[THE HAVEN]
The Haven skyscraper stood fifty stories tall - a stoic monolith in an endless sea of sand.
RATTLE RATTLE
Black dirt rose from the wasteland’s surface, rising three Haven floors high. It built momentum, speeding towards the Haven’s base.
SLAM
The dune rebounded off purple electricity, neon waves rippling across the Haven’s exterior.
With a whale-like moan, the dune settled below the surface, black rain washing away all evidence of its existence.
***
Jay executed a spinning kick towards Janzo. The Deadly Skulls royal guard swerved, letting Jay stub his toe on a desk.
Jay cursed.
“Clear some space in your unit,” said Jay. “I don’t want to break your stuff when we spar.”
“I can buy new stuff,” said Janzo. “Battles can happen anywhere. You should be prepared.”
Janzo caught Jay’s incoming fist with his palm.
“Thumb out of your fist,” said Janzo. “That’s how you break your thumb.”
Jay stepped off a bed for an aerial kick. Janzo snagged his leg, hurling him into a sofa.
“Dunno why I tried that,” said Jay. “That flashy stuff only works in Zero Space.”
“Uh huh,” said Janzo. “It works out here too though.”
“Yeah, if you want to get killed,” said Jay. “No one does that in real life.”
Janzo flipped backwards, twirling on his hands for a helicopter kick.
Jay was too shocked to dodge. The blow knocked him into a sturdy glass display case, rattling Janzo’s giant scythe within.
“Hold up,” said Jay. “New ability?”
“No,” said Janzo. “That was a backflip, followed by breakdancing.”
“That was some straight-up Zero Space shit,” said Jay.
“Uh huh,” said Janzo. “I am my Zero Space character. You are too.”
Jay looked confused.
“You can do anything your character can do,” said Janzo.
“Not anything,” said Jay. “Shae’s in better shape than me.”
“Uh huh,” said Janzo. “Your body gets in the way. But fear gets more in the way.”
Jay pondered this. Shae could do backflips. Why not Jay?
“Don’t be Jay,” said Janzo. “Be Shae.”
Jay crouched down. It was backflip time. This was easy; Zero Space muscle memory. Just a matter of rotating his body at the right angle and --
No wait, this was much harder. It was as Janzo said: fear. The stakes were higher here; he couldn’t just call Bander to heal a broken neck.
Jay took a deep breath.
“No fear,” he muttered to himself.
He could do this. Just one little backflip. The first backflip was always the hardest.
Jay sprang from his feet, rotating backwards --
His face impacted the ground first, followed by his chest and his thighs. Blood leaked from his nose, staining Janzo’s immaculate carpet.
“You failed,” said Janzo.
“I can’t do this,” said Jay. “I’ve tried before. Shit hurts in real life. My body won’t let me.”
“It’s not your body,” said Janzo. “It’s your mind. This isn’t a game. But fight like it is.”
Jay clutched his ribs, rising to his feet. Another try couldn’t hurt. Actually, it could hurt a lot. But pain was temporary; doing an awesome backflip was forever.
“BACK FLIP!” yelled Jay.
Jat flipped backward, landing knelt on the ground. Not flawless, but a flawed backflip was still a backflip.
“Uh huh,” said Janzo. “You don’t have to shout that you’re doing a backflip.”
“It’s a head-space thing,” said Jay.
Jay breathed deep.
“I am Shae,” said Jay.
Another leap off the ground. One full rotation in the air. He landed on his feet.
“That’s it,” said Janzo. “You didn’t have to shout that time.”
“I shouted in my head,” said Jay.
Another backflip. This one didn’t even require a head-shout.
“You’re getting good at backflips,” said Janzo.
A front flip this time. Then two front flips. Did Jay dare attempt a triple front flip? Nah, not even Shae could do a triple front flip.
“Zero Space gives you more control over your body,” said Janzo. “Premiums get some of that control back in real life.”
Jay nodded, acquiring a fighting stance.
“One more fight,” said Jay. “I can beat you now.”
“No you can’t,” said Janzo.
