The apartment smelled like bleach and cheap chicken soup.
Quinn stood perfectly still in the doorway of her mother’s bedroom.
Maria was fast asleep.
Her breathing sounded like dry leaves scraping against concrete.
It was a terrible sound.
Quinn walked into the tiny kitchen and drank tap water from a cloudy glass.
She looked at the cheap plastic clock on the wall.
Four o’clock.
The city basketball championship started at seven.
She checked her blue glowing screens.
She needed exactly one hundred more EXP to reach Level 10.
Ten was a milestone number in any game.
She knew it would give her a huge power boost.
She desperately needed that boost before The Gamemaster locked her inside a gym with thousands of innocent people.
She pulled on a black hoodie over her white school shirt.
She zipped her dad’s heavy leather jacket up to her chin.
She took the bus to Harrington Academy.
The sun was starting to set.
The sky turned a bruised purple color.
The massive school parking lot was already filling up with expensive cars.
Rich parents and loud teenagers poured out of their vehicles.
They laughed and held foam fingers.
They smelled like expensive perfume and popcorn.
Quinn didn’t go near the front doors.
She walked around to the dark service alleys behind the giant gymnasium.
She needed to scout the exits.
She turned the corner near the loading dock.
She stopped walking immediately.
Three men in dark gray coveralls were standing near the school’s massive electrical boxes.
They didn’t look like maintenance workers.
They had thick necks and heavy combat boots.
One of them was drilling a weird black device directly into the main power line.
It had a blinking red light and thick antennas.
A signal jammer.
The Gamemaster was cutting off cell phone service to the entire building.
Nobody would be able to call the police when the killing started.
“System,” Quinn whispered.
Skill Activated: Eagle Eye (Lv.
1)
Her eyes glowed blue in the evening shadows.
She scanned the three men.
System Alert: Combat Started!
Enemies: 3 Vanguard Techs (Level 6)
Threat Value: Low
Only Level 6.
They were incredibly weak compared to her.
But they were exactly what she needed to level up.
“Hey,” Quinn called out.
Her voice echoed in the empty alley.
The three men spun around.
The guy with the drill dropped it on the asphalt.
He reached into his coveralls and pulled out a heavy steel wrench.
The other two pulled out short tactical batons.
“Get out of here kid,” the biggest guy growled.
Quinn cracked her knuckles.
“Make me.”
The three men charged her all at once.
They thought they had the advantage.
They were completely wrong.
Quinn didn’t even bother using her Shadow Step.
She just relied on her pure Level 32 Agility.
The first guy swung his wrench at her skull.
Quinn stepped inside his guard before the weapon even started moving downward.
She threw a vicious overhand right.
Her knuckles smashed directly into his nose.
The crunch was sickeningly loud.
Blood sprayed through the air.
The man flipped backward and hit the asphalt totally unconscious.
The second man tried to tackle her around the waist.
Quinn sidestepped smoothly.
She grabbed the back of his collar and pulled him down hard.
As he fell she brought her knee up in a brutal Muay Thai clinch strike.
“Smack.” Her knee buried itself deep into his liver.
The man released a high-pitched wheeze.
His body completely shut down.
He curled into a tight ball on the ground and started throwing up.
The last guy stopped running.
He looked at his two broken friends.
He dropped his tactical baton and started to back away.
Quinn didn’t let him leave.
She ran two steps up the brick wall of the gym.
A fast wall run.
She pushed off the red bricks and spun in the air.
An aerial twist kick.
Her heavy sneaker caught him perfectly on the side of the head.
He crashed into the metal electrical box and slid to the ground.
System Alert: Enemies Defeated!
EXP + 300
Total EXP: 400/2000
Ding!
Level 10 Reached.
All Stats increased by 5!
Current HP: 315/315
Warm golden power exploded in Quinn’s chest.
It rushed through her blood like hot electricity.
Level 10 didn’t just feel like a small upgrade.
It felt like her muscles were being forged out of pure titanium.
A massive blue box flashed in front of her eyes.
Milestone Reached: Level 10
System Inventory Unlocked.
Quest Reward Granted: Titanium Knuckle Gloves (Rare)
Quinn gasped.
She opened her new System Inventory with a thought.
A small grid appeared in her mind.
Inside the first slot was a pair of sleek black gloves.
She tapped them.
Blue light formed over her hands.
The light faded and left behind a pair of fingerless combat gloves.
They were made of thick black leather with heavy titanium plates sewn right into the knuckles.
They felt incredibly heavy but fit her hands perfectly.
She clenched her fists.
The titanium plates clinked together with a deadly metallic sound.
She walked over to the blinking signal jammer on the wall.
She pulled her right fist back and punched the black box.
The titanium knuckles shattered the thick plastic shell into a hundred pieces.
Wires sparked and smoked.
The red light died completely.
Cell phone service was back online.
Quinn walked out of the alley and headed to the front doors of the gymnasium.
The gym was totally packed.
The noise was deafening.
A massive brass band played school songs on the bleachers.
Students had their faces painted green and gold.
The bright overhead lights made the wooden basketball court shine.
Quinn walked through the crowded lobby.
Nobody noticed the titanium gloves on her hands.
They just thought she was wearing normal winter gear.
She walked into the main gym area.
