Another day, another chapter. I'm playing this by ear, so let me know what you think. Not sure whether I'm going to pound out another chapter tomorrow. How does one go about getting listed as a weekly or monthly release fiction? Eventually I'm going to want to slow down.
Chapter 2 – Molemen and Mayhem
When we left Space Inspector (the), he was screaming in the dirt, and he’s still a little preoccupied with that, so we’ll come back to him in a little bit.
Space Inspector (the) was actually rather late to the party, comparatively speaking. While he was by no means the last player to finish the test, he was far from being the first.
In fact, Interdimensional Elevators had been dumping confused superheroes throughout the Midgard Multiverse for over 11 game hours.
In fact, Space Inspector (the) wasn’t even the first hero to be dumped in New London.
He was, in fact, the seventh.
“””
Earth 667 – New London – New London Central Station
“””
Volcano Croc was desperately trying to concentrate on ice cream as he flailed through the horde of molemen pouring out of Central Station. He had, much to his embarrassment, burned down most of a strip mall before stumbling upon a strategy that seemed to keep his Level 4 Magma Core ability in check.
*+1 to Magma Core Control Level
*Destruction of property. Your contribution to the Moleman Invasion Event has been penalized.
*Moleman Invasion Contribution: -500 points (The Molemen will build a statue in your honor)
As long as the thought about ice cream, he was cool. Seven hours after being dropped into the middle of a moleman invasion, he was starting to get the hang of it.
Sort of.
As long as his stone skin didn’t come into direct contact with anything flammable.
As long as he didn’t get distracted by his tail, which had a tendency to flail about at odd moments.
As long as he didn’t trip over his new legs, which bent in the opposite direction common sense insisted they should.
So suffice to say Volcano Croc had a lot on his mind.
Including the fact that he was losing.
Oh, he didn’t seem to be in any real danger. His Level 3 Stone Skin was too tough for their claws to scratch. This didn’t stop them from rushing forth to try. Crowding around him and pushing at Volcano Croc’s softly glowing form. Welts formed wherever their skin came into contact with his, and the flailing swings of his massive arms shattered bones and pulped organs. But the pressure of the horde continued to crash against him, and he was powerless to stop the steady stream of molemen who passed to his left and right.
After around five hours of killing molemen and thinking about ice cream, and he had almost brought his contribution points back up to zero. Each moleman he killed giving him only 1 contribution point. He’d been periodically moving through the streets to keep too many bodies from accumulating around him. He would occasionally receive notifications that his contribution points had been penalized due to the damage his feet were doing as he walked, but he had avoided most of those by staying outdoors.
He was much more worried about the notifications he was occasionally receiving about citizens being kidnapped by molemen. They seemed to be arriving more and more frequently as the horde swarmed past him, and each notification ate away at his contribution points. Volcano Croc suspected that his contribution score would start to plummet if he didn't do something soon.
He had a plan.
Sort of.
But it wasn’t a very good plan. It almost certainly wouldn’t work, and it was definitely going to tank his contribution score. But it was the only thing he could think of to do that would have any impact on the invasion on a strategic level.
So he fought his way through the streets until he stood within central station, where the horde poured out of multitude of subway tunnels.
And then he stopped thinking about ice cream.
“”””
Earth 667 – Hurling Through New London
“”””
Ram Raptor had dreamed of flying since she was a little girl, which made it all the more annoying that she apparently wasn’t any good at it. She was one of the few players who had leapt eagerly out of the Interdimensional Elevator, impatient to test out her Level 5 Flying.
She had promptly accelerated through a nearby doughnut shop, her invulnerable body crushing its way through several walls.
That was her first experience with property damage penalties.
The first of many.
“”””
Earth 667 – New London – Industrial District
“”””
Shaman Dude was having no luck controlling his spirit familiars, and was now just doing his best to ignore the five voices whispering nonsense babble and smells into his subconscious. They floated around him as ran towards the sound of nearby screaming, drifting through the walls of passing buildings, picking up random items and tossing them through the air.
They kept up with his sprinting form with no effort, and together they burst into an empty lot where a group wearing orange vests and safety helmets was fighting off a group of creatures.
Wading in headfirst to join the fight would be a bad idea. Shaman Dude hadn’t been blessed with invulnerability as one of his powers. The fur layers of the costume he’d been given were some protection, but not much.
Shaman Dude spent most of his offline time finding exotic chemicals to shove up his nose. He had in fact modified the oxygen mask of his VR console several years ago, delivering a steady stream of THC and stimulants into his air supply.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Shaman Dude had joined Midgard to crack skulls, and that was what he was going to do.
