I've Seen Footage

[Deblod100]

((Kenton Zinn continued from Hypnospace Outlaws))

Earlier, after leaving from the bridge and going down the stairs, both Spooks and Hare managed to get to the first floor of the West Wing. It was still deserted, though there was still that feeling that there were people hiding out somewhere.

The Anime Club, however, did seem to be the same way that it was, though Kenton never swung by the club during his school days to know what how it is. It didn't seem to have been touched by Zeph or his partners-in-crime, but Kenton hasn't been able to access the terminal inside, which is the usual default application that any clubroom has, was disabled. Xtra's suspicions of this server being a duplicate would make sense, though Zeph must have had a photographic memory in relying information on making the anime club room seems possibly identical to the one at the official school server. Hare could still take a crack at trying to get the application working, but it might not be good.

Outside of the school, the regular Californian daytime sky has darkened to become night. Kenton does enjoy the nighttime setting, even though most of the CR servers he goes to, usually has a Windows XP screensaver blue cloudy sky. Kenton sat at the corner of the club room, his glowing neon green eyes being visible to Hare.

He was fishing into his backpack to get himself some dinner. He usually had his parents cook food for him, but they were probably freaking out on why he was still stuck in his CR rig.

Unless, Zeph programmed the server, so that the perception of time was longer than it actually was, but it was too illogical.

Hare did warn him that the rations were just the usual lousy cafeteria food that the schools serve, but Kenton would be off his rig to eat lunch. Mentioning how the churros might be good, Kenton opened up the metal lunchbox that contained the Mexican-style cuisine theme. The thing that bugged him was that the taco salad looked painfully bland. It lacked some shredded meat that Kenton expected would pop up. He needed protein, but this vegan shit. He had a cup of Tex-Mex rice, but if Spooks had to guess, it would have been better warm. Kenton got the plastic white fork ready, so he can mix the rice around with the salad and dig in with his sharp teeth.

"This salad taste like ass. Is this the type of food they serve at lunch? Angel would throw a fit at how they desecrate a simple taco salad." Kenton asked Hare.

Kenton was hungry, but he didn't know if his stomach would take eating holographic meatloaf.

The churro did look nice. He had to get himself a bite, quick. Sure enough, he can taste the pastry and cinnamon. Virtual school foods and their pre-sets had some respects for sweets.

Kenton eyed the door to get into the club room. He was expecting someone to walk into the room any moment now. The lights were off, but Vee and Xtra should've been here by now. They could have radioed either Spooks or Hare to let them know they were making a detour.

"Still no clue on the rest of the Omega Squad." Kenton's armband still glowed the red Omega symbol. "You think everyone's still hiding out somewhere? It was us with Vee and Xtra, but now it feels like we're on an abandoned server." Kenton could only theorize on the next course of strategy. It didn't help that this copy of his school was feeling more like the Backrooms.

[KamiKaze]

LOADED

TIP: Many of the utility items can be used offensively if you are creative— and devious— enough.

---

“Mmph!” Winter said, through a mouthful of her own dinner.

She was sitting on the floor with crossed legs, stabbing away at a taco salad of her own. The Anime Club was almost exactly how she last left it. There were a ton of cursed memes on the walls. It was kind of a game at this point to play ‘are we going to get audited today’, and the memes were still there, so either no teachers noticed, the Initiative Earth people were using an older version of the server, or somehow IE decided to leave it because they, of all people, thought that sort of thing was funny. To be fair, Winter posted only the finest cursed memes, like the one behind her that had a human face contorted to anime proportions. Kind of basic, and she could do better, but honestly, she’d seen so much worse.

There was a reason why she said the Aheglock was on theme, she once walked in here to see a teacher yelling at two people for having this weird battle where they were trying to outdo each other with straight-up cropped hentai, which only stopped for a few weeks before it was cropped hentai made worksafe with relatable captions and edits like ‘me when I stub my toe.’ And uh… that time she was involved.

After a beat, she swallowed the taco salad that was in her mouth. It was a typical white-person lazy school lunch taco salad, no doubt. The sort of thing where like, you could do a lot better just making it at home. Her folks would be just ‘eh’ at best. Pretty under flavored, under crunchy, under cheesy, under… everything that makes a taco salad good.

“Hopefully they’re like… dunno. Maybe they needed to do a detour, like you said. We could radio them. I think people are hiding out right now, so… we're stuck in liminal space and cursed meme land until they get here.”

