Synchronization - Cyber Clash Online 1

Chapter One : Re-Ality

A torrent of bullets rained upon the streets of Yen-Net-7. The normally humid atmosphere wasn't gifting the members of Revolver-X with a warm shower of H20, however.

It was gifting them death.

"Two men down. Phoenix, what do we do?"

The voice of my companion and the Lieutenant of our clan came across my com speaker, the voice chat icon displaying partly translucent in the corner of my vision.

We were huddled together, trapped in the middle an intersection, hiding behind overturned vehicles. The overpass above us was littered with enemy players, either too rich to be concerned about the number of bullets they were spraying down upon us or too caught in the blood lust to care.

"Fall back into the alley and toss Graph2 a MedKit. He never watches his Hit Points."

"Hey, I'm busy killin' here."

Graph2's voice was rough around the edges and he took any shortcuts that the English language allowed him. Being originally from Iran, he had taken a liking to old westerns and had claimed a southern accent for his own. It mixed nicely with his middle eastern one at that.

"Well we'll need some of that killing in a minute so fall back!"

"Alright alright, don't get your legendary-level panties in a bunch."

I sighed.

He wasn't wrong. My underwear was of the highest quality that Cyber Clash Online (CCO) offered, but he didn't have to always bring it up.

"Enough talk! Dropping smoke...now!"

I checked my inventory quickly, seeing that this was my last smoke grenade.

No room for error.

I equipped the grenade and pressed the glowing blue button on the side of it, dropping it at the feet of me and my companions.

Within a heartbeat the smoke exploded from the canister, filling the intersection and giving us a chance to leap down the street to the right and into the alleyway from which we had originally come.

I checked my quest requirements and saw that it wasn't completed until we escaped the area. It had been a secret quest, one that supposedly only those in our clan, Revolver-X, even knew about.

The fact that the enemy clans had not only been waiting for us, but had teamed up to stop our escape meant that Revolver-X either had a traitor in it, or the quest-giver had lied.

And I had never known a quest-giver to lie.

Enemy shots sprayed around the streets behind us, smashing windows and punching holes into buildings. We ran down the alleyway as fast as possible, ignoring any alert at having low Stamina. I hoped to at least get to cover before they realized where we had gone, or at most reach the entryway back into the restaurant.

Luckily we reached the restaurant and turned sharply inside, ducking beneath the low-hanging "Noodles 4 Everyone" sign. I looked back just in time to see members of "Dragon's Fist" round the corner after us.

"Dammit! There at least had to have been four clans on that overpass! Who leaked the quest!?"

"No idea miss." Graph2 said, holding tightly onto his cowboy hat as we ran through the tables and chairs of the restaurant. We hopped over the counter, completely ignored by the NPC cashier and cooks. "But they got Jumba."

I looked around and realized that Graph2 and I were the only ones that had made it to N4E. My Lieutenant, Jumba, had not.

"It couldn't have been one of us, could it?! The quest-giver had to have lied!"