Marcus Reed was sitting at the end of the Harrington basketball bench.
He was wearing a gray sweat suit.
A massive white cast covered his entire left leg.
A pair of metal crutches rested against his chair.
He looked miserable.
He looked up and saw Quinn.
His dark eyes filled with a mixture of anger and deep sadness.
He didn’t wave.
He just looked away.
Quinn felt a sharp pain in her chest.
It hurt worse than getting stabbed.
She broke his heart to keep him safe.
But it was the only way.
“Don’t look so sad Solo Queen.”
A smooth voice spoke right next to her ear.
Noah Brooks leaned against the metal bleachers.
He wore a dark red suit that cost more than Quinn’s apartment.
He held a cup of expensive coffee.
He looked completely relaxed.
“What are you doing here Noah.” Quinn kept her eyes scanning the crowd.
She was looking for anyone wearing a gray suit or a white mask.
“I came to watch the game,” Noah smirked.
He took a sip of his coffee.
“But I also came to give you one last chance.
My car is parked outside.
The engine is running.
We can leave right now.
We can go eat giant steaks and completely ignore whatever terrible thing is about to happen in this room.”
Quinn looked at him.
Noah really didn’t care if everyone in this gym died.
He only cared about her.
It was a sick twisted kind of loyalty.
“I am not leaving,” Quinn said coldly.
Noah sighed.
He pulled his secret encrypted phone out of his suit pocket.
He tapped the screen.
“Suit yourself,” Noah whispered.
He stepped closer and lowered his voice.
“But you should know something.
The head of school security just locked the front doors from the outside.
They wrapped heavy steel chains around the handles.”
Quinn snapped her head toward the lobby entrance.
Two men in gray suits were standing by the main double doors.
They were the same elite enforcers Principal Sterling tried to use.
They pulled thick metal chains through the door handles and snapped giant padlocks onto them.
The loud click of the locks echoed perfectly in Quinn’s ears despite the screaming crowd.
Noah was right.
They were trapped.
Suddenly the bright overhead lights in the gym flickered.
They buzzed loudly and then completely died.
The crowd screamed in total panic.
Teenagers shoved each other trying to find their friends in the dark.
The brass band stopped playing.
Chaos erupted instantly.
“System,” Quinn ordered in her mind.
Skill Activated: Eagle Eye (Lv.
1)
The darkness vanished for her.
The gym lit up in a cool blue filter.
She saw exactly what was happening.
Four heavy doors on the opposite side of the gym swung open.
Dozens of men poured into the room.
They wore dark tactical gear and white puzzle masks.
They carried heavy steel pipes and electric stun batons.
The Gamemaster’s army was here.
They started shoving the screaming students away from the center of the basketball court.
They were making a circle.
They were clearing a stage.
A single spotlight turned on.
It shined directly onto the center circle of the wooden floor.
A man walked into the bright light.
He wore a flawless white suit.
He had a gold cane in his hand.
He wore a white mask but his mask had no puzzle on it.
It was completely blank.
He held a microphone.
“Good evening Harrington Academy,” the man in the white suit said.
His voice was projected through the school’s massive speakers.
It sounded distorted and terrifying.
The screaming crowd slowly went silent.
Pure fear paralyzed everyone in the bleachers.
“I apologize for the interruption,” the man continued.
“But we are looking for a specific student.
Her name is Quinn Carter.
She stole something very expensive from me.
If she walks down to this court right now the rest of you will survive this game.”
The man lifted his gold cane and pointed it directly at the Harrington basketball bench.
He pointed it right at Marcus Reed.
Two masked operatives grabbed Marcus.
They ripped his crutches away.
Marcus yelled and fell to the floor holding his cast.
One of the operatives pressed a buzzing yellow stun baton directly against Marcus’s neck.
“If she does not come down here in thirty seconds,” the man in white said smoothly.
“I will execute your star basketball player in front of everyone.”
Quinn’s blood boiled.
The air around her fists started to vibrate.
The titanium plates on her knuckles hummed with violent energy.
Noah grabbed her arm.
His grip was tight.
“Don’t be stupid Quinn.
You can’t fight fifty men at once.
Let him die.”
Quinn ripped her arm away from Noah.
She didn’t say a single word to him.
She stepped out from the shadows.
She walked down the concrete stairs of the bleachers.
Her heavy black sneakers made no sound.
The crowd parted for her like water.
She walked straight onto the shiny wooden basketball court and stepped directly into the bright spotlight.
The man in the white suit chuckled.
“Ah.
The famous Solo Queen.
You brought yourself right into my trap.”
Quinn raised her hands.
The titanium knuckles gleamed under the bright light.
“It isn’t a trap,” Quinn said fiercely.
Her voice echoed loudly in the silent gym.
“It is an execution.
And you are all next.”
System Alert: MASSIVE COMBAT INITIATED
Enemies: 40 Cipher Operatives (Level 7) & The Gamemaster (Level ???)
Threat Value: FATAL
Current Status
Name: Quinn Carter
Level: 10
Class: Solo Fighter
HP: 315/315
EXP: 400/2000
Strength: 35
Agility: 37
Perception: 33
Intelligence: 35
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), Adrenaline Rush (Lv.
1)
Active Quest: The Gamemaster’s Secret