“Jay can’t,” said Jay. “But Shae can!”
Jay was wrong. The battle ended quickly with Janzo’s knee on Jay’s head.
“Shae can’t beat me either,” said Janzo. “Not hand to hand. That still requires training.”
Jay tapped out, but Janzo’s grapple held firm.
“I’ve trained for years,” said Janzo. “You won’t beat me.”
Jay gritted his teeth as Janzo’s knee compressed his skull.
“If you can’t beat me, you can’t beat the Infinities,” said Janzo. “They’re all trained, just like me.”
Janzo finally released Jay, flopping onto one of many beds.
“I’m bored,” said Janzo. “Let’s read comics.”
Janzo lured Jay forward with a comic - Captain Lair #127.
Jay massaged his throbbing head, snatching the comic from Janzo’s hand. The two of them had been binging comics all evening. Captain Lair’s art and writing improved as it went; the author probably finally figured out what the hell they were doing.
In this issue - like every issue - Captain Lair faced his strongest adversary yet. An indomitable foe, impervious to Captain Lair’s strength, but not to his wit.
-- His wit.
Captain Lair’s super powers weren’t the solution; they were a tool. And tools were only as effective as their wielders.
So what was holding Jay back from wielding his full potential here? He had defeated an Infinity before, even without SP. Was it the fear of hurting a friend, even in casual combat? Or just a general fear of Janzo? Aside from Janzo’s pompous red and brown attire, his fit physique was quite intimidating.
Whatever that fear was, it was time to get over it.
Jay slapped the comic closed.
“One more fight,” said Jay.
“No,” said Janzo. “We already fought today. I want to read comics.”
“I can beat you,” said Jay.
“No.”
“Please.”
Janzo hesitated.
“You said please,” said Janzo.
Janzo rose from the bed.
“One last fight,” said Janzo. “If you lose, we don’t fight for a week.”
“Fine,” said Jay.
Jay performed a perfect kata of kicks, followed by an imperfect backflip. That one looked painful, though Jay did his best to pretend it wasn’t.
“I am Shae,” Jay yelled.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Jay struck a cool fighting pose.
“LUNGING KICK!”
Jay slid on one foot across the carpet, an impressive feat in shoes. Janzo deflected it, jabbing Jay’s ribs with his palm.
“Stop calling out your moves,” said Janzo.
“It’s a head space thing,” said Jay.
“It’s a dumb thing,” said Janzo.
Jay followed up with a punch. Janzo caught the fist, squeezing it like a stress-ball.
“Your thumb’s still in your fist,” said Janzo. “You’re not learning.”
“BACKFLIP KICK!”
Jay did as described. Janzo dodged as expected.
“Take this seriously,” said Janzo.
“You take this seriously!” Jay shouted.
Jay unleashed his best kicks. Practiced, perfected kicks, straight from Shae’s arsenal. Janzo had an answer for each one, ducking, deflecting, and diffusing each foot.
The Deadly Skull retaliated with practiced professional blows. Each one met its mark. A fist to Jay’s gut, a chop to his shoulder, and a kick to his thigh. They all hurt like hell, far more than anything in Zero Space. Jay embraced the pain. Pain was nothing to fear. It was all just feedback - feedback that he was losing.
Jay’s body could tolerate one more exchange. He hunched on his heels - this next move had to succeed.
“BACKFLIP KICK!”
Janzo raised his hands, bracing himself for Jay’s foot --
But Jay’s foot never left the ground. His knee raised, crushing Janzo’s balls.
Janzo groaned, leaving himself exposed for a wad of spit to the eye. Then a finger-jab to the throat.
Jay leapt up, catching Janzo’s head between both shins. With an imperfect backflip, Jay drove Janzo’s skull into the ground. Suddenly, Jay was upon Janzo, crushing his face with furious fists.
“Jay,” sputtered Janzo. “Enough. Enough!”
But Jay didn’t stop.
“Fuck your training,” said Jay. “I’ve seen how Infinities fight. They fight like it’s Zero Space!”
Jay smacked Janzo one more time.
