The Chaos Hour

A chase!
Ellin liked it, he got up quickly and started running after the girl. He started yelling things out as he chased her.
"So you are the traitor of the clan!" he shouted hoping she heard.

 

Both of them ran off leaving Jarek more confused than before. The girl obviously didn't want him around so he decided to chase as well. Whoever this man was he wouldn't let him touch her.

 

No matter how hard she ran, she could hear the footsteps catching up.
"So you are the traitor of the clan!" he shouted.
J.J. turned her head at an inopportune time… just the moment a stationary crack in the sidewalk popped up. She tripped.
What the --? She thought. Is this some mainframe horror movie trick – the girl being chased automatically trips?
She cursed and started to get up, but it was too late to get far enough away.

 

"Why won't you answer me?" Ellin paused only to catch his breath running wasn't his thing even though he was a thin little wire, "Why can't we just sit and talk like civil people?"
Ellin finally watched as the girl fell to the ground perfect, now he could catch up to her.

 

J.J. scrambled to her feet just as RealmLord caught up to her, the stranger not far behind.
She checked her pockets. Oh no, the medallion. It was gone. She searched the ground where she fell.

 

Ellin watched as she was searching around the ground.
"Why won't you talk to me?" he asked again, "I demand all runaway to speak to me, when spoken to."
Ellin watched her again and he finally had gotten close enough. He stepped on her fingers and stared into her eyes.
"Answers please,"

 

She stared back up at him. Hate in her eyes, but helpless to free herself. His foot crushed her fingers.
"Now is not the time," she answered. "I'll talk to you in game. Not here. Not now."

 

Ellin put a little more weight on her fingers and then stared at her. The hate in her eyes, it disgusted him. He slapped her across the face and stepped back.
"In the game...in the game you ran away...you talk to me here and now and answer my questions," Ellin said, "It hurts me to hurt you...just answer me...answer me."

 

Jarek saw that the man was stepping on her hand. He shoved him off and said "What the hell are you thinking?"

 

Ellin turned to the fool hardy one.
"This doesn't concern you...it only concerns the clan and me...her leader and her ruler," Ellin said, "So I would suggest you step back...before I kill you."

 

J.J. was thankful for the stranger now. She watched the two struggle against each other and once again searched the ground for her medallion.
There it is. She went to grab it, but another hand reached it first.

 

As Ellin stepped backwards he stepped on something metal. He removed his foot and saw a medallion on the floor. He noticed her eyes on the medallion and placed his hand on it.
"So this is what you are looking for,"

 

Jarek ran at the man and tackled him grabbing the medallion. In the process he accidentally activated it. Slowly the world around him faded away.

 

She lunged forward to grab the medallion out of his hand, feeling stupid for allowing the situation to take place at all.
But she was too late. The medallion activated, pulling her and the other two into the chaos hour.

 

Ellin growled in frustration the foolish one activated the Chaos hour. It was still in almost a baby like state with colored beams flashing around, translucent sidewalks, and blue numbers along the walls. It was if they were in some crystallized world, data that had been crystallized.
"THIS DID NOT CONCERN YOU! AND NOW YOU DO THIS!" Ellin said his temper boiling up he hated being defied.

 

"I'm Ali." She told him, noting that he avoided her question. Could be he didn't hear. He appeared to be paying more attention to the buildings around him. He certainly was interested. Maybe too interested.

Eventually, they made it to the other side of the common area, and the small cafe stood where it usually was. Alethea checked the silver watch on her wrist. Still a quarter hour early.

"Would you like to stay for a cup of coffee?" She asked Cain.

 

"I believe it's in every man's duty to stop the abuse of women." Jarek said in a stern voice. He felt inside his preloaded avatar's coat and confirmed that his weapon was there. He didn't draw it yet but kept his hand at the ready. "Now stop this nonsense or you'll find yourself dead."

 

A new energy formed inside of J.J., like her bones were made of light. She shook her head, and tried to get used to the new sight, which looked just like the old site, only much larger and lacking color.

The stranger, and the sudden change of scene, had RealmLord's attention. She used that moment to grab the medallion out of his hand.

The moment she touched him, though, sparks flew from her fingers. She grasped the medal and withdrew her hand quickly, not sure what just happened.

 

Ellin just stared at him.
"You think you can kill me?" Ellin paused, "Try me."

 

Magus was online. He was somewhat of a mainstay almost a year ago, but the past few months saw sporadic frequency. He was bored with the Chaos Hour. He had a one track mind, which might explain in great deal his sudden lack of enthusiasm when logging on. Even a masterfully constructed virtual world couldn't keep the guy's attention for long. Not without trying something new in between. But more on that later, for Magus found his way back to his former obsession.

His avatar was barely how he remembered it, he gave himself too much credit before. The shiny, all black bodysuit had long lost its magic. In actuality, it rode up the crotch a little.

"Damn," he said as he spotted his hardware attempting to become external.

He liked the superhero look, but let's say the superhero look didn't share the same fondness for Magus. The extra in his costume wasn't necessarily outlawed, but Magus took great pride in his appearance. He went to The Closet to change his look.

