Cassie & The Furious

Sakuya opened the door to far less noise than he’d braced himself for. It wasn't like a rowdy tavern from a fantasy movie, where the banter would turn silent and every patron would begin staring him down the moment he stepped foot through the doors. Nobody even looked up. It was like hardly anyone had even recognized the B-7X. He awkwardly stood by the door as other people kept walking in, ignoring him entirely.

Players lounged at tables repurposed from old desktop towers and servers, sipping from juice boxes and plastic cups. Their drinks looked very frilly and sweet, a little childish, even.
Did I just walk into a cybergoth bubble tea joint?

An emo ogre sucked neon green juice through a straw, the drink glowing like the sludge in the Charnel Pits. A white-haired guy dressed like a visual kei rockstar was drinking some sort of latte that might as well have been 90% whipped cream, and a player with a helmet tipped a cup of boba right into their visor. It all phased through without a single drop or pearl spilling.
Food in here must use noclip…

Players talked everywhere, but Sakuya could only catch fragments of the pile of conversations: “frag,” “leaderboard,” “bonebits.” On the walls, holoscreens showed live matches and highlights. Some players were betting on a rowdy match of classic infinite ammo railgun instagib. Others hunched over holo-tables, replaying their kills for the table and being met with cheers.
Rezrektion’s OST still slaps, he thought as the familiar industrial beat mingled with the chatter.

Other players put up holo-emotes while conversing, the social energy just as frenetic as in an in-game chat. A squad in the corner were prepping for a game, stacking hands and shouting about CTF as if they were a high school baseball team.

In front, right above the bar itself, was another large holoscreen used as a menu. It advertised: Today’s Special: Sniper Soju!
+20% Accuracy, -7% Speed! Valid for your next five matches! 20 Bonebits!
Everything here came with a stat buff, such as Turbo Tea for speed, Bomb Boba for extra splash damage and Speedrun Nuggets—an option marked “POPULAR” that offered a 30% speed boost at the cost of 15% health. The food actually smelled amazing, making his stomach growl, but everything had a price here.

He glanced up at the bartender, who was a blocky robot with a touchscreen for a face, cycling through emojis. A sticker on its chest read: “Touch my face to order! No refunds!”
Sakuya cleared his throat: “Hey, is there… anything I could drink or eat? You know, with the helmet and all.”
The bartender flashed a 🤔, then a 💯.
“So… everything?” Sakuya’s puzzled voice echoed through his helmet.
“👍.”
Sakuya was dumbfounded. He ordered the soju and nuggets, an almost palatable combo.

He stared at his plate in disbelief and tried to take his helmet off for the hundredth time now. No dice; it was completely sealed. There weren’t any screws, joints or soldering marks. It was like the helmet had always been a part of the suit.

He lifted a nugget up regardless, expecting it to cake his visor in greasy breading and be a waste of money. Instead, it passed right through and was perfectly delicious on top.

I'm not even gonna try to understand how this works…
The table underneath kept humming under his elbows, flashing random lights as if it was in use as a legitimate server. Sakuya kept observing the other players while sipping his soju.

A young woman stepped out from behind the door labeled “STAFF ONLY,” looking no taller than five feet and no older than about twenty. Her pink hair was just barely reaching her shoulders, the goggles on top looking worn, scratched and splattered with oil. She was wearing black overalls that were ostensibly cleaner than the goggles. In her gloved hands was the standard shotgun, modded with seemingly a plasma battery bolted to the side.

“Ashlan? Fixed up your shotgun!” She called like a fast food worker announcing an order, bright and casual. She lifted the weapon up with one arm as if it weighed nothing at all to her.

Nobody answered. A few players glanced around, some whispered among themselves, but not to her. Apparently, some knew this Ashlan, but no one seemed sure where he was.

Her shoulders sagged. “Ashlan? Come on, man. You said you’d be here this time…”
She muttered, defeated. She gave the room another once-over, until her gaze landed on Sakuya.

She froze in place, her eyes widening.
“Oh… my… GOD!”

She dashed into a sprint to his table, slamming the modified weapon down on the table right next to his food tray. Her worried frown flipped to a bright grin.
“B-7X!? The real deal!? Where did you get that? Are you ancient? Did someone put it on you? Did they find you in some old zip archive? Some old tomb!?”

Pretty good guesses, all things considered.