Winter poked idly at the salad. Vee and Xtra could take care of themselves, but it wouldn’t hurt to radio in, or maybe that was a waste of batteries? God, she wished she could get an application going right now.

“You know, there’s a theory. Some people argue that like, sometimes things need to be shitty? Like, for mental health. Say, pretend you’re like… dunno, eating steak for lunch every day at school. The juiciest steak, I mean, like, as good as they can make it in CR. ”

Like the dragon burgers? She asked herself mentally. Yes, like the dragon burgers.

“It’s a fake steak, it doesn’t exist, but the CR program is telling you you are eating a juicy well-done steak. So, you’re eating steak every day, and then you log off and have to feed your Meatspace body, and you’re eating undercooked Hot Pockets. I’ve heard people be like, that’s why food needs to be shitty, because you’ll get depressed you’re eating steak in CR and then return to Meatspace to eat those Hot Pockets.”

Winter took another stab at her taco salad.

“Sometimes I agree with them, but other times, like now… sometimes I think that's the rationale for the fact that schools can’t shell out for the good shit. Better food, better chairs, better floors, better… everything.”

God, she wouldn’t give this to her little siblings. Being an older sister put things into perspective, she’d probably be eating those Hot Pockets if the twins wouldn’t also eat those, so she’d log off and quickly make a sandwich for her lunches, and despite her being lazy she’d rather make that taco salad for the three of them over like, this. They deserve better. They didn’t deserve to see their awesome big sis… dunno, depends on what’s happening in Meatspace right now. Probably in the hospital, frail and weak. They didn’t need to be spied on, either. Again, if Zeph and co. knew anything about them, or went after them…

Well! Big sister would have something to say. She tightened the grip on her fork just thinking about it. Just the thought was enough.

[Deblod100]

Kenton glanced up to the walls that had many cursed memes, though some could be Hare's own handiwork. This school was turned into a giant shitpost liminal space land by some neckbeard creep pretending to be a high schooler.

Spooks considered radioing in on Vee and Xtra's position, but he wanted to finish off his food. Despite how lousy it was.

Kenton was still eating at his meal, while Hare was commenting on the theory on why the school food was deliberately shitty. For mental health reasons, as Hare mentions. Kenton disagreed. It was more for actual health reasons. CR technology was good in enabling all of the senses and with taste, it can trick the body into thinking that it had consumed a whole meal, despite it being thin air in reality.

What was annoying Kenton was that these sociopathic trolls were denying him a good regular meal. He can understand that he couldn't eat a steak in CR, no matter how much of a well-crafted and cooked piece of meat it was. One that can be easily chewed without gristle and full of juice that made it to be savored. The technological advancement in making it possible for the body to be filled with artificial non-existent food to satisfy hunger would be one that could've made the history books, though it was only impossible. The human body in the Meatspace was still a fragile entity that was against what CR stood for.

"I want a fucking steak." Kenton complained.

"It's like..." Kenton was mentally constructing Hare's rationale about how his school can't have the fun stuff that other CR servers and discos had. "You know how it would cost like millions of dollars to make an actual school in Meatspace? Make a foundation. Make classrooms. Get furniture. The usual. Then, you have CR and they can easily construct a school with only some programming in 3 hours. You can make the same school like this, but look at what they have. There is nothing special. Nothing that stands out. They just copied and pasted a school without any special merits onto CR. There is no fun science experiments. No reclining armchairs. No fancy decorations. It's all wasted!" Kenton came his voice leveled, so he wasn't directly shouting and attracting attention.

"This could have been better."

Kenton put himself in a period of silence. He was wondering on how the same CR technology he was subjecting himself towards was now being weaponized against him. Unfortunately, such thought seem like a jinx, when the familiar school bell rang. What was going on?

Kenton's HUD was immediately brought up without his approval. Those damn Initiative Earth assholes managed to have their virus hack into Kenton's systems.

Who was the first person that Kenton saw in the video that appeared at his HUD?

The smug degenerate Zeph Newman himself.

He came with good and bad news, but since Zeph was "so kind", he decided to give the good news that the kids of Class 12-B were now famous.

Dozens of separate screens filled up Kenton's view. A mixture of news stations and YouTubers giving out the usual online heavy news.

