was offered thousands of credits to take this guy out, but he was to well protected for just one overwatch to take out. Finally seeing an opportunity to find his dirtbag father, who joined R3v314t1on. When his level cap disappeared he let off a smile under his mask.
This could get interesting. And anything i need huh... wonder if they can get a K3R compact cannon(K3R CC)
He noticed one of the players kicking their hover cycle and stormed off. Reaper already had 4 ways to kill her, but only if she got in the way.
He looked at the remaining players,
"Well that was interesting..." His electronic voice hiding most of the emotion in the sentence "So who wants to start off introductions?"

"What am I doing here again?" She whispered into her earpiece, perched on the roof of one of the tallest buildings in Pyre.
"Well if you listened to the briefing you would of known before you got there Swallow!" yelled her boss Minx.
"You know those things bore the hell out of me. Plus i prefer to get things done straight away, so brief me now." Whispered Night Swallow, silently making her way across the roof tops.
"Fine, we have reliable source that tells us that the group of PK'ers that escaped our holding cells are still hiding out in town. Since they seem to be a bit handy in the escaping department, you are to eliminate them all. Look for them in the abandoned warehouse district, Warehouse 19. I sent you because i know you can do it quietly." Minx groaned at her angrily.
"See? Wasn't that hard now was it?" teased Swallow, "Anything else?"
"We suspect that there are at least nine different classes and one unknown player that busted them out, all the escapies should only have standerd gear due to us destroying their previous stuff. Good Luck" Minx explained with a slight concern.
"No worries, Love ya Minxy poo." replied Swallow with a sarcastic teasing tone.

Warehouse district: Outside Warehouse 19

Swallow was on the roof of the warehouse, having already dispatched the two Overwatch players gaurding the roof. She slipped inside the roof hatch, landing without a sound. She creeped along the walkway, overlooking the main warehouse, her next target was walking towards her. She activated her Cloak, and moved silently towards the unsuspecting victim, she moved behind him, she activated one end of her sword and used her Assassins Strike, The player was insta-killed, resetting her Strike.
"Sweet..." she whispered to herself. She reactivated her cloak and moved on.
She quietly moved along the walkway, and leapt down to the ground floor. She looked around, 5 of them were standing around chatting, and two were standing by the door on lookout. She snuck up to the first one, activated her Strike, she noticed that the pure damage killed her target, which still reset the cooldown. She cloaked quickly while the second guard called out to the others having noticed but couldn't get another sound out. Swallow had thrown a Shadow shurikan into her targets face, paralysing him. She moved behind him and used her strike again but her target had enough health to survive the Strike, she quickly finished him off and swore under her breath, she cloaked again. The other 5 remaining players all started sweeping the buidling looking for signs of their assailant. Swallow moved around silently, waiting out her cooldown, she observed them closely, one had a limp, one's arm was broken and two looked generally fatigued.
"This is crap, half are already injured, no special gear, this is crap. No bloody challenge at all, waste of my time..." she whispered to herself, her cooldown having just ended. She moved to the player with the limp, all it took was one normal stab in the back and he was down. She moved on, taking down the two fatigued players easily aswell, next she paralised the player with the broken arm, and killed him to. She looked around to find the last player a fully geared goliath staring her down, with a grenade launcher in hand.
"F*&k... she cloaked and ran at full pace towards the ladder to the walkway, grenades exploding in every direction. She jumped up the ladder, and snuck around the walkway trying to get behind her target. The goliath stopped firing and walked cautiously towards where she last was. Swallow leapt down, came behind her target and activated her Assassins Strike, only taking the goliath to half health, she threw two shurikans into the goliaths arm stopping it from firing. she flipped over the goliath and struck it in the back multiple times. The goliath fell to its knees, before derezzing. Swallow deactivated her sword, touching her earpiece.
"The problem is dealt with, next time give me something a little more challenging yeah? I'm coming home now"

They made their way to Pyre. A short walk compared to where the other Sanctuaries lied. Pyre was the third largest among the big three; Killion, Heaven's Gate and then Pyre. Large walls ran the perimeter of the city and built into them were watchtowers, guarded by some of their best Overwatch classmen. Lining the walkways of this wall were what could only be described as a large company of Goliaths and in between every other goliath was a warlock, possibly specializing in defensive abilities. And if one looked closely, there was a caretaker for every 20 or so members of the wall. At the bottom of the wall nearest the gate, two Goliaths stood guard armed to the teeth with powerful weapons. In between the two was a man who kept his arms crossed in front of him. His posture was rigid but held this laxed feel about it as if he was expecting them but unsatisfied at what he saw. When they approached, they could see a look of disappointment on his face.