She circled around, staring at every plate and chip in the paint with needle-and-thread precision while running her hand over the armor as if it were an ancient relic.
“Wow… looks just like it did in the screenshots from v0.97. Outside looks worn, but hydraulics are spotless!. You're a near-perfect museum piece, you know!? Completely stock!”

Sakuya sat still, slowly lowering his bottle.

Should I be worried? I can't tell if she's admiring the B-7X or if she's gunning to dissect me.

At this point, she was completely ignoring any and all concepts of personal space, knocking her gloved fist on the helmet with the unremitting boldness of someone who'd never heard the words “stop” or “boundaries.”

“Is anyone even inside?” She peered into the visor like into an art display. “Surely you're not one of those ghost armor suits… r-right?” Her voice wavered.

“Say something… if you're conscious? A…and human?”

This girl's weird…

“Boo,” Sakuya blurted out with not a hint of emotion or intonation behind it.

The girl jumped with a comical yelp. “So you are conscious… and human.”

“As human as they come,” Sakuya shrugged. “I just spawned right into a match with this thing on me. Can't take it off either.”

“Yeah, it's part of you now, metalhead!” She laughed as if it was funny. “I bet your loadout is stock too, huh? The Quadbarrel! I wanna see it!”

“I don’t have a weapon pass like you do.” Sakuya’s hand was on his empty gun belt.

“Oh, not in the lobby.” The girl grinned, pulling a remote of sorts from one of her many pockets. “On the Arena.”

“Wait, you’re kidding, ri—”
Sakuya’s HUD blinked with a dialog box:
“PLAYER: CASSIE HAS INVITED YOU TO A CUSTOM DUEL. ACCEPT?”

Come on… I just got done with my first match. And she’s in the 7,000s.

Cassie puffed out her cheeks. “Pretty please, uh… Sakuya? This won’t harm your leaderboard standing. I just want to see the B-7X in action. And besides, don’t you want to play against me, just once?” She clasped her hands, making puppy-dog eyes. “Pleaseeee…?”

If you keep looking at me like that, I’ll—

“Okay, okay, fine. I’ll duel you before you start crying.” Sakuya clicked his tongue.
—give in to the power of cute and agree.

“Yay! To the portal, quick!” She hummed, tossing the shotgun she’d been carrying behind the staff-only door, leading him to the rear of the bar, where five glowing portals waited. “You know, you’re in the 10,000s. We could set you up a co-op or easy duel just to save you from the board. We’re basically the only ones running custom matches without getting sketchy.”

“Grinding easy wins isn’t really my style.”
There’s no way I’d take a handout like that. But still…

Cassie giggled. “You’ll stay on the board whether you like it or not! Unless you find a way to drop out while leaving the armor for me.”

She fiddled with her remote, making the portal light up. “Any map you want? Any mutators?”

The words immediately rolled off Sakuya’s tongue. “Derelict. No powerups.”
Derelict was the smallest map in Rezrektion Arena: two corridors linked to a large central room in a space station. He’d wasted entire weeks on it. It was perfect for duels.

Cassie punched some more inputs into her remote. “Gotcha! After me!” She went into the portal first. Sakuya’s heart thudded as he rolled his shoulders and went in.
Calm down, it’s just a friendly match. You’ve done worse.

The same, growling voice from the first match returned. “GET READY FOR THE DUEL.”
Sakuya checked himself the moment he spawned in. The Quadbarrel was right there on his belt; the HUD displayed his ammo and armor just fine.
“THREE!”
He readied the weapon, refusing to get caught off guard this time—
“TWO!”
“ONE!”

“FIGHT!”

His breath was already shaky beneath his helmet, the instant rocket death replaying in his mind. This time, it was quiet. He didn’t even hear any footsteps from the other side.

He jogged down the hallway toward the open center, where duels always took place. Back in the day, there was an unwritten rule: don’t fight in Derelict’s hallways. Only in the middle. His footsteps became more bold as he b-hopped towards the center, ready to blast Cassie to bits.

He ran into the central room, his finger twitching on the secondary trigger as he scanned every corner. Empty.
Who’d camp on Derelict of all the—

A rain of bullets came down from the ceiling. Sakuya jumped backwards and blindly fired up on reflex. Cassie was sitting on one of the rails above, holding two machine guns that were barely larger than she was.

“Camping already, huh?” Sakuya shouted as he dove behind a large container by one of the walls.

“Dunno, looks like you’re the one hiding.” Cassie giggled.

