"I think… I think I got 'Time Freeze'," Vicky said, looking at her gauntlet, which opened a display.
"Hmm… Icicle with Time Freeze. Makes sense," Captain Daze said.
"Alex? What did you do?" Vicky asked looking at Captain Daze.
"Turns out Captain Daze actually came to the base," Alex said opening the head-up display, and changing back to himself.
"So you're not Captain Daze. Hmm… Would have almost knocked you out," Mia said.
"Why are you always so rude?" Alex asked.
"Why are you so sensitive?" Mia asked.
"Guys! Focus on getting out first, argue later" Vicky said.
"How did you know it was me?" Alex asked looking at Vicky.
"I am pretty sure a well-trained captain would not have an awkward conversation with a prisoner, and not to mention, give out valuable information," Vicky said.
"How else was I supposed to convince you that Commander Claire could actually get into your head?" Alex asked.
"I can clearly see how you guys ended up here," Manic said, and walked past the group, towards the door.
"Where are you going exactly?" Mia asked, staring at Manic.
"Why don't you find out," Manic replied, walking out of the room. Vicky signalled Mia and Alex to follow Manic.
"HE'S GOTTEN OUT! RUN!" soldiers screamed, running from manic. Manic's power was telekinesis, which does not have a time limit for use, thus making him one of the most powerful players, to not require weapons. Tables and chairs were thrown into the air by Manic, as he terrorized the soldiers. Vicky, Mia and Alex followed Manic with their weapons drawn. They shot a few soldiers, but had never seen so many terrified, retreating.
Manic led the group to the helipad. Captain Daze stood, blocking the way to the only helicopter that had not taken off.
"We knew you'd come here. So we took our time to stage an ambush. Manic you can't use your powers here. This jammer was made specially you," Captain Daze said showing a hand-held ability jammer. Manic tried to use his powers, but was failing.
"I can't use my powers," Manic said looking at the rest of the group. Captain Daze looked at them and ordered the soldiers to fire.
"Yeah like duh- he just said that," Mia said pointing at Captain Daze.
"We'll have to go old school then," Vicky said handing her karambits to him. The soldiers started shooting at them, and they ran to cover.
"What am I supposed to do with these?" Manic asked staring at the weapons and back at Vicky, and then at her pistols. Vicky stared back at him and gave him the pistols, and took back the karambits.
"How are you supposed to fight with that?" Mia asked, questioning Vicky's choice of weapons.
"Watch," Vicky said with a smirk, and froze time. She had a sixty second timer, until her powers would need to recharge again. She ran up to the soldiers, one by one slicing their throats, while they stood like stone slabs. She knocked down all the bullets with her hands, and left the captain standing. She was so close to killing the captain, but her special ability timer ran out.
Captain Daze grabbed Vicky's hand before she could slice his throat. He held her by the neck, lifted her in the air, and threw her back. Within seconds, he pulled out a smoke grenade, and threw it on the ground.
"No!" Vicky said running towards the smoke, to find nothing there.
"Whoa!" Mia exclaimed, staring at the dead soldiers.
"We need to get going too," Manic said walking towards the helicopter.
They got into the helicopter, with Manic and Alex as their pilots. The helicopter took off and left the base. Vicky and Mia put on the headsets.
"You've got some sick powers," Mia said.
"I guess," Vicky said disappointed that she couldn't destroy Captain Daze.
"Where to now?" Mia asked.
"I don't know. We need to get you home first," Vicky said.
"Mom and Ray must be worried," Mia replied.
"We need to find a safe place to log out," Vicky shouted, to be heard by the whole group.
"I have a safe house that I can take you to," Manic shouted back, from the cockpit.
"Fair enough. We have nowhere to go," Vicky shouted back.
"How about the plaza?" Mia asked, with a loud voice.
"Too much heat," Manic shouted, continuing "You'll draw too much attention, and compromise the whole mission."
"What mission?" Mia asked.
"We'll continue this conversation later," Manic said. Mia looked at Vicky, who simply shrugged her shoulders.
They arrived at a large building with a helipad on top.
"Guys! Get off here. I'll go get rid of the helicopter before it draws too much attention," Manic said. The trio got off, and watched Manic fly the helicopter away.
"Now what?" Mia asked.
"Follow me," Alex replied. They followed Alex to the elevator. He entered a digit code, which opened a new panel, consisting of a ground floor. Alex pressed the button to the ground floor.
After waiting in the elevator for a few minutes, the elevator doors opened to a well-furnished room.
"Where are we?" Mia asked.
"This is Manic's safe house. He got this place himself. No one can come down here without the digit-code to the elevator, and, no one can see through the walls, so no one knows this place exists," Alex said.
"And… How do you know all this?" Mia asked.
"Hmm… That's classified," Alex replied. Mia stared at Alex and walked away.
"Can we log out here?" Vicky asked.
"Yep," Alex replied.
"Crystal, you should probably go home and check. Just so you know, don't freak out when you wake up. You'll be in a hospital," Vicky said.
"What am I doing in a hospital?" Mia asked.
"You're in a coma," Vicky said.
"How lovely," Mia said sarcastically.
"I'll meet you there," Vicky said. Mia smiled at Vicky and logged out. Vicky looked around room, and sat on a couch.
"You okay?" Alex asked walking towards Vicky, with a glass of wine.
"Yeah. I'm fine," Vicky said with a faint smile.
"I don't know if you smiling under that mask, but it looks like it," Alex said. Vicky smiled more. She looked at him for a few moments.
"What's Captain Daze's special ability?" Vicky asked.
"Super strength," Alex replied. Vicky stared at the empty space in front of her, and turned to Alex.
"He's a level eighty-five player. How does he have so much strength all the time?" Vicky asked.
"I did some digging. Turns out half of his strength, is his actual strength. He's an ex-soldier working for Raina Corps," Alex said.
"Do you know who he is?" Vicky asked.
"Not exactly, the files are classified. No amount of hacking could get me through," Alex replied.
"Great! So now they know everything about us, but we know nothing about them," Vicky remarked.
"Sounds about right," Alex said.
"I need to go check on Crystal," Vicky said.
"I'll see you around," Alex said. Vicky opened her head-up display and logged out.
Vicky opened her eyes and was in the pod. She opened the pod, got her keys and jacket, and took off to the hospital.
After arriving at the hospital, Vicky went straight to Mia's room, and saw Mia awake, with Rachel and Mrs. Wilson sitting beside her.
"Vicky! You came," Mia said delighted.
"Why would I not come?" Vicky said.
"Hello, ladies," a female doctor said walking into the room, and continued "We'll have to check a few of your vitals, once that's all done, you can go."
"Thank you so much, doctor," Mrs. Wilson said.
"Don't thank me. There's nothing much I could have done. You're lucky you came back. No one else did," the doctor said.
"What do you mean 'no one did'?" Vicky asked.
"This has happened a couple of times during the past few months. No one has ever really come out of the coma. I think players are actually getting stuck inside the game, and have no way of coming out," the doctor said.
"Oh!" Vicky exclaimed.
"Do you play?" the doctor asked.
"Yes," Vicky replied.
"Just be careful," the doctor said, leaving the room. Vicky stayed for a few hours in the room with Mia.
"I'm gonna go stretch my legs a little," Vicky said.
"You always keep whining don't you," Mia said.
"My poor feet need some exercise," Vicky said, with a pouty face.
"I'll see you later," Mia said.
"Right back at you," Vicky said walking outside the door. She turned around to walk in the corridor.
"Vicky Mitchel," a familiar male voice said. Vicky looked up at a man standing in front of her.
"Captain Daze," Vicky said.