"A class of high school students in San José, California have, according to reports, been forced to participate in a virtual fight to the bitter end—"

"—San José Police Department confirms that there is at least one present casualty out of a total of thirty-six total students in Class 12-B—"

"—authorities are proclaiming that the incident is the work of a previously-unknown group of cyberterrorists named Initiative Earth—"

"—recovered the body of Social Studies teacher Samson Franklin, confirmed to have passed away earlier this morning, apparently—"

"—the entire class has been placed under the supervision of the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, where they remain under surveillance—"

"—but before we talk about the juicy details, be sure to like, follow, click the notification bell, and, of course, subscribe to my YouTube channel!"

Kenton needed to take it all in, but what confused him was the mention that there was already a present casualty. Unfortunately, Kenton assumed that they were talking about Mr. Franklin, his homeroom teacher.

Kenton did wonder if all of this was a stitched-together deepfake from online sources, but he saw something that made a chill run down his actual spine.

It was when he realized that this game was actually for real.

He saw himself.

The footage did give a good job at showing him on a gurney. Kenton saw the person that was still in his grey pajamas and saw the familiar customware CR headset he wore. This wasn't a prank. This was an actual thing happening and the footage was a threat that this was not a joke.

Zeph was having this all filmed and streamed. He was really going for it. He wanted everyone to be as helpless as possible. This was in line for Zeph for a megalomaniac piece of shit in his mother's basement with his line of Hot Pockets.

Then, he mentioned the real bad news.

Someone already slain someone. Kenton recognzied the name Daniel. He killed someo-

He killed Sunny.

Zeph brought out the biggest salt to the wound that Kenton could experience. The feed on the HUD showed how Sunny was murdered by Daniel. How she was beaten to death by him, before she let out her final words of her girlfriend Yu-Mi.

"Zeph, you fucker!!" Kenton immediately said to himself, though even if he doubted that Zeph was present in the room or HUD with him, he knew Zeph would have heard Kenton's threat.

For one last middle finger, Zeph gave the taunt of "Smell you later!", like the childish brat he was.

The HUD was removed from Kenton's vision.

Kenton's first instincts played out expectedly for someone who had another get under his skin completely. Still sitting down, he grabbed at the metal lunchbox with a nearly completely eaten meal and with the cup of apple juice and carton of chocolate milk. He chucked it at the door in a fit of rage, both cup and carton spilling in and out of the metal lunchbox.

"I'll cut his fucking head off...!" Kenton's words were filled with his own sense of venom. His neon eyes and sharp teeth now seeming more monstrous with the change of his expression. All of this, because Zeph managed to convince someone to kill and go along. For the least possible person to die, Kenton didn't expect Sunny. They weren't on same terms, but Sunny was always the cheery type that everyone always see with her smile. How she has her happy life and girlfriend to support her, who was probably balling her eyes out now.

Kenton got up to get out his yellow walkie-talkie. Both Vee and Xtra had to have gotten the memo.

"This is Kenton, pick up! Over!" Kenton's voice was reduced to a frustrated growl.

[KamiKaze]

Winter wanted to say something.

She knew what other schools looked like. Even the other ones in the school district. They had minigames, and schedules adjusted to account for sleep cycles, and individualized lessons, and did more with the tech. And meanwhile, Winter had to play the game of ‘am I about to be dress coded?’ when she did things like make her eyes sparkle and shine a bit, or the fact she couldn’t wear her nonhuman rabbit skin on campus even to goofy spirit week events. And that was on top of the usual dress code bullshit of ‘you’re showing a bit of stomach, please adjust so that perverts aren’t distracted.’

She wanted better. No excuses, no rationale. If they could find a way to give her a steak, mental health be damned, ignorance is bliss.

Plus, she deserved a steak! She was talented, she got good grades, she even was a little cute with her Avatar. The most you could do is give her a voucher saying ‘here, you didn’t FuguFish again, your grades are good, and you made good mods, please enjoy free steak at this CR restaurant.’ But alas. No little steak for the little bunny.

Okay, that was a joke. Or was it? Eh, joke.

But these weirdos couldn’t have given them good stuff before they died? Like, if her life was on the line and she ran out of… dunno, that caprese sandwich she loved ordering from the local diner, then that’d be a motivator. But no, it’s terrible gringo-style cafeteria Mexican.

Winter opened her mouth to respond, but then she flinched. That was the school bell.

…

And that was her HUD.

Her fist clenched when she saw Zeph’s punchable face.

