The leather seats inside Noah’s car were freezing.
The heater blasted warm air but Quinn still felt cold.
She stared out the wet window.
Rain slid down the expensive glass.
Noah kept glancing at her torn uniform shirt.
He looked at the red angry scratch on her side.
The System’s Healing Factor was already knitting the skin back together.
It itched like crazy.
“You look like a chew toy Quinn.” Noah tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.
He sounded amused.
“I leave you alone for two hours and you get sliced open.
Was it the new transfer student.
He smells like wet garbage and bad decisions.”
Quinn didn’t look at him.
“Keep your eyes on the road Noah.
My bad decisions are none of your business.”
Noah laughed.
It was a rich toxic sound.
He loved it when she was mean to him.
He pulled the car over next to a dirty bus stop.
The rain was pouring down in thick gray sheets.
“I can buy you a new shirt,” Noah offered softly.
He leaned across the console.
He was incredibly close.
He smelled like expensive mint and dangerous lies.
“I can buy you a whole new life.
You just have to ask nicely.”
Quinn opened the heavy car door.
Cold wind whipped her hair across her face.
“I don’t ask for things,” Quinn said.
She stepped out into the pouring rain.
“I take them.”
She slammed the car door shut.
Noah just watched her through the tinted glass.
He had a wicked smile on his handsome face.
He drove away and left her standing in the storm.
Quinn’s secret encrypted phone buzzed in her pocket.
It was a text from Elijah.
Emergency.
Meet me at the old downtown library right now.
I found something terrible.
Quinn shoved the phone back into her wet pocket.
The old library was three blocks away.
She didn’t want to walk in the rain.
She wanted to test her brand new Level 8 skill.
Shadow Step.
She looked across the empty wet street.
She focused her eyes on a dark alleyway on the other side.
She activated the skill in her mind.
The world went completely black for one split second.
She felt a freezing cold vacuum suck her forward.
Her stomach did a wild flip.
“Whoosh.”
She opened her eyes.
She was standing perfectly inside the dark alley.
She just teleported ten feet instantly.
It felt like pure magic.
The bio-chip inside her neck hummed with warm golden energy.
“Awesome,” Quinn whispered.
She ran the rest of the way to the library.
The building was huge and made of dirty gray stone.
It smelled like old paper and dust inside.
Elijah was hiding behind a massive bookshelf in the back corner.
He wore a yellow raincoat.
He held his glowing laptop tight against his chest.
He looked absolutely terrified.
“Quinn.” Elijah grabbed her arm and pulled her into the shadows.
His hands were shaking.
“Calm down tech boy,” Quinn said gently.
“What did you find in your dad’s bank accounts.”
Elijah placed the laptop on a wooden table.
His fingers flew across the keyboard.
He opened a secret file filled with numbers and weird bank names.
“I hacked his offshore accounts,” Elijah explained fast.
“I followed the money.
He paid two billion dollars to a ghost company called The Gamemaster Group.
But I found another payment.
Made five years ago.
Right after your dad died.”
Quinn stepped closer to the screen.
Her heart beat very fast.
“Who did he pay.”
“He paid Harrington Academy,” Elijah whispered.
“He donated five million dollars to the school board.
The money was only to be used for one specific student.”
Elijah clicked a button.
A picture of Quinn popped up on the screen.
It was her school ID photo.
Quinn stopped breathing.
“They paid for your basketball scholarship Quinn,” Elijah said.
His voice cracked with fear.
“They wanted you at that school.
They dragged you into their trap on purpose so they could watch you.”
The Gamemaster was playing a massive game.
He didn’t just want the chip.
He wanted to torture the daughter of the man who stole it.
The school wasn’t a safe place.
It was a giant cage.
Quinn closed her eyes.
Her fists curled so tight her knuckles turned white.
“They think they trapped a rabbit,” Quinn said coldly.
She opened her eyes.
They burned with fierce dark fire.
“They don’t know they locked themselves in a cage with a monster.”
Elijah swallowed hard.
He looked at her like she was a superhero.
“What do we do now.”
“You go home and hide Elijah.
Delete your hack history.
I am going to find the principal of Harrington Academy.”
Quinn closed his laptop.
She turned around and walked straight out of the library.
The rain was falling even harder now.
Thunder crashed loudly in the dark sky.
Quinn walked down the library steps.
A giant shadow blocked her path.
Marcus Reed stood on the sidewalk.
The massive basketball star wore his thick team jacket.
The rain soaked his clothes but he didn’t care.
He looked incredibly angry.
His dark eyes locked onto Quinn’s torn shirt.
He saw the red blood mixing with the rain.