“You’re the group that’s sanctioned by the U.N? Tch, don’t look like much.” A twitch in the mouth showed his own self-amusement at his comment.

“Come on, I don’t have all day. Leviathan! Open the door.”

“Yes Commander!”

The commander looked up to the younger member of the wall and recieved a simple nod in response as he pushed a lever forwards opening the gates with a rumble. The man turned to the group and grinned.

“Welcome to Pyre.” He turned back as the gates opened up more of the city. Massive buildings held rooms for many players while they stayed inside the sanctuary. Off to the left and right, lining the wall were vendors selling all kinds of things from exotic and rare weapon and materials down to little novelty things like new skins and abilities for characters. Further into the city were sanctioned sparring arenas that Elysium originally allowed but thanks to R3v314t1on, they were no longer allowed to be used. The Commander, as everyone seemed to call him, lead the group to a large building, guarded by a handful of men and women of different classes, surveying the immediate area. As the commander approached with the group, Goliath, Battleborne and Overwatch alike locked onto the group until the Commander waved them off in which the weapons were lowered and they resumed their watch.

“As you can see people, we take no chances. If I don’t wave them off, they’ll take down whoever is with me and treat them as a hostile.” The commander glanced back at the group before gesturing for them to follow him inside. Once inside he lead them to their final destination; a room that held two others, a man wearing a black suit of armour only found in the Ice caverns of Genesis and a Goliath, a bit taller than the others they had encountered.

“General, Minx.” He gave them a slight nod and moved to the side of the door, allowing them to enter and then stood in the doorway once everyone was inside.

“Thank you commander. Everyone my name is Percy Jones but most call me General or G and this here is the wonderful Minxy, my trusted captain.” The goliath facepalmed and looked at the General.

”No one has ever called you “G” Percy and I told you not to call me Minxy. It’s Minx and by the way, next time you think about staring at my ass I’ll rip your 1 and zeros off your digital body and make you eat the coding, perv.” If only they could see behind the faceplate they would see the anger in her eyes. His eyes went wide for a moment but then simply chuckled. “Wouldn’t want that to happen. Anyway, this is your team.” She turned to them and studied each one carefully.

”Well what do I have to work with?” She sighed but gave a dismissive wave.

”Alrighty then! The name’s Minx and as you can see I’m a Goliath class so that makes two Goliaths. That makes it easier when we get in. I don’t expect any immediate resistance from Killion but once we’re in - it’s only a matter of time.” She shrugged and turned towards the exit.

“We can’t waste any time so let’s go. Any questions ask along the way.” She looked back at the group before leaving.





Glitch sat amongst the Black Rose Syndicate, the branch of R3v314t1on that control Exodus’s city, Eon Evangel, and Mayhem, the tyrant who held most of the Sanctuaries in Genesis. Glitch had his legs crossed and his fingers interlocked, resting on his lap as he looked over everyone with a gentle yet eerie smile.

“Glitch why did you call us in here?” A member of The BRS asked with mild irritation.

“I assume this has to deal with that U.N group?” Another BRS member asked.

“No doubt. But at least we have a few hunters taking up the mission.” Another stated in-a-matter-of-factly.

“Glitch, my man, seriously. What the hell? ” Mayhem said with frustration.

“Mayhem, yes. I brought you here because of that group, Project Savior as they are called.” Glitch nodded.

Furrowing his brow he shook his head in confusion.

“Ok? But why me?”

“Your stupid Mayhem. The group was spotted in Pyre and possibly in route to you.” Said M4k0, leader of the BRS.

“Please, they’re no match for me and Killion. Once they’re in they’re done.” Glitch narrowed his eyes.

“That foolish thinking caused the loss of some good people in the past and if you keep with that-”

“Im not some fucking expendable piece of shit I know how to handle - ARG-G-HH-HH” Mayhem’s body and voice distorted and slide apart as his health bar went ballistic. Glitch’s eyes glowed a dim neon blue with what seemed to be numbers and coding running past them.

“Who are you to talk to me like that, hm? I’ll have you know that if it wasn’t for me, you would still be a lowly player clinging to whatever group he could find for survival. I suggest that you show me the respect that I deserve.” He moved forward towards Mayhem and rested his hands on his shoulders as the choatic glitch ceased on Mayhem.