Her fist clenched harder as she watched the screens of news reports about… about…

So, it was just as suspected. They were in the hospital. She recognized her own body from the footage. Her face was covered by the helmet, but she could see what she was wearing when they brought her in. Winter had been wearing an old shirt with the original movie poster for Akira, with some blue pajama shorts that had bunnies on them. If she squinted a bit, she could see dark brown hair peeking out from under the helmet, and the blue squoval nails she had.

Winter had heard various horror stories of things that happened while someone was plugged in, so vulnerable and weak and unsuspecting. Stuff like burglars breaking in and then harming someone who was in CR at the time, with them only finding out when they logged off. It was one of the reasons why she kept her Meatspace door locked and her windows drawn when she was logged in, and had in the past used an app that would notify her if her body was moved in Meatspace.

Winter also didn’t like being seen as her Meatspace self. She liked customizing herself, and presenting herself the way she was supposed to be. Winter Castillo was awkward and fragile, but Hareraiser was stronger, she was cooler, she was forever. She tried to find excuses not to do Meatspace meetings, or to take in-person classes, just so people weren’t underwhelmed to find out that Hareraiser was just… you know…

So, the clench turned to a tremble when she recognized her own body being wheeled in. It felt… violating. That was the word she’d use. She just wasn’t in the hospital, everyone could see her like that. Literally everyone.

She wasn’t even given time to process that, though, as Zeph continued on. It seemed there wasn’t that much action, but someone did die. And that was an impetus for, in his words, ‘a lesson on how to kill.’

Winter watched as Daniel and Sunny fought, her mouth agape. She watched as it reached its bitter end: a fist-sized indent in Sunny skull as she whimpered something under her breath. She watched as the light slowly went out of Sunny’s eyes.

And in the back of her head, she saw Mr. Franklin again, and remembered why ego shooters were banned. She heard Kenton shout.

Winter didn’t know too much about Sunny, she didn’t think. They ran in different circles, you know? But she was, well, sunny. She was one of the inoffensive ones, in Winter’s opinion. Her shock, her squeamishness, turned to a new emotion. The plastic fork snapped in her hands.

They weren’t supposed to go to the rooftop anymore, but she didn’t care. Zeph– that bastard– finished off with a childish Gary Oak reference, and finally, it was over.

Winter said nothing, even as the chocolate milk got flung across the room. Her teeth were bare, almost like a forced smile with no mirth. Her breath came and went in ragged gasps.

She slowly fished out her own blue walkie-talkie, and, after fumbling with it for a second, offered exactly what was on her mind in a low voice. Her voice was clear, but every word dripped with venom.

“We should fucking kill Daniel and Zeph, both of them, I mean it. I absolutely fucking mean it.”

She forgot to say ‘over’, but she wouldn’t have cared if someone pointed it out to her. Fuck both Zeph and Daniel, fuck both of them. They could go to hell for all she cared.

[Deblod100]

"Come on, Vee. Pick up.." Kenton could only mutter to himself, since it took a while for Vee and Xtra to pick up. While not instantaneous, the person who replied to them was Vee.

"Yeah, we saw it too..."

Vee sounded shaken up, as much as both Kenton and Hare. Everyone saw the announcement. Whoever is still hiding were already freaking out. Mass hysteria in its finest.

Vee gave the ultimatum to have both Spooks and Hare stay focused. Zeph was playing on everyone's nerves, though he still struck a chord in both Spooks and Hare. Vee made it clear to not let the degenerate basement-dweller troll get to their heads.

Kenton took a deep breath, but he didn't know if Hare would try to follow suit in calming down. The machete was still in his holster. If he saw Daniel, he wouldn't hesitate to send Zeph a warning that Kenton was going to put his head on a stake.

Vee continued in radioing the two. They were currently in the parking lot, but there was a... tank somewhere out there? Kenton glanced out of the window of the anime club, however since that it was night, it was too dark to see anything. Wouldn't even mention, since the window wasn't probably looking out in the parking lot in the first place.

"Negative. It's too dark to get a visual of anything. What do you mean, a tank? Is it a modded asset, over?" Kenton was referring to how people would mod their own vehicles into Cyber Driving Simulator after the game got cracked. The mention of cars would mean that someone added a bunch of cars as props for the outside. He didn't know if they would be useless exploding props, however. Could be.

"...might need some back-up in a sec, over."

Vee and Xtra were already in trouble? Damn it, Vee. "We're on the ground floor. Don't know about how long it will take, but it would be treacherous to try to go through the school at night. Find some cover, until we show up, over."

Kenton groaned, looking at Hare. They were going to be forced to save Vee's ass. If only they tried to reach the anime club, this wouldn't be happening.