“Who did that to you.” Marcus pointed a huge finger at her ripped clothes.
His voice was a deep terrifying growl.
Quinn sighed.
“Go home Marcus.
It is raining.”
“No.” Marcus stepped forward.
He looked like a giant wall of muscle.
“I saw you get in Noah’s car.
I followed you here.
Every time I see you you are bleeding.
You are going to tell me who is hurting you right now Quinn.
I am going to kill them.”
He reached out and grabbed her wrist.
His grip was completely solid.
He was just a normal guy but he was massive and strong.
Quinn didn’t want to hurt him.
“Let go of me Marcus.”
Before Marcus could answer a cold voice echoed from the dark alley next to them.
“How sweet.
The dumb jock wants to play hero.”
Two men walked out of the shadows.
They wore dark raincoats and creepy white masks.
A puzzle was carved into the forehead of each mask.
Cipher Operatives.
The Gamemaster sent them to finish the job Jax failed to do.
They held thick steel crowbars in their hands.
System Alert: Combat Started!
Enemies: 2 Cipher Operatives (Level 7)
Threat Value: High
Marcus let go of Quinn’s wrist.
He stepped in front of her to protect her.
He raised his large fists.
“Stay behind me Quinn,” Marcus shouted bravely.
“I will handle these freaks.”
The first masked man laughed.
He swung his heavy steel crowbar right at Marcus’s knee.
Marcus tried to dodge but he was just a normal teenager.
The steel hit his leg with a sickening crunch.
Marcus yelled in pain and fell to the wet concrete holding his knee.
“Leave him alone.” Quinn roared.
She didn’t hold back.
“Boom.”
The wet ground exploded.
Quinn moved faster than humanly possible.
The world went black.
“Whoosh.”
Quinn teleported ten feet forward.
She appeared perfectly behind the first masked man.
The operative didn’t even have time to blink.
Quinn planted her black sneakers on the wet ground.
She twisted her hips and threw a devastating uppercut straight into his spine.
“Bam.”
A visible shockwave exploded in the rain.
The loud sound resonated like thunder.
The operative felt a terrifying force shatter his bones.
He flew forward and crashed into a brick wall face-first.
He dropped like a broken toy.
The second operative froze in total panic.
He watched a teenage girl teleport through the air.
He raised his crowbar with shaking hands.
Quinn turned to him.
Her eyes glowed bright blue in the dark night.
The system hummed loudly in her blood.
The man swung the crowbar wildly at her head.
Quinn used a fast shoulder roll recovery.
She rolled cleanly under the weapon.
She popped up directly in front of him.
She activated Sonic Strike.
The air around her right fist vibrated wildly.
She threw a massive hook punch right into the center of his white mask.
“BAM.”
The sonic blast exploded.
The white mask shattered into a hundred plastic pieces.
The man’s eyes rolled completely back into his head.
The shockwave knocked him off his feet.
He flew backward through the air and crashed into a metal garbage dumpster.
The heavy metal dented inward.
The man slid to the wet ground completely knocked out.
The alley was totally silent except for the falling rain.
System Alert: Enemies Defeated!
EXP + 600
Total EXP: 800/1500
Current HP: 235/235
Quinn breathed heavily.
Steam rose off her warm skin into the cold rain.
She turned around.
Marcus was sitting on the wet sidewalk.
He was holding his injured knee.
He was staring at Quinn with wide terrified eyes.
He saw everything.
He saw her teleport.
He saw her punch a man through a metal dumpster.
“What are you,” Marcus whispered.
His voice was shaking with fear.
He looked at her like she was an alien.
Quinn walked over to him.
She didn’t look angry anymore.
She just looked incredibly tired.
She looked down at the boy who tried to protect her.
“I am a solo player Marcus,” Quinn said softly.
“I told you to stay away from me.
Now you have a broken knee and a broken heart.
Don’t follow me ever again.”
She turned around and walked away into the dark stormy night.
She left the giant basketball star sitting in the rain alone.
Quinn pulled her father’s heavy leather jacket tight around her shoulders.
She had to go back to Harrington Academy tomorrow.
She was going to find the principal.
She was going to break the Gamemaster’s stupid cage into tiny little pieces.
Current Status
Name: Quinn Carter
Level: 8
Class: Solo Fighter
HP: 235/235
EXP: 800/1500
Strength: 27
Agility: 29
Perception: 25
Intelligence: 27
Skills: Basic MMA (Lv.
3), Eagle Eye (Lv.
1), Iron Skin (Lv.
2), Healing Factor (Lv.
1), Sonic Strike (Lv.
1), Shadow Step (Lv.
1)
Active Quest: The Gamemaster’s Secret