Sakuya popped out and fired at the railing Cassie was on. The blast echoed off the metal walls, taking a chunk out of it. Cassie had already vaulted down, landing behind the crate directly opposite his.

“Gonna take pot-shots at me all day, boomer?” Cassie called, readying her guns.

“At least I can aim instead of spraying-and-praying.” Sakuya called back.

Bullets peppered the metal crate he was behind, starting to rip it apart. They drained HP and armor quickly, so he slid out along the container’s side, only for Cassie to leap over his head, air-strafing as he kicked off the wall, tumbling on his back. She sprayed her machine guns at Sakuya, a few stray pellets from his shotgun just barely clipping her side. Too late.

“CASSIE HAS FIRST BLOOD!”
“CASSIE HAS TAKEN THE LEAD!”

She spammed 😛 emojis, which filled the top left corner of Sakuya’s HUD.

After respawning, Sakuya dashed for the large support beam in the center area. His heart was thumping as he tried to chain his old jump pattern around it, aiming to exploit an old movement glitch that’d launch him upward if he built enough momentum and hit the pillar backwards. It worked, barreling him up as Cassie’s barrage of bullets struggled to track him.

The instant she was in his sights, he pulled the Quadbarrel’s primary trigger twice, firing one shell at a time. Cassie juked left, twirling out of the pellets’ path. He landed in front of her with a rough crash, his HUD flashing critical HP warnings from both the fall and her bullets. Risking another death, he sat up and pulled the third trigger, blasting her midsection with the top barrels at point-blank range, the burst sending her guts scattering into tassels of gore.

“SAKUYA IS TIED FOR THE LEAD!”

He jumped up, dashing towards the +50 health orb in the corner.

Cassie’s laughter already echoed through the arena. “Good shot! But you’re too predictable~” She fired again, ripping him into a red paste of blood and metal.

“CASSIE HAS TAKEN THE LEAD!”

Cassie had already been waiting for Sakuya when he respawned, cutting off his entrance to the central chamber with a quick burst from her machine guns. Risking it again, he dove in, crashing hard on his shoulder like an action hero, but miscalculated his shot by just a few inches.

“Terrible aim, gramps~” Cassie giggled, shredding Sakuya with her machine guns again, scattering him into bits of mincemeat and sparking armor.

Respawning, Sakuya dialed back his attacks, firing only one shell at a time to avoid being caught in the open while reloading. He managed to tag Cassie with a shell here and there, but she was always just a bit faster.

“Stop buzzing around like a pesky fly!” Sakuya shouted.

“Get good, noob~!” Cassie taunted. “I thought only pros donned the B-7X. Guess you’re not a pro.”

“I am! Just not right now.” Despite Cassie giving him a run for his money, Sakuya was still enjoying this match. It reminded him of how fun Rezrektion Arena could be.
The score at the top of his HUD kept ticking up:

Cassie: 5 | Sakuya: 3

The timer began to tick its last minute down. Sakuya decided to shadow Cassie, just managing to read her movements. He glitched the central pillar to launch himself again and blasted her through the wall she’d been running on.
I might still be able to catch up.

She respawned, spraying her machine guns all around as she laughed like a madwoman. Sakuya kicked himself off a wall and spammed the primary fire, managing to splatter Cassie into a shower of neon blood with only thirty seconds left on the timer.

“SAKUYA IS TIED FOR THE LEAD!”
Just one more frag and I’ll win! I can do this!

Cassie didn’t waste any time, hopping around even faster than before. Sakuya was dumbfounded, but didn’t let himself get intimidated. The win was looking right at him. All he had to do was—
—get shredded into bits, apparently.

“CASSIE HAS TAKEN THE LEAD!”
I want to smash my keyboard!

Cassie stretched, wiping the sweat off her forehead. “Whew, you finally made me get serious~”

“You mean you weren’t serious before that?” Sakuya sighed.

Ten seconds left. He was out for blood. Cassie was chilling in a corner, her machine guns at the ready. Sakuya sprinted towards her and slid under the spray of bullets, aiming his Quadbarrel at her just as she tilted her guns down. The weapons blasted each other apart as the timer hit zero and the announcer roared.

“TIME’S UP!”
“CASSIE WINS!”

Cassie flashed a 😛, filling Sakuya’s HUD with a wall of taunting stickers again.

Both of them respawned, emerging from the portals back in the bar.

Cassie grinned wide, her cheeks flushed. “That was one of the most fun duels I’ve had in a while, old guy! You know some ancient movement tricks, huh?”