“No one fights dirty in Zero Space,” said Jay. “They all just want to look pretty for replays.”
Jay dug his knee into Janzo’s ribs.
“I can’t beat you in a fair fight,” said Jay. “Things are never fair for me. So I’m not fair either.”
Janzo coughed out a tooth.
“Everyone underestimates me,” said Jay. “But I don’t need you, or any stupid group wearing silver spandex to tell me what I can or can’t do.”
Jay gripped Janzo by the jacket.
“Shae didn’t beat you,” said Jay. “Jay did.”
Janzo tapped on the ground in desperation.
“You got that?”
Janzo nodded. His cheek was swollen, his nose bloodied, and his forehead busted wide open.
Jay paled, surveying the damage. He hurried to his feet.
“Janzo, I’m sorry,” said Jay. “I took it too far.”
Jay extended his hand.
“You’ve been a really good friend,” said Jay. “I-I didn’t mean to hurt you that bad.”
Janzo spit out two more teeth.
“It’s okay,” said Janzo. “People get hurt in fights. That’s how fights work.”
Jay pulled Janzo to his feet, giving him a trembling hug.
“I-I’m really sorry,” said Jay. “Let’s not fight again.”
“Uh huh,” said Janzo.
Janzo wiped his bloody head with his scarf.
“You won,” said Janzo. “That means I’ll tell you where the Infinity base is.”
“Don’t bother,” said Jay. “I already figured that out.”
Janzo’s eyes opened wide.
“That is a surprise,” said Janzo.
“Yeah, I’m good like that,” said Jay. “There’s something else I want anyway.”
“Uh huh,” said Janzo. “Anything.”
Jay observed Janzo’s giant room.
“I want to move in with you,” said Jay. “Me and all my roommates.”
***
Super Duper fanned her face with her fedora. Zydan had requested a denser forest, but that was easier said than done, even for an experienced artist like Super Duper.
Two thousand, eight hundred and seventy nine trees later, the damn task was complete. Sunlight Forest was now twice as forest-y. Players couldn’t see past trees, but NPCs sure could. That meant plenty of blind spots for goblins ambushes. Guilds would now need a bulldozer to complete even basic quests.
But that was Design’s problem; Art’s job was done. Super Duper twirled her fedora as she hopped from her chair. Another dreadful day complete! Hopefully tomorrow would contain half as much dread.
The dev floor was darker than usual. Everyone had left for the day. Black bare cubicles, lit by a few sporadic ceiling lights and glowing computer towers.
This place was always creepier at night; Super Duper whistled to calm her nerves. Her imagination plagued her with visions of monsters, pouncing from the darkness. Fortunately, the only monster on this floor was Zydan, and that monster had gone home. That was one benefit of working OT; not having to hear Zydan’s annoying voice --
“Super Duper,” an annoying voice called out.
Super Duper froze as Zydan emerged from a cubicle, flecks of black sand covering his navy blue suit. His brass rings reflected fluorescent ceiling light across two bruised hands.
“Y-Yo, hey Zydan!” said Super Duper. “Working late?”
“Indeed,” said Zydan. “I saw you checked in those forest changes. I appreciate the extra hours.”
“Y-Yup, no problemo!” said Zydan. “I-I’ll be going now.”
“Actually, I wanted to talk to you,” said Zydan. “About a different check in. Remember our Ceri discussion the other day?”
“How could I forget?” asked Super Duper. “I-I mean, we can totally find another junior artist though. No big deal.”
“Well, I was searching the Catacombs changelist history,” said Zydan. “It seems Ceri made a check in to the Spikes. That check affected an important playtest unfortunately.”
“Sorry duders,” said Super Duper. “But for real, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Indeed, that’s the problem,” said Zydan. “Leads are accountable for the actions of their subordinates. Your ignorance speaks to your management capabilities.”
Super Duper grew tense.
“Yo, you’re right,” said Super Duper. “I totally apologize for not catching that. It won’t happen again.”
“I know it won’t,” said Zydan. “I made sure of that myself.”
Zydan tapped his rings against a cubicle wall.
