CHAPTER 10: Breaking News

“I’ve never heard of you guys before…” I said honestly, although it may have insulted MegaFreak400’s unfound pride, as he remarked, “Well…well I guess that’s your loss, isn’t it? I bet you’re trembling in fear at this very moment!” He laughed mockingly, as if I were actually in any real danger. “Not really…” I said, retaining my composure despite being surrounded by four brutes and having my hands bounded together. “You dare insult me?” He exclaimed, “No one crosses the Freak Bandits and gets away with it!” “What are you going to do?” I asked, knowing that I could easily escape from this situation. “Well now that you know about this group …” he said, “I have no choice but to kill you. I cannot risk information about our group spreading around the forums… not yet…” MegaFreak400 appeared reluctant to have his minions attack me, perhaps it’s because he could sense my ability and knew I would emerge victorious. In any case, he ordered them to mobilize with a swift hand gesture and the four users surrounding me each held up their axes and prepared to swing. I was in a bit of a bind since I couldn’t use my hands, but I figured that wouldn’t be a problem. At the last possible moment, I vanished and they all swung at the air. “Wha-!? Where’d he go!?” One of them said, not realizing that I was now behind him. “Right here…” I said, kicking the user in the back of the head, causing him to fall to the ground.

Another user approached from my left and swung his axe horizontally, but I jumped over it and eluded a separate vertical strike from the user on my right. I continued dodging the sluggish strikes of the three remaining users until I finally saw the opportunity I was looking for. A user right in front of me lifted his axe overhead and swung it down in a straight line. Separating my arms as far as possible, I aligned the middle section of the rope with the blade of the axe so that it sliced it in two, freeing my hands. Drawing my daggers, I was ready to put a quick end to this skirmish and switched to an offensive approach. Instead of realizing they were overpowered, the three only grew angrier and charged at me while screaming wildly. I ran up to the one on the right and stabbed him in the chest, which caused him to collapse to the ground in a heap as I pulled out my dagger. “One down…” I remarked just loud enough so MegaFreak400 could hear me. I briefly glanced over in his general direction to gauge his reaction, but he seemed to be studying me intently rather than paying attention to my snide comments. I parried yet another blow aimed at my feet and ran at the other user, this time jamming the hilt of my dagger into his chest. He dropped his axe on the ground with a loud clanking sound, holding both of his hands to the point of impact, when the second user swung his axe towards me. I leapt out of the way but the user I had just hit was not so lucky. He was sliced in half by his own partner’s attack and fell in a bloody mess.

The final user was about to continue the onslaught when he was stopped by his leader. “Enough!” MegaFreak400 said, “Damn…two fighters wasted… There’s no way I can do this if people keep dying…” The remaining grunt halted his attack and walked towards the user I had kicked earlier, who was now unconscious. Hoisting him up over his shoulder, he walked besides MegaFreak400, who then said with a tone of worry in his voice, “You’re not V, are you?” It’s been a long while since I’ve heard mention of that name, as it was a story that my father used to tell me as a child. According to a popular tale, V is the name of a legendary assassin in NSider, one that has never been caught or beaten in battle. His full name isn’t “V”, but the first letter of his name is all his victims manage to mutter before he ends their lives. It was actually somewhat uplifting to hear myself compared to this legend, but also frightening to hear the name again, as it is someone I never hope to meet on the battlefield, unless he is my ally of course.

“No…” I said back, remaining confident in my stance. He stared at me for a moment, probably surprised at my level of strength and skill, finally saying, “…Just get out of here, but don’t think you have won! You have made an enemy with the Freak Bandits!” He stormed off in the other direction, obviously frustrated with his defeat, and I was apparently free to go. However, something odd struck me in regards to the whole situation. I noticed that the user seemed like he didn’t really want to have his fighters engage in combat with me, but rather just scare me off with hallow threats, as if I were another common thief. Unfortunately, he was forced into a situation in which he had no choice. The whole battle’s duration was about a minute, but if he encountered the real V, there would be no way he would have survived for even that amount of time.