Even though the room was called The Closet, he wouldn't actually find a wardrobe there. It was just the location where he could think up something more suitable for his first day back in the Chaos Hour. Letting his creative juices flow, he tailored himself a new suit. It was a revamp of the previous style he sported, with platinum gloves and boots that seemed to swim in diamonds. If it came down to a fight, Magus would like to administer an expensive ass whooping to make it stick out. His black bodysuit fit much better than the last one, with a platinum M enveloped in a yellow triangle. His mask covered his whole face and had three strips at the mouth that allowed him to breathe. It was also see through from the inside, so holes for eyes weren't needed.

"Much better," he said as he examined himself through the mirror.

 

Just as she asked, Ali heard raised voices down the street. Sounded like someone was having a bit of a scrap. She turned to Cain.

"I'll be right back." She then sprinted off in the direction of the voices. She rounded a building and noticed three forms suddenly dematerialize, and then re-materialize with a flash. She was half-tempted to draw her weapon and open up on them. It was apparent that they had just launched themselves into the Chaos Hour. They were still facing off, one had his hand in his coat, as if ready to draw a weapon, the other was staring him down. The third, a girl, was standing nearby. Instantly, she stepped between the two men.

"Alright, break it up, boys." She said flatly.

 

Cain saw here leave and quietly darted away. He ran into one of the changing rooms and changed his avatar. Gone was the long hair and suit. He transformed into a bald, bearded, tough guy. Chuckling a bit to himself, he ran out of the room and headed to where Ali had gone. He followed her and saw her in front of two men and a little girl.

"Alright, break it up, boys," she said. She seemed to be reaching in her jacket for a weapon.

She's with the government! Cain thought. How could he be so stupid? He had to pick the one that could put him in bars. Common sense would tell him to log out now, but that would be suspicious. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his own pistol, pointing it at the others. He walked next to Ali.

"Alright! You know what you all did, and the jig's up." He smiled. "We're gonna have to take you downtown."

 

Simon peered through the now broken window, drawn to it by the sound of raised voices from outside. He could see several characters involved in a conflict that was about to develop into a showdown. This was something he wanted to be involved in.

He ran down the stairs and flung open the door and stood out on the street just down the road he observed a man draw a gun. His hand moved to his belt as he grabbed his flip knife and slipped it up his sleeve allowing his hands to hang naturally again making him appear unarmed. He made his presence known as he approached the group. "Ok people the game of charades is up." he watched as a bald headed man span round his gun now trained on him and smirked.

"Oh come on your not government. Don't even bother pretending. You haven't got a clue how to handle that weapon have you and your still naive enough to think that can actually help you in a place like this." he motioned around at the buildings the movement deliberate he wanted to see how the character would react to any sudden movements. He had him down as a rookie you can change your avatar but not your body language.

 

Somewhere below them, there were shouts. The twins stopped climbing and looked down - they weren't alone.

Far from it. Rorschach counted about five other users standing in the street below, their avatars bright and solid. They were in the Chaos Hour, too, then.

Rorschach slid down from the green stream he was sitting on to the red one below him, to stand beside his brother. With one hand, he removed his black bowler hat and nudged a lock of purple hair out of his face.

He and Cthulhu exchanged glances. Cthulhu sat down on the red beam, swinging his red-and-yellow checkered legs idlely. He considered removing his headphones so he could hear better, but decided against it. It wouldn't make any difference.

The people below appeared much older than the twins, and seemed to be fighting. One man mentioned the "government", and Rorschach inched closer to Cthulhu.

"We should go," he murmurred. Cthulhu shook his head.

"We're fine," he whispered back.

Cthulhu leaned over to get a better look, but it was no use. They were at a weird angle. After a moment, he yanked out his left eye and dropped it.

Red, yellow, blue, purple - the colors flashed by on its way down, making Cthulhu a little dizzy. The eye hit the ground and bounced once, then landed just inches from the back of the blonde woman's foot.

That was no good - Cthulhu couldn't see crap from there. He expected moving his eye over such a great distance would be difficult, but it was surprisingly easy. Because he was in the Chaos Hour, he guessed. Cthulhu rolled his eye back, and found a nice spot between the blonde lady and the bald guy.

He caught sight of the man's gun and raised his eyebrows. Rorschach nudged him.

"What?" he asked quietly, "What d'you see?"

"Baldy's got a gun," Cthulhu whispered.

Rorschach fell silent. He watched the scene from their seat in the air, knowing that Cthulhu'd report anything they couldn't see from up there. They just hoped those other users wouldn't notice Cthulhu's eye on the ground.

 

"Alright! You know what you all did, and the jig's up." He smiled. "We're gonna have to take you downtown."
J.J. looked from the woman to the bald man. She couldn't be sure if either were really the police, and she didn't want to find out. As she started to slip away, though, another man approached. He walked steadily with his chest out, and he mocked the man with the gun.

Steadily, she put one foot behind the other, backing as far as she could. She started to squish something on the ground, but stopped to look down at it. It looked right back up at her. Her eyes widened, but she did not scream.

It was her first time in chaos hour, but J.J. knew what to expect. She had to make sure that the wrong person didn't find out who she was. She had to right this mistake.