Noobs portal transported him to the same twisted hellscape he hated. The time was 2am in-game which meant there would be no quests on that might attract players to the barren volcanic landscape.
As usual Reaper was waiting for him. As he got closer he could note an impatient look in his face.
" What have you got?" Reaper demanded, his voice growled urgency. " As meeting places go you've really got a dramatic flair but could you tone it down a little, this place gives me the creeps" Noob smirked.
He hastily dropped the smirk upon seeing Reaper's eyes darken. " Okay okay! I've got some info on your special friend" Noobs said chewing faster on his bubble gum as he normally did when nervous.
" Did you find out his real world name?" Reaper inquired instantly. " No -I told you information like that may take a while it's all encrypted but… but I have something that might help".
That got Reaper's full attention, his cold gaze looked on Noobs nervous ones. " And what is that?" " I've been watching the servers for a while and noticed that your friend hasn't uploaded his artifact yet" Noobs replied, chewing the gum slowly while he savoured the perfect moment to drop the punchline.
" Which means…" he started. " It's not registered under him yet… it's still vulnerable" Reaper finished, his eyes met with Noobs' and smartly turning on his heel strode towards the exiting portal.
" Axel?". " Yes Reaper?" " Confirm Recoil's artifact's current status and track him down!" Just before he passed through the portal, Axel's reply resonated in his head. " Initializing!"...
Back in reality… Ethan was seated in his gaming room. The air was thick with the smell of stale pizza which he had just downed.
He scanned through the Eternity Edge community for the latest gossip. Surprisingly he'd discovered that he'd slowly been climbing the ranks of legends.
That was his plan but he'd never expected it to be so soon. It was almost… easy! The leaderboard had only a few changes.
** Leader board **
Silver Syndicate (guild). Pts: 12
Athena ( Lone player) Pts: 8
Reaper ( lone player) pts: 7
3. Void Squadron ( guild). Pts: 7
3. Maelstrom marauders ( Guild) pts: 7
…
The name still had a familiar tingle to it. " I've heard this name before" He muttered. " Oh well" he shrugged and moved to his gaming console. " Time to play at the edge of eternity". He grinned.
Recoil woke up with a start in his in-game apartment. " Welcome Recoil! You may have some notifications" Nova chimed.
" Shoot" Recoil said. " Firstly you've got a message from Maverick asking for you come over" Nova announced. " Okay next" Recoil said with a nod.
" You had a missed voice chat from Tyrion". " I'll return that when I can" Recoil murmured ….
He drove through the streets of Valerion. The scene of the bustling virtual megacity never failed to give Recoil a charge.
His sleek Centenario sped through the traffic of Valerion like a panther through a forest. " Heads up Recoil, we may have company" Nova warned.
Recoil checked his sideview mirror and spotted the black Porsche a few metres behind him. " It's her again" he exclaimed.
Taking a closer look, he spotted two cars flanking her. " Is it some sort of alliance?" Recoil inquired.
" It seems so Recoil, but the purpose of it is uncertain" Nova replied. " Give me the identities of the other two" Recoil demanded and immediately pressed his foot a little harder on the accelerator pedal.
His Lamborghini quickly accelerated to 230 mph and opened a sharp distance between himself and his pursuers. His little satisfaction was however short-lived. The cars immediately closed the gap.
" The car on the right is driven by Dark Lord while the left of Athena is driven by Neo" Nova announced.
" Dark Lord… wasn't he one of the players involved in the last race?" Recoil wondered. " Affirmative Recoil, they all were" Nova confirmed.
Recoil's eyes narrowed while he tried to wrap his head around the whole situation. " Do you think they might be after your artifact?" Nova suggested.
Bingo! He hasn't uploaded his recent artifact. He cursed in a hash tone at his own unusual forgetfulness. " That's what they'd be after right?" Nova asked even her AI mechanical voice hinted a worried undertones.
" Straight up fine piece of work the devs did" Recoil couldn't help admiring even in his current situation. " Probability dictates that there's 65 percent reason that's why they're after you"
" Which means there's a 35 percent chance, it might be something else right?" Recoil inquired. " Affirmative" " well we'll know which to go with in a minute" Recoil smiled and stepped on the accelerator pedal.
The car's speed increased instantaneously and they began a race. Recoil drove at a crazy speed through the traffic, wrestled the car around sharp turns and yet they stayed on his tail like a bees to honey.
Recoil took a deliberate turn which led to an apartment block where he came to a crisp stop. He was jammed on both sides by neighboring buildings.
He alighted and shrunk his car to make it easy to keep in his pocket. The screech of applied brakes made him turn to view his assailants alight their vehicles.
" Hey fellas!" He called jovially. " I was just beginning to think of a reason why players will chase after me at 230mph.". " Recoil" Dark Lord started. " We mean no harm…" Athena snorted. " Just give us the artifact, you're outnumbered and therefore not expected to put off a fight."
Recoil gave a laugh. " That was actually really funny, you guys come all James Bond style on me and you expect it not to come down to a fight?"
" You have one last chance to give us the artifact while we're still asking nicely " Neo said and gave Recoil a black look. He viewed Athena for the first time and took in her sleek black tracksuit topped off with a bob and boots.
The others were dressed similarly in casual white shirts leather jacket, jeans and boots.
" Nah I'd rather take my chances" Recoil drawled. " So are we going fists or blades?"