I wasn’t exactly sure how to handle the situation that just unfolded, so I decided to deal with this MegaFreak400 guy if I ever encountered him again and, for now, focus on the matters at hand. With the thoughts of the Freak Bandits, Dr. Peppy, and now the mention of V on my mind, I made my way towards ShadowMario41’s Mario Trivia HQ. Tonight happened to be the night of a scheduled trivia contest and I always made every effort to provide an exciting contest for the participants unless it put a current mission’s status in jeopardy. Then, sadly, I would have to call one of my trivia regulars to reschedule the event, which is something I didn’t want to do without advanced notice. I didn’t really have anything to do today; X-Naut128 was still in the newcomer boards, my mission with Dr. Peppy was over, the early skirmish served as my warm-up for the day, and I was hoping for some generous donations from my trivia players as the last mission didn’t pay out so well.

Users that know about my life as an assassin and my job as a trivia host often question how I can manage both at the same time. Indeed, it does seem counter-productive to have a public contest and engage in such a shady lifestyle. However, as I’ve replied to these inquiries, holding a trivia contest gives me an indirect advantage over other skilled users who live a life similar to my own. For one thing, it keeps me informed on the current events of NSider, which is important to know. When trying to survive on nothing, this can help to determine where and when to strike if posts are in dire need. Plus, it’s good to know about recent crimes that have occurred in the community, as it would probably be best to stay away from areas with tighter security. However, I think the biggest advantage is that it lets other people know about me. Through this contest, I have gained several loyal fans and faithful contacts, such as ThePastaKing, who has attended every single trivia event that I have hosted in the past year. Additionally, through word of mouth, other people can find out about this contest, which can potentially lead to privately contracted jobs in the future. I guess it is a bit of wishful thinking on my part, but the contest is something I enjoy doing and it gives me a break from the same old routine.

As I walked through the Legacy Systems board towards the Mario Board, I heard a loud commotion coming from around the corner. From a back alley, I peeked out to see what was going on and was surprised to see such a huge crowd crammed on one main street. A large mass of people were gathered, all watching a large projection screen on the side of an office building. This would often happen in boards like Power On for significant news events, but for a television broadcast to be displayed in a less-populated board like Legacy Systems, it must have been of major importance. After all, there would not be such pandemonium if it were just a menial story. I repositioned myself accordingly so I could view the screen, though I was a little further than I would have liked to be. Right now, it was showing some commercials, which explains why everyone was making noise and not paying attention. However, as soon as the broadcast resumed, everyone suddenly stopped talking and stared intently at the screen.

After an overly-dramatic introduction graphic, the screen displayed two news anchors sitting side-by-side at a large desk. The one on the left was dressed in a green blazer and the other in a black suit with a blue tie, both looking very similar in appearance and very professional. The one on the left was the first to speak. “Good afternoon NSider, I’m GreenPrince.” He turned to the other anchor, who introduced himself also, “And I’m PrinceGamer. Thank you for tuning into the NSider News, as brought to you by the most trusted team in television.” Another graphic of fire in a small white rectangular box appeared over PrinceGamer’s right shoulder as he turned to the camera to speak, “Last night was one of tragedy for NSider Industries employee EricLeB01. He was working the graveyard shift at the factory when the floor above him caught fire. The cause of the fire was unknown, but it caused the ceiling overhead to collapse, crushing the user in the process. He was pronounced dead on site. According to the victim’s friends and family, EricLeB01 was not in prime physical condition at the time and had recently suffered a leg injury, which could explain why he was unable to escape. His account closure will be held on Monday night at 6:00 PM at the Deletion Center, which is located near the Registration Building. Our prayers go to the family of EricLeB01 and all of his loved ones.”

“That explains the alarm last night…” I thought to myself, which boosted my confidence a bit since I now knew that I went completely undetected. Apparently HoneySyrup went unnoticed that evening as well and it was rather amusing how the most state-of-the-art technology failed to notice the epic battle that ensued between us. After a few more details and interviews about the fire at NSider Industries, the camera on the screen panned to GreenPrince who started to speak, “But our top story today: millions of NSiders might have something more to worry about. A sacred and very important item was stolen from NSider Barracks the other night by an unknown assailant. The item was in the office of General_Banzai and was assumed to be in safe hands. Much to everyone’s dismay, when dawn broke, soldiers found their beloved general unconscious on the floor. Fortunately General_Banzai did not sustain any permanent injuries, but the golden artifact was indeed missing in the morning. The thief is unknown and police are baffled at how any one man could infiltrate such a highly secure facility and defeat an elite general. Let’s go to our ace reporter, CaptainOfTheGuard, on scene.”