“Now lady and Gentlemen of the BLack Rose, I need you to send word out to our hunters. Spectre was located in Solace, Exodus. About-”

“About two and a half miles outside of Eon in Solace. Yes sir we are aware. We have already sent word to the two hunters. We still however have not figured out what class he is so they may compensate for the disadvantages.”

“Oh there is no need M4k0. I have full confidence in their capabilities.” With a smirk he returned to his executive chair at the end of the table and sat back down, Cerberus by his side.





He walked the crowded, rainy streets of Solace, passing the famous club The Void Sisters on his way to his next target, an enforcer by the name of Lanc3. He terrorized most of Solace with his ruthless and painful punishments and lethal interrogations. The man liked to take shelter in the night club he passed but going through the front would be too obvious so instead he made his way to a nearby alleyway.

Processing terrain...

”Evaluating most effective route...Route found”

Rose, his simple AI returned after scanning the alleyway and building. It highlighted the best route possible to the building's roof and Spectre licked his lips and nodded as he followed the path. He shot up the wall to his left and lept up, taking hold of the ledge above as he shuffled down towards the fire escape. He gave a quick look around and swung himself back and forth until he gained enough momentum to launch himself over to the escape. Spectre climbed up into the escape and made his way up its stairwell until he reached the opposing rooftop. He could see that The Void Sister’s roof had a skylight window. Thankfully this would give him the perfect vantage point into the building's interior and hopefully over his target. TheSilentOne stepped away from the ledge by a few feet before eyeing up his jump.

Distance required met. Proceed

He took in a deep breath and sprinted for the ledge and lept up and out over to the club’s rooftop. The arch of his jump landed him on the ledge of the intended building in the cat leap position. Spectre pulled himself up and made his way over to the fairly large skylight glass roof and peered into it his now silenced rifle scanning the room with his headpiece “vantage” in nightvision mode.

”Vantage, Eagle Eye mode now.” he commanded.

”Eagle Eye mode activated.”

A blue burst, only visible by him escaped his body and went through the building, highlighting everyone inside. Any of his targets would be marked in red, the others blue. Bringing the scope back up to his field of vision he scanned the room until he located the man. He seemed to be talking to two people, a male and female. His eyes narrowed and instead of taking the shot he slung his rifle back into its place and withdrew “Alias” along with a smoke bomb and a Jester’s Laugh.

”Vantage, Eagle Eye/Thermal.”

EagleEye Thermal enhancement activated

He pulled up his message board and sent a message to the enforcer.



“I’m telling you. The motherfucker is going around and knocking off R3v314t1on members. It’s like…”Fuck the bigwigs lemme just take out the small expendable fuckers and leave them be.” It’s beyond frustrating. But about your group. Yeah. Project Savior I keep hearing them being called. Some sort of sanctioned group of players from the government...Something like that.”

The man took a swig of whiskey and placed it back on the counter.

“Look any of us could be next man. I suggest you wat - What the…” He tsked as he saw a message pop up in his holographic inbox. No name was attached to it but there was simply a picture and a code.



He looked confused for a moment until he realized what it was but by then it was too late. Spectre dropped in the smoke bomb shortly after the Jester’s laugh followed, exploding with loud sounds of fake gunfire but enough to light the other players’ maps up like a christmas tree. Location pings were all over the inside of the club and shortly as the place turned to chaos Spectre had fired off three rounds; two hitting Lanc3 in the chest and the last in the head, wiping him off the game completely. After the kill was confirmed by the disappearance of his body the assassin darted off. He didn’t know whether the other two were friends of his but he wasn’t going to stand around and find out.

Yukihiro looked at the high rising walls of Sanctuary Pyre, the most guarded sanctuary in all of Genesis and one of the sanctuaries that hasn't fallen victim to R3v314t1on. It is probably the safest place to be if you are not a member of the terrorist group. Given this, it is surprising that this is only Yukihiro's second visit to the sanctuary since R3v314t1on took over the game. The next thing he noticed was the immense number of guards that are placed atop the wall and there were watchtowers too. Everything was so well protected that it is understandable how R3v314t1on hasn't accessed this place yet.

The closer they got to the entrance, the more clearly he could see what was in front of the gate. There were two Goliaths guarding it and a man in the middle. He stuck to the back of the group with his summons sticking by him. Indriel and Christian seemed eager to start the operation of taking Killion and the latter surprisingly didn't even complain once as they walked towards Pyre. The man started to speak and had that unimpressed look on his face, heck, he even said it out loud. Yukihiro had to admit, they just looked like they were bunched up regardless of class. Well, the others seemed highly skilled and they just might prove themselves on field, for him, he needed his summons to prove themselves useful to the cause. Hopefully, they can.

