THE DROP
BLOOM
The club room was dark except for the glow of forty screens. Bloom pulled her headset on and heard Claire's voice crackle through it from two seats away.
"Can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear."
"Good. I'll be on comms the whole match. You don't know the town, so I'll be your map."
The countdown filled the screen. Three. Two. One.
The drop began. Crimson City spread out below her, the Blood War version of it, with its rooftops and glowing zone markers. Council Hall rose at the center like a stone needle. Diviners Group sprawled to the east, a knot of alleys. Between them lay the open streets.
"Land in the streets," Claire said. "Everyone avoids them. They're too exposed."
"Exactly," Bloom said, and dove.
She hit the pavement running. In under a minute she had a molotov wired to a lamppost, a grenade tucked behind a bus stop, and a proximity mine buried under a parked car. Her traps didn't look like much, but anyone crossing this stretch would be walking through a minefield.
A runner sprinted out of an alley, straight toward Council Hall. He never saw the tripwire. The grenade went off, and his name vanished from the scoreboard.
+1 BLOOM
She allowed herself a small smile. It was a good start, and she knew better than to trust it.
BLACKX
Diviners Group was tight and loud, all alleys and echoing footsteps. Blackx loved it. He moved through it like water, with V.I.P one step behind him, always one step behind.
"Left window," V.I.P said. A burst of Uzi fire cleared the frame. Blackx dropped through, katanas flashing, and a player fell before he finished turning around.
"That's three," V.I.P said.
"Four," Blackx corrected.
V.I.P's health bar flickered after a close call, and his skill kicked in. His HP dipped and his firepower spiked. His next burst shredded a wall of crates and the player behind it. It was an ugly trade, but it worked for as long as Blackx stayed in front.
That was the part nobody saw. V.I.P wasn't just a rusher. He was the reason Blackx could be reckless.
A cluster of players waited ahead, five of them, spread across a courtyard. Blackx felt the familiar pull. End it fast.
"Blackx," V.I.P warned. "Wait for the circle to shrink. It's too early."
"They're bunched up. This is perfect."
He called it up. "Infinite red slash!"
The blades traced a red arc across the courtyard. All five players went down in a single sweep. His EP bar fell to almost nothing, and the world slowed. His legs felt heavy, as if he were wading through mud. The move was devastating, but it would leave him defenseless for the next thirty seconds.
"You're drained," V.I.P said, backing up beside him. "Don't push."
Blackx ignored him for one step too long. A shot grazed his shoulder before V.I.P's grenades drove the attacker off.
"Next time," V.I.P said through gritted teeth, "listen."
CLAIRE
Council Hall's top floor was silent and wide, its windows opening over the plaza like the eyes of a hawk. Claire settled behind her rifle and let the world narrow to a crosshair.
One breath. One shot. Down.
She didn't move. That was the whole trick. A sniper's job was patience, and patience was something she had in abundance.
"Anything?" Bloom asked over comms.
"Three runners crossing the plaza. Two are already dead."
"Good. Keep them coming."
Then the radar pulsed red.
Claire's stomach tightened. Two large clusters moved toward the plaza from opposite sides: the Redline squad from the east, the Hollow Crows from the west. They had entered separately, but now they were converging. They weren't rushing the same target by accident.
"Bloom," Claire whispered. "They're pincering the Conquests."
"Both groups?"
"Both."
Downstairs, at the west staircase, K.K crouched with his shotgun ready, certain nobody would get past him. He didn't notice the radar.
BLACKX
"We're boxed in," V.I.P said, pressing his back against a wall.
Gunfire came from both ends of the street. Blackx tried to rush the Redline squad, but the Hollow Crows' fire cut off his angle. His EP bar was still nearly empty. There was no second slash.
"Options?" V.I.P asked.
Blackx scanned the street. Rubble, a burned car, an alley that dead-ended. He dropped a small stone at his feet, one of the cheap props his skill let him swap places with, and tensed.
Then the street lit up.
A chain of explosions ripped through the Redline squad's line. The lamppost molotov, the bus-stop grenade, the mine under the car: Bloom's traps. They had been waiting there the whole time, patient as stone.
"Now, Claire," Bloom said over comms.
From the balcony above, shots rang out one after another. The Hollow Crows' leader fell, then their second, and the rest scattered like startled birds.
Blackx stared at the smoking street. For a long moment he couldn't speak.
They're not just good, he thought. They're why we're still alive.
BLOOM
She didn't have time to enjoy it.
The Redline squad's survivors regrouped, and Bloom made a mistake. She slipped out of cover to place one more grenade, the clever kill and the flashy play. She'd done the same in the last match, alone and exposed.
A shot clipped her leg. Her health bar dropped to a sliver.
Stupid, she thought. Always the solo play.
"Bloom, get down!" Claire yelled.
A single crack from above, and the attacker dropped. Claire's rifle had come from nowhere.
Bloom slumped behind a wall, panting. "Thanks."
"You're welcome." A pause. "Don't do that again."
"I won't."
She meant it. For the first time, she understood what Claire had been trying to tell her since the club. She couldn't win this alone.
K.K
K.K held the west staircase of Council Hall, his shotgun ready. Nobody would get past him. He had picked this spot himself, a corner he knew well, with one narrow approach.
He heard gunfire in the plaza below. He didn't move. His job was to hold the stairs.
He didn't hear the footsteps behind him.
A single shot cracked through the hall.
K.K ELIMINATED.
BLACKX
The scoreboard flickered across every screen in the club room. Blackx's name sat near the top, but one name stood above it:
1. SARAH
"Who's Sarah?" V.I.P asked.
Nobody had an answer. Bloom's eyes were wide behind her headset. Claire's rifle had gone quiet.
Somewhere in the city, a stranger was winning.