“I promised my father I wouldn’t hurt another dev,” said Zydan. “So let’s keep this one between us, shall we?”
A health bar appeared above Super Duper’s head
SUPER DUPER
“Z-Zydan,” said Super Duper. “What is that?”
“Just a new thing I can do,” said Zydan. “Even my father doesn’t know about this yet.”
SUPER DUPER
“Guess what happens when that health bar reaches zero?” asked Zydan.
“Zydan,” said Super Duper. “This really isn’t cool. K-Knock it off.”
SUPER DUPER
Super Duper swiped at the health meter; her hand passed right through.
“I-I’m sorry about your playtest,” said Super Duper. “And about the Ceri thing.”
“This isn’t just about the Ceri thing I’m afraid,” said Zydan. “I can’t watch replays in my Catacomb prison rooms. But I can watch them outside of prison rooms. And I just watched players warp through a wall.”
SUPER DUPER
“I searched QA’s database for that wall-glitching bug,” said Zydan. “It seems that bug was logged long ago. And it was waived.”
“Y’Yo, I hate to say it, but this is what happens when you waive bugs willy nilly like that,” said Super Duper.
“Indeed, but it wasn’t me who waived this one,” said Zydan. “It was you.”
SUPER DUPER
“You flagged it as Will Not Fix,” said Zydan. “The bug affected assets across the entire game. Assets that you made. You claimed fixing it would be too much of a hassle.”
Zydan shook his head.
“All this, because you duplicated a broken asset,” said Zydan. “It’s important to do things right the first time. That way it doesn’t come back to bite you later.”
SUPER DUPER
“Yo Zydan, chill,” said Super Duper. “I can fix this. I’ll put in the extra hours.”
“It’s too late,” said Zydan. “Reckless leads are unreliable. And I’m sick of unreliable people. When you pay someone for a job, you need it done right. You shouldn’t have to worry about them taking shortcuts. Or ratting you out to your father!”
Super Duper looked confused. Zydan recomposed himself.
“Erm, that last part’s unrelated,” said Zydan. “But the sentiment remains.”
SUPER DUPER
“You can’t do this!” cried Super Duper. “I know the asset pipeline and tools. Who’s gonna ramp up new artists? I’m irreplaceable!”
“No one on a dev team is irreplaceable,” said Zydan. “You’re an important developer. But you’re also a liability. I can’t afford liabilities going forward.”
SUPER DUPER
“We don’t need new art assets,” said Zydan. “We’ll just reuse old assets. There’s already goblins and dark goblins. I can make red goblins that breathe fire. Or blue goblins that, erm, breathe blue fire!”
Zydan grinned.
“Your contributions will remain forever in Zero Space,” said Zydan. “But your position is obsolete. Consider yourself terminated.”
SUPER DUPER
“Oh, and we’ll have to remove your name from the credits too,” said Zydan. “Sorry, that’s just protocol. Credits are for active contributors.”
“You’re a monster!” shrieked Super Duper.
“Some may call me that now,” said Zydan. “But soon, they’ll call me their God. That’s how I’ll be remembered.”
Zydan grinned.
“And no one will remember you,” said Zydan. “I don’t even remember your real name.”
SUPER DUPER
“It’s Rachael,” screamed Super Duper.
“I see,” said Zydan. “Well then, goodbye Rachael.
Zydan turned to leave, but Super Duper wasn’t going to let that happen. All those years of abuse and subservience at Zydan’s hands - if she was going down, she was taking Zydan with her!
Super Duper charged forward, screeching like a Valkyrie.
SUPER DUPER
Super Duper burst like a watermelon under pressure. Her insides and outsides liquified into red particles, enveloping every cubicle in a thirty foot radius. Zydan’s cubicle was fortunately just out of range.
Zydan’s fingers twirled Super Duper’s fedora from the floor. That would come out with a good wash or three.
Lower floor cleaners would spend weeks removing that mess. Enforcers would spend days identifying it. But they would never trace it back to Zydan.
It was all someone else’s problem now.
And one less problem for Zydan.