CyberAttack 3

11. ɢʀᴏᴜᴘ ʙ / ʙᴇᴊᴇᴡᴇʟᴇᴅ ᴇᴍᴇʀᴀʟᴅ

(Third Person POV)
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4th Site
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A roar ripped through the air as Emerald soared, burning structures with its toxic fire, looking for anything remotely valuable. This site didn't have any inhabitants either, so there wasn't really anything to take. It roared aloud again, trying to swoop for mainly Second.

"It seems to like you." Other Victim lightly joked as they grouped back up.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious." Second nudged him.

"It's laser-focused on him specifically, but I don't know why. It's hard to hit, even for me. That dragon is covered in strong green jewel scales. My laser vision just bounces off it, and my fire is just plain useless." Chosen landed beside them, crouching.

"Even with the amplifiers?"

"Yeah."

"God.."

While the two tried to come up with something to do, Second took a moment to step away and examine the dragon's actions. It looked like it was searching for something, licking its lips hungrily. It needed to eat something, but what? Second thought that it might eat things like stickfigures, but if it was just that, why did it only want him? He looked down at himself, then to the other two. He felt the materials on his armor.

It clicked.

Second started to walk off.

"Second! Where are you going?!" Chosen yelled after him.

"I know what to do.. I think!"

"Not a good answer! Get back over here!"

Second picked up his pace and started running, then flying. Letting out a groan of annoyance, Chosen flew after him, realizing he was head right at the dragon.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

Second didn't respond as he landed right in front of it. It sniffed, turned to look at Second, then roared. Carefully, Second unwedged a jewel from his breastplate, holding it up.

"Is this what you want?"

It paused, then looked down and sniffed the jewel. The dragon then bounded at him. Second barely flinched.

"Ah-ah, down!"

It slid and arrived at his feet, crouching to Second's height, yet still sniffing the air. Chosen seemed shocked as Second carefully placed the gem in its mouth and started to run his hand up the bridge of its snout. The dragon crunched down on the gem, growling in appreciation. Second climbed onto the dragon and continued to pet it.

"You're just hungry, huh? Maybe I should say hangry.. I get that way sometimes too."

"..how did he do that?" Other Victim finally caught up to them.

"I saw they really weren't destroying for the sake of destroying, but looking for something. I was the only one with gems on my armor, so I took a wild guess. Looks like I was right."

"If that's just the case.. then how often does _nala feed it?"

The dragon huffed and whimpered at its owner's name. Chosen suddenly realized something. Walking towards it, he gently started to pet it as well. Second was both bewildered and confused by the sudden softness that came from him.

"..you've been hurt and neglected by your creator, haven't you?"

It huffed a little.

Second slid off the dragon and backed off, watching the scene unfold.

Chosen knew what the beast was feeling. He felt it himself before. Having your emotions used to abuse your powers. Having no freedom. Being forced to live under someone who'd only use you. Being thrown around for the sake of convenience. Slowly, Chosen walked along the dragon until he encountered a black band around the dragon's wrist. The charm dangling from the band was of course _nala's symbol. Printed on the band was the dragon's program name.

"project_bejeweled_emerald_dragon_model4.exe"

"Is your name Emerald?"

The dragon perked up and turned to face Chosen. Its red glossy eyes looked down at him. Carefully, he grabbed the band secured tight around its wrist, took a deep breath, and used his laser eyes to break through and snap the band off.

Emerald winced, but once it realized its newfound freedom, it lifted Chosen onto its head and took off, roaring again, this time with glee. Quickly, it circled back around and landed, flapping its wings and moving as it pleased. Chosen, smiling, leapt off the dragon and went back to the other two.

"How'd you know all that?" Second raised an eyebrow.

Chosen was about to spill, but then remembered his talk with Alan just yesterday. He thought about telling Second, but he just shook his head instead. If Alan was really sorry, he'd tell them himself. "It was just a guess."

Second still looked at him for a moment after he said that, but decided to dismiss it.

"Well, we're pretty much done here. We should probably head to Group A with everyone else-"

Suddenly, a screech came from the sky. Confused, everyone looked up. A blur of red, orange, and yellow came bolting down. She slowed herself as she approached the group, then hovered in front of them. A phoenix.

"Um.." Chosen looked at it as she cawed.

"Who are you, do you speak?" Other Victim slowly approached her. However, she darted out of the way and sat on Second's shoulder. It cawed desperately to him.

"..Char? Your name is Char?" Second lifted his arm to look at her.

"How can you understand it?" Other Victim looked between the two.

"I just.. can I guess?"

Char cawed. "Oh. She says she was made by the other me, and he made it so only he was able to understand her. Since I'm technically him.. I guess that ability carried over. Anyways, why are you here, where'd you even come from?"

She cawed and chittered at him a bit. Second nodded at the noises then turned back to his team to translate.

"It's bad news.. Other Green led the refugees from Group D's site to somewhere called the Sanctuary. Char comes from there, apparently. Other Green is in no condition to fight, so Char went in his place. Everyone went to support Group A.. but the site is on lockdown by _nala. That site was a fake. No one can get in."

Char quickly chittered again.

"Other Chosen is there, it's a trap to kill everyone in Group A."

"Wait, how would they even kill Alan and DJ?" Chosen questioned.

"Electrocution, most likely." Other Victim quickly answered. "VR headsets are just as susceptible to hacks as any other piece of technology."

"..we have to go over and help." Second clenched his fists.

"We do, but how?"

Second looked back at Emerald. "I think I might have an idea."