The Lost Vampire System Chapter 44 - Caught
Back on the other side of the map, Damion was causing such a mess that word started to spread that CopyLord was participating. People were beginning to team up, believing that CopyLord had a lot of gold coins on him. That was partly true, but most of his inventory was stored in his vault that he had acquired years ago.
He transformed into a lightning bolt as he struck a person who had run out of Evo cells, exploding their body and dropping only a single gold coin.
"Collecting a single gold coin is rare," Damion said as he ushered the coin into his inventory. "My greed knows no bounds."
He opened the bounty chart and noticed a lot of comments under CyberGirl's bounty, but only one had been paid. He looked at the comment and saw that the player named CrimsonDawn was on the other side of the map.
"Well," CopyLord muttered as he closed the screen. "I'd like to find out what CyberGirl wants with him."
Damion's wings appeared on his back. He flapped them once, launching himself into the sky, and began flying in the direction where CrimsonDawn had been spotted.
Inside the tallest tower of the mansion-style castle was CyberGirl. She sat in one of the three windows with her feet hanging out, looking over the left side of the island, waiting for a ding in her head to signal that her bounty had been fulfilled.
"Only two people that the game NYXIS never correctly assessed their power, and I have to use my own wealth to find them," CyberGirl complained out loud, as if talking to a therapist. "Those dumb military contracts. If only I had strong backing, but no, I was just a small little girl with a level 10 technopathy power who was just trying to create something fun. Sure, I have protection, influence, and wealth, but if I anger one too many, I'll be thrown out!"
She yelled the last part as she fired an energy blast at a person below who was trying to enter the mansion. Before the blast could hit, a nearby tree moved and slapped the person, causing his body to explode and drop only a few gold coins.
"Uh," Madison said as she looked at how few the coins were. "He either just respawned or has a vault."
DING!
As soon as she heard the notification, she opened the screen and read what one of the bounty hunters had sent. A smile crept onto her face as she was about to send the player a bonus, but an error message appeared.
"She died," CyberGirl chuckled as she closed the screen. "You snooze; you lose. I can't believe CrimsonDawn caught you. Must not be a strong bounty hunter."
She fell off the edge as her armor morphed into a jetpack, and she took off in the direction where the duo were.
"Another jackpot!" Madison exclaimed as the pair collected coins from the two people they had killed.
"Solar energy: 34 of 100. Blood Energy: 24 of 40," the system announced. "Your hunger grows."
"I wonder if I need in-game blood for this event?" Jareth questioned out loud. "I mean, I can use blood attacks, and my energy appears to be lowering the longer we are in here."
"We are in an event, so our energy and Evo cells aren't unlimited like they are out there," Madison informed him. "Also, unlike the Evolved Dominion game mode, if you die in here, you lose all your sh*t."
"That explains the gold coins," Jareth chuckled.
"There seem to only be tree-type mobs in this mode," Madison noted. "This is just NYXIS design, since there have been no reports of a Becifer ever being a tree. My guess is, if we want to see in-game Becifers, then we have to go more inward."
"Let's just stay out here for now," Jareth stated. "I'm still getting used to it."
Madison just nodded as they started walking toward the next section of buildings in the town when Jareth spotted something heading toward them.
"In the sky," Jareth muttered.
Madison looked up and saw someone flying toward them.
"That's a jetpack," Madison said. "Jetpacks in NYXIS are extremely expensive for some reason. That's someone strong, so why are they heading here?"
The pair slipped into a nearby building to hide from the oncoming individual. After a moment, the sound of the jetpack cut off.
"Are we in the clear?"
SLAM!
The person smashed into the ground at the center of the town, right next to the building. Their hearts began to beat faster as they peeked through a crack in the wall. At first, all they could see was dust in the air. Their shoulders brushed against each other, and Madison's NYXIS purple hair got in his face as they tried to get a better view.
As the dust began to settle, faint green glowing lines appeared. The more it cleared, the more the figure was revealed. Madison tensed as she recognized the familiar black set of futuristic armor with glowing green lines around the joints. She quickly yanked Jareth down, not wanting the newcomer to spot them.
"It's CyberGirl," Madison whispered to Jareth.
Noticing her tone, Jareth whispered back, "CyberGirl?"
He started to stand to look through the crack again, but Madison pulled him back down.
"Don't," she whispered as she opened up NYXIS and allowed CrimsonDawn to see. Jareth tilted his head as she checked the local news and events. Besides CyberGirl's unannounced appearance, which counted as unannounced if it happened within a 24-hour period, there seemed to be nothing connected to them.
"No," she whispered in doubt as she opened the bounty chart, and sure enough, there was a bounty for information on the whereabouts of CrimsonDawn. She looked at the person who had given the correct location and opened her profile.
"Didn't we just eliminate her?" Jareth questioned, still whispering.
"I guess we claimed that bounty as well," Madison chuckled quietly as she stood up to peek through the crack in the wall. "That's why she is here."
Outside, CyberGirl wasn't looking in their direction. She was scanning the area.
"Let's make this more efficient," the creator of NYXIS muttered as the part of the mask covering her right eye built up into a scanner.
The right side of her mask unfolded with a mechanical whir, plates shifting and clicking into place. A bright green scanning beam burst outward, sweeping across the plaza in a wide horizontal arc. The beam moved with cold, robotic precision, left to right, then right to left, before switching to a rapid vertical pass.
"She's scanning the area," Madison muttered as she ducked to avoid the scan, though she doubted it could see into the crack.
"Like with lasers and things?" Jareth asked.
Madison nodded as she stood back up and looked out again. Tiny floating holographic grids and targeting reticles flickered in the air wherever the beam touched, analyzing everything in its path. Data readouts scrolled rapidly across her visor as the scanner searched for anomalies, heat signatures, and movement patterns.
It suddenly sped up, scanning the building where the duo were. Madison ducked down, but unfortunately, it was too late. The green beam suddenly froze mid-sweep, locking onto a specific spot with a sharp ping. A red targeting circle pulsed around the area as the system zoomed in.
"Found you!" CyberGirl shouted as her mask stopped scanning, reverting back as her arm transformed into a cannon.
"Run!" Madison shouted as they both started to sprint toward the next room just as the outside wall exploded.
*****
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