The scene changed to another reporter standing at the NSider Police Headquarters wearing a bright red suit, neatly trimmed hair and a selfless smile on his face showing off his pearly white teeth. He began to talk with the voice of a stereotypical television personality, “Thank you, GreenPrince. I’m CaptainOfTheGuard here with Rexy_SOS, a highly respected officer in NSider.” I could tell by the expression on his face that Rexy was reluctant to conduct an interview, as he seemed like the kind of guy who would spit in the face of the media. CaptainOfTheGuard continued, “Rexy_SOS, what are your thoughts on this horrific event? Are there any new details emerging?” The reporter shoved the microphone in Rexy’s face, forcing him to speak, “Well… there are no new details but we’re all working hard to find out something.” With that he walked away and CaptainOfTheGuard looked back at the camera with a big grin, trying to stall time so he could think of a catchy line to say to the viewers. Finally, he exclaimed, “Well there you have it folks! I guess details really are scarce in regards to this serious crime.” I groaned upon hearing this cheesy line; I wasn’t sure how people could actually take this guy seriously. “This is CaptainOfTheGuard reporting for NSider News. Now back to the studio.”

The scene returned to the studio, where GreenPrince announced a commercial break. Everyone gathered in the plaza seemed alarmed and they all started speculating about the current state of security, what exactly was stolen and how the events unfolded. I managed to overhear a few of these theories, most of which were completely farfetched. “Maybe the criminal stole a bomb or something and will threaten to destroy the Power On board.” “That just goes to show the lax state of law enforcement around here.” “I bet it was all a hoax…a scare tactic…” These were just a few of the claims I heard people mention. I had the exclusive benefit of knowing what item was stolen and who stole it, although I could have prevented this wave of panic on NSider. Realizing now how grave of a situation this was, I grew angry at myself for not being able to prevent this whole thing from happening, although the silver lining was that it did get upset Dr. Peppy. I wondered if it was really worth it – making almost the whole community panic-stricken to anger one specific user. Deciding that only time would tell, I continued towards the Mario Board and tried not to let it affect me.

When I arrived at ShadowMario41’s Trivia HQ, I noticed that there were a lot of people – probably about twenty or so – gathered in front of the entrance to the building. Even from my distance, I could tell that these were mostly users who regularly attended trivia and I figured that they wanted to bombard me with questions about last night’s incident, since most of them knew of my secret trade. Sure enough, when I approached, they all ran over to me and started to demand answers, but I pleaded my ignorance and tried to seek out ThePastaKing, who was the only one I could trust with such sensitive information. He was sitting on the steps leading to the front entrance, separating himself from the mass of users who swarmed me. I looked over towards him and he raised an eyebrow at me, to which I nodded back. It was a signal that we wanted to talk to each other and, after a few minutes, I was able to separate myself from the crowd and make my way over to his direction. “I’ll talk in a few minutes…” I said quietly, “I just want to make sure no one else hears this…” He nodded and smiled, knowing that I really had something important to share with him. As soon as I made my way to the main entrance, users swarmed me again with questions.

Growing slightly annoyed, I created a fairly elaborate alibi to, saying that I was out on a mission in the General Discussion region of NSider, which is on the complete opposite side of the forum. The users finally left me alone since I promised that I would tell them anything as soon as I found out and I walked inside the building. The lobby of my Trivia HQ was large and spacious, but didn’t serve much of a purpose except for the receptionist’s desk. When a user opens up a major contest and it is recognized by the administrators as being something on a large scale, the NOAs send a government-employed receptionist to help the creator deal with most of the technical details, such as updating and giving out prizes, to aid the contest’s creator. Luckily, too, the contest’s prizes and maintenance was all funded by NSider itself, so it helped me disguise my renegade life of poverty. I do get some monthly wages for hosting, but it’s usually only enough to support me for a week.