Sakuya stretched himself, feeling tired. “I’m a bit rusty, though. You’re crazy with those machine guns, kid.”

Cassie blinked, smiling with murderous intent underneath. “I’m a what? What did you just call me?”

“N-nothing. Forget about it.” Sakuya put his hands up in defense.

“That’s what I thought, gramps.”
So she can call me “gramps” because of my ancient armor but I can’t call her “kid” because she’s short!? Hypocrisy!

“I’m going back to work, but come around here more often. Get a buff or two, or we can duel again~ Catch ya later!” Cassie offered him a fist bump, ready to go back into the staff room before—

The door burst open, ending the banter in an instant. A player stumbled in, glitching and barely standing. He looked young, with red hair falling over his eyes, his face wasn't too visible, but it was bloodstained and glitching, his cloak tattered and ripped. He leaned heavily on someone else—Richter.

Sakuya tensed up just seeing him. Richter’s presence radiated through the bar. He was over six feet tall, his coat trailing behind him, blonde hair slicked back, save for one stubborn strand. He was calm and elegant, just like his playstyle.

Cassie ran to him, shouting in worry. “Ashlan?! What the hell happened to him, Richter?"

Richter kept holding the other player. His voice was deep, but not cold. “A player named Bonebags had him in a rigged duel. He just barely won. But somehow, Bonebags, or someone working under him, managed to inflict damage in the lobby.”

Cassie balled her hands into fists. "But violence is banned in the lobby! Why didn't the drones stop it!?"

Richter looked down in shame. "I don't know. It happened in a well-moderated district. Whoever did it was either lucky, or managed to disrupt the drones."

The people inside gasped. Some of the other patrons brought out a gurney for Ashlan, carrying him away as a drone projecting a medical cross hologram followed. Looks like this place had an infirmary of sorts. Could you really get hurt in the lobby?
Cassie rushed to Ashlan’s side as the other players carried him. She squeezed his hand. “Hang in there, Ashlan. We’ll get you patched up.” As they carried him upstairs, Cassie bit her lip and muttered under her breath. “That damn Bonebags…”

I knew that bastard was shady.
Sakuya stepped forward. “Bonebags? I think I’ve met the guy.”

Everyone turned to him, including Richter.

“Do tell all that you know.” Richter studied Sakuya with sharp eyes, crossing his arms.

Sakuya explained about Bonebags’ sales pitch, the promise of a shortcut up the leaderboard, his appearance and the custom lobbies he offered. When he finished, Richter’s frown deepened. Cassie scoffed in shock.

“So… Ashlan must’ve been tricked due to his low leaderboard standing.” He clasped his chin in thought, giving Sakuya a nod of respect. “I’ll investigate. Until then, stay safe. There’s more at play here than a broken ranking system. I have to know why the drones didn't stop it...”

Richter turned as his coat fluttered below him, leaving the bar just as quickly as he’d come in.

Cassie stood there for a moment, then turned to Sakuya, her anger crystal clear. “I knew Bonebags was at fault for all these sudden eliminations lately. To think he almost got Ashlan eliminated!” She grabbed Sakuya’s wrist. “I’m done letting that greasy skeleton get away with this. Are you with me, or will I have to riddle him with bullets myself?

Sakuya thought for a moment, scanning the room. His gaze went from Cassie, to the stairs, to the hush that had fallen over the bar. Bonebags was out there, hunting players. Now, even the lobby wasn’t safe. He hated scammers, unfair players and those who’d try to taint sanctuaries. Bonebags was all three.

He placed his fist on his chest and nodded. “Count on it.”

Another gasp rippled through the bar. Sakuya turned to the leaderboard holoscreen inside the bar. The names were glitching and scrambling. BONEBAGS was climbing, jumping higher with each glitch: #324, #300, #273. Players were cursing all around.

For a moment, every name vanished. At the very top, a new name flashed:
#0. NIL

It blinked in and out, warping the cyan border reserved for the #1 spot. A message scrolled across the display:
“ALL SCORES RESET IN THE END.”

The leaderboard flickered a few times, snapping back to normal. NIL was gone, the top three being showcased again:
#1. IZANAMI
#2. RICHTER
#3. THILRIX

Cassie spoke in a low voice. “That’s not supposed to happen… I thought they patched the leaderboard.”

Sakuya kept staring, his heart pounding, the promise he made now feeling heavy, like he’d bit off more than he could chew.
What the hell did I sign myself up for?