[KamiKaze]

The walkie-talkie shook in her hand.

How the FUCK could they stay calm like this? They just watched their bodies get wheeled into the hospital like a lineup for a grand buffet, and they they watched one of their classmates get pummelled into a pulp. Just… how, Vee. How are they gonna be calm?

Winter came close to saying something again. A snap was on her lips. But, she closed her eyes, breathed, and opened them.

Yeah, Zeph was trying to get under their skin.

Fucking loser. Bet this was the first time he felt power over anything. She still had no idea what Initiative Earth was, but she knew, oh she knew, he was relishing in what scraps of power and authority he ever got in his measly little life. Fucker was probably a neckbeard creep, after all. She was still going to kill him. Kill him for what he did to Mr. Franklin, and what he did to Sunny too. Kill him for letting their bodies rot on live television. Kill him, kill him, kill him.

Wait, a tank?

Winter tilted her head to the side, still livid. Okay, even in her whole… everything, she could logically deduct that it was either an asset shoved in here for Reasons, or that was an assigned item. She didn’t think a tank would fit into a school backpack, but then again, maybe it was programmed to be more compact until it was needed.

And… oh.

Oh.

Backup, huh.

Already in trouble, huh.

Her body kept shaking.

“Right…” she said, not into the walkie talkie.

She slowly stood up, and briefly looked around. She briefly thought they should clean up, but fuck it, if they’re in danger, making a mess is the lesser priority. No school janitor is gonna come in here, anyways.

Winter rubbed her head for a second.

“So… I guess we’re leaving.”

[Deblod100]

"Dumbass is going to get himself and Xtra killed." Kenton can only say in frustration, though away from the walkie-talkie to Hare.

Vee kept talking about the tank and mentioned how the parking lot was now a "variety show". Sounded like the terrorists did stop by Cyber Driving Simulator with their favorite vehicles. Who knows what was there.

"Wait, one sec, over-"

Vee briefly went out. Was he hiding from someone? However, Vee actually radioed back that it was a false alarm. Vee and Xtra had found Amy. Thank god.

Plus, Vee claims to have found a new hideout.

Hideout? What about the anime club? Including the fallback point at the empty classroom at the East Wing?

Kenton couldn't argue, however. It would be risky to try to sneak back into the school, when it's pitch black. Plus, Daniel might be lurking somewhere in the building with everyone else. The class was good at finding hiding spaces to wait out the storm. Angel was still missing in action. Wherever he was, it would take a while to try to find him.

Kenton got his walkie-talkie out again. "You two stay near Amy. We're going to head to your position. Keep your guard up, though! Over." Kenton said, before he made sure he had everything. The lunchbox that he tossed was left as a mess.

"Hang on." Kenton dug into his backpack to get out the green spray can. "We need to mark territory that can be seen as safe havens. No one tried to get into the anime club, so our best bet is to use this as an alternative safehouse to regroup." Kenton explained to Hare. Kenton gave the can a good shake. An aerosol stream of paint appeared, as Kenton made a familiar symbol on the anime club's whiteboard. A nice green Omega Squad symbol. One of dominance.

Kenton put the spray can back into his backpack, while he got his portal gun and machete ready. "Take the lead again. Most of everyone should be passed out, but Daniel might be still going after people. If you see him, don't hesitate to pop him at his skull." Kenton said, getting the door open. It was deserted out in the dark hallway. No sign of anyone. Good. Kenton didn't know where Daniel was, but he will skewer that fucker for what he did to Sunny.

"Let's go." Kenton was glad that he had his black cloak. While he was the scout-type in CyberTag, the usage of the darkness would let him hide behind his fancy cloak. Sure, his eyes were still glowing green, but he can keep the rest of his body hidden.

((Kenton Zinn continued elsewhere))

[KamiKaze]

Okay, so Amy’s there, and they… have a new hideout? What happened to the anime club? Did they not appreciate Cursed Meme Hell? Maybe. At least they marked their territory.

…

That sounded wrong. They did not lift their legs and pee. That wasn’t even programmed in, at least to the best of her knowledge. Then again, never know with the Initiative Earth assholes. But no, Kenton marked it with their symbol. That was what she meant.

“Won’t even hesitate,” Winter said under her breath.

And with that, she began wheeling out, Aheglock raised high.

Sunglasses were a blessing.

---

LOADING…

TIP: By the way, there is no way to manually save.