My receptionist was PowerToMario and he was one of the best in the business. Upon noticing my entrance, PowerToMario motioned for me to go towards him and I obliged. “What’s up?” I inquired. “You’ve been busy lately…” he said with a slightly sarcastic tone. I replied with a joke of my own, “…it’s busy season…” PowerToMario is a slender guy about as tall as me and whenever I see him, he is dressed in a full suit and tie, probably wanting to look professional while on the clock. While he isn’t known really for battle skills, he is very smart and has become very reputable for his intellect. He wore skinny rectangular glasses with a very thin frame, had short light brown hair with a widow’s peak hairline. Despite his manner of dress, he always spoke informally to me, perhaps because we have grown to become such close friends during the time that he worked at the HQ. Regardless, he was definitely ideal for his position and an integral part of the contest’s continued success. I was truly fortunate to have him on board, as he flawlessly managed the contest during my extended periods of absence. He started giving me the status report of how the contest was functioning during my absence. He knew very well about what I did outside of this building but didn’t tell a soul. PowerToMario was trustworthy and I knew I could always could on him for valuable information and honest opinions, but I didn’t tell him many of the things that I told ThePastaKing, as I couldn’t risk the NOAs finding out somehow. There wasn’t really anything of interest that happened, so it was pretty brief, but I was glad to hear that everything was fully updated for a change. I told him that I had to prepare for the trivia this evening and promptly walked out of the building, meeting ThePastaKing on the stairs.

When I sat down next to him, he looked around to make sure no one was within earshot, and then turned towards me. “So…” he asked, “how did that OSider situation go?” I completely forgot about the first OSider killing until he mentioned it now. I guess it was such a run-of-the-mill experience that it slipped my mind in light of all that happened. “Fine,” I said, “there wasn’t anything unusual to report and the mission was completed successfully.” “It’s about damn time you told me that!” He said, “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting? A simple PM would have done the job. I thought I hired an expert…” Sensing that he was slightly annoyed but far from angry, I replied, “Well excuse me, princess. Remember what I charged you.” “Yeah…yeah…” he said, “I guess for a free killing you did ok.” We exchanged a few jokes back and forth before I changed the tone of the conversation, “Well I do have a pressing matter to discuss about last night…” “Aha!” He exclaimed, “I knew that you had some juicy info for me!” I looked around before replying, “Well if you talk that loudly it’s going to be hard to tell you.” “Sorry, ShadowMario41…” he said, now waiting for me to begin my tale.

I told him everything that happened last night, perhaps only leaving out some minor details. Notably, I did not tell him about how I swiped the figurine from Dr. Peppy, as it really deviated from the main point. I talked for about five minutes before I was finished and it understandably took a while for him to process everything that I said. He contemplated on the subject for a little while, but finally he replied. “Well I’m with you, dude! If you need me for anything, let me know and I will fight by your side. It looks like you’ve become entangled in something pretty big here.” “Do you know what that golden triangle is used for or what it does?” I asked, hoping for some sort of answer, even if it was not very accurate. “Nope, sorry…” He said, “But it must be pretty important judging by the way it reacted when that user held it in the air. There are a lot of mysterious things in NSider, but I’ve never heard of anything quite like that.” “Well I’ll definitely call on you if I need any help in combat.” I said back, knowing that ThePastaKing would be a valuable ally with his unorthodox battle tactics. “You know, I don’t know how you do it, ShadowMario41. I would never be able to do the things you do…dealing with the filth of NSider. Don’t you get tired of it?”

I thought about this question for a few moments. It would be simple to just call it quits and hide behind my trivia contest, feigning ignorance to anything that had happened previously. However, I knew that it was something to which I was obligated. I’ve already come so far to let me talents go to waste and quitting would be an insult, not only to my personal pride, but to my father and my family’s long history. After all, I had to have been doing something right if Dr. Peppy and others of the NSider community recognized me as an elite fighter, despite my mid-level rank. I told this to ThePastaKing, to which he responded, “I see…that’s noble and frightening at the same time…” He paused for a moment and looked towards the ground, “Just watch yourself out there…” “I will, but let’s not focus on that now…” I said, trying to move away from the grim and painful subject of death, “I have a trivia contest to host tonight. I have to get ready.” Upon hearing this, ThePastaKing quickly perked up and exclaimed, “Oh yeah! Make it a good one, ShadowMario41! I’ve been craving some trivia action.” I got up and started to walk towards the main entrance again. Before I went inside, I looked out towards everyone and said, “Tonight is trivia night! I have to go prepare the questions so if you have anything of importance, forward it to PowerToMario. Good luck, everyone!”