He raised his stick over his head and charged.
His stick had been in his hands when he was thrown out of the elevator, and appeared to be part of his costume. It wasn’t well designed to be used as a cudgel; being a thorny, twisty shape and slightly too thick to get a solid grip on.
But it was around four feet long.
And quite heavy.
And most importantly, already in Shaman Dude’s hands.
“”””
Earth 667 – New London – Outside New London City Hall
“””””
Blue Mystery encountered another player for the first time on the steps of city hall.
He had been dead for quite some time.
Blue Mystery stood, examining the remains and trying to keep her joints from wandering.
Whoever he had been, he had been a big son of a bitch. His torso, which was essentially all that was left after whatever had torn him in half had torn him in half, was still half a foot taller than Blue Mystery (depending on how hard she was concentrating on remaining the same size). His four arms were all very thickly muscled and very, very broken.
Blue Mystery had seen only one type of enemy since the game began. Standing about seven feet in height, with long claws, rubbery skin and slightly higher than human strength, the molemen she encountered had been quite a challenge for someone of her power set.
But she didn’t think they were capable of something like this.
Blue Mystery’s mouth, which was currently making its way toward her left elbow, frowned in distaste.
“”””
Earth 667 – New London – Intersection of Elizabeth Ave. and 4th St.
“”””
Doctor Magnetism was stuck to a traffic light.
He was doing his best to enjoy the view, which in his opinion was sub-par.
He had been stuck to a traffic light for quite a while now, and had long given up on figuring out how to stop being stuck to a traffic light.
This was partially due to Doctor Magnetism’s laid-back approach to life, but mostly due to the large group of molemen below trying to topple the pole he adhered to.
Doctor Magnetism really had to admire the craftsmanship of New London’s engineers. It had been several hours since the molemen had begun attacking his pole.
From what he could see, they hadn’t made any progress.
From what he could see, they had no intention of giving up.
“”””
Earth 667 – New London – New London Central Station
“”””
Operation "Burn Central Station to the Ground" was taking longer than Volcano Croc had hoped. In comparison, burning down the strip mall had seemed to take no time at all, and he hadn't even been trying.
Volcano Croc blamed ice cream.
He was trying very hard not to think about ice cream, and the harder he tried not to think about ice cream, the more ice cream seemed to pop into his head.
He didn’t even particularly like ice cream.
He tried thinking about bonfires, about blowtorches, even about volcanoes.
Frustrated, he tried to envision the taste of tabasco.
He thought about how it had felt to be pepper sprayed during that peace rally back in college.
He strained to recall a documentary on fusion he had watched years ago.
But nothing worked.
At which point a woman exploded through the ceiling above him, burying him and a large group of molemen in debris.
He would later insist that was the moment he fell in love with her.
“”””
Earth 667 – New London – Intersection of Elizabeth Ave. and 4th St.
“”””
Blue Mystery turned a corner to find a group of molemen trying attacking a traffic light.
When he spotted her, the man stuck atop the traffic light smiled gave a little wave.
“Howdy!” he shouted, “How’s it going? Are you with these gentlemen?”
His shouting alerted his attackers to her presence. They turned en mass and started trudging up 4th street towards her, hissing and screeching.
“Oh #%@,” the man continued, “I guess not! Sorry about that!”
Blue Mystery started backing away. Her wandering joints made running difficult, but she was still significantly faster than molemen.
“No worries mate!” she shouted over her shoulder as she ran, momentarily losing focus as her head spun 180 degrees to look directly behind her. “I’ll lead them away! Once they’re gone you can come down. Meet me at City Hall!”
“Wait!” He shouted, “I don’t-“ but she was already gone.
Doctor Magnetism hung from his streetlight, watching the last of the molemen trail after her.
And then he was alone again
“OK,” he chided himself, “time to get back to business. I’ve got places to be now. Things to do”
He carefully pressed his hands together, taking several deep breaths.
Then he began rubbing them together.
Faster and Faster.
Faster and Faster.
Remember the feel of static energy coursing through your body.
Faster and Faster. Faster and Faster.
Suddenly his hands leapt apart, extending toward the sky, and Doctor Magnetism threw back his head and gave a shout that echoed throughout the streets.
“SHAAAAAZAAM!!!!”
….After a while he put his hands down.
“No, no I didn’t think that would work,” he admitted cheerfully, “OK, what next?”