It wasn't soon until the gates were opened and they were let inside. He quietly followed the commander. Yukihiro looked around, eyeing the merchandise that was being sold on the streets of the sanctuary. Perhaps if he had time, he should buy something. There were rare weapons in there. Maybe... some other time perhaps. However, they were stopped momentarily by a bunch of soldiers with their guns up prompting Christian to take out his but before he could point it at the soldiers, they were already dismissed. "You seem worked up." Indriel commented as Christian slid his pistols back in its holsters.

"Eh, new town. I guess I'm a bit on edge." The male summon replied with a shrug before they continued on.

They entered a room where the General and the person called Minx were at. The General, or Percy, and Minx had a little conversation first before the latter trained her eyes on them. She seemed to have sized them up but made no comment unlike the person that had greeted them earlier. He hadn't really interacted with anyone else. As he followed Minx, he began speaking, "Might as well introduce myself and my class huh? It'd be better to know each other's strengths and weaknesses right?" He said before following it with a light chuckle. If all of them were going to work together, they had to know each other first. It'd be hard to cover another's tracks and weaknesses if they went in blindly.

"The name's Yukihiro. As you can see, I'm a necromancer. There's not much I, myself, can provide but my summons do have their skills. Indriel often charges forward. She's pretty fast and is good at dodging attacks. Her sheer strength and speed should come in handy. Christian, on the other hand, is best at mid-range fighting, keeping his distance and blasting away at the enemies. His pistols pack a punch too. Alisia is a healer so she usually hangs back with me and heals anyone who needs it. She knows a bit of defensive spells, buffers, and one offensive spell. And despite being AIs, they're quite smart and may seem like a player and they don't hesitate to cut down an enemy." He relayed the skills of his summons, while vague, it would be enough to create a strategy with them. As much as he regrets it, there's nothing much a necromancer can actually do besides summoning tons of things. Sure he can protect himself when someone charges for him but other than that, not much. "Oh but I do have two more spells, one can deal fire damage and can inflict a 'burn' ailment and then another which releases poison gas. It's quite thick so it can work as a smoke bomb too."

After that, he simply placed both of his hands at the back of his head as he walked. He looked extremely relaxed for someone who's marching towards either his death or his fame. He would sometimes look back at the others to see if they would follow. If not, oh well, if they did, that's better. His mind went back to thinking about their attack on Pyre. Goodness, that place was filled with a lot of enemies if they should attack. He personally didn't have a grudge against them. As much as he liked the virtual world, he does kind of want to go back to the real world. See his parents, friends and his pet dog there. But he already had his request for the UN prepared.

Sanctuary Pyre always made Sal feel nostalgic. Maybe it was because it was the sanctuary that for some reason, most reminded him of the Fallout series (franchise he played in his childhood a lot). Or maybe it was just because he spent more time here then any other sanctuary. Then again, it could be both. In the end, it didn't really matter. All that it meant was that entering Pyre always felt like coming home, a feeling that conflicted with the feeling of having been recruited to save everyone still trapped in the game. 'Still...it's not like I can say no. We all need to get out of this game. I don't know if muscle atrophy can kill you, but I'd rather not find out in here.'

Upon reaching the gates, Sal found an unwelcome surprise; the gate guard knew about them. More specifically; he knew about the U.N's involvement. 'I really hope that isn't well known in here. Even if Revelation doesn't have a foothold here, they could still have spies. As he worried about the possibility of information leaking to the enemy, other thoughts came to mind 'now that I think about it; just how are these people connected to the U.N? Were they recruited like us? It's either that, or the U.N found a way to get new people into the game without Revelation knowing' A sudden thought lit up in his mind 'can...new people enter the game? I always assumed they couldn't, but I don't remember anyone ever saying it was impossible. This bares further thought' Sal snorted as he remembered something 'Although I think I remember the message saying they sent word to someone named Minxy. But still...why her?'

As they entered Pyre proper, Sal soon found out that the gate guard from before was actually the Commander. Unsure of what to make of that, he remained quiet as he brought them to the player mentioned in the message; Minx. When she offered to let them ask questions, Sal took the opportunity to do just that "I have a question; how exactly are you affiliated with the U.N? There weren't a lot of details in the message we received; only that the U.N had gotten 'in contact' with you. You'll have to forgive me if slightly suspicious that the U.N was able to find enough players in the game to establish a presence."