I Want to Break Free

“Temporary user confirmed. User ID 12351 - The Gamer. Assignment Confirmed. Penultimate test will be a simulation of a prison break in a hostile Kingdom. Please proceed to the briefing room on the 5th floor. Briefing starts in three minutes,” a robotic female voice sounded from the screen, instructing John. To his surprise, Abigail was assigned the same test.

“We’re in the same class too. Maybe it’s common for our class? Who knows,” John said as Abigail turned to the row of elevators. Dozens of people waited in front of them, meaning they would have to take the stairs or risk being late.

“I’ll meet you there; I just want to get some fresh air real quick,” John told Abigail, heading for the exit. In reality, John had a different plan.

“You sure? Three minutes is hardly enough time to climb up ten tall flights of stairs as is,” Abigail questioned, half turned toward the stairs in question.

“Don’t worry about it,” John replied, walked out the doors and counted his steps away from the building. I’m probably making this way harder for myself than I need to, but it’s a good chance to test Jump anyway. I’ve never done any big ones yet. Alright. The giant window in the middle of the fifth floor looks like it’s open enough for me to get through. Doesn’t look like anybody is inside either. If the opening isn’t big enough, Jump will just tell me I can’t get to that destination. Using it to move a meter or two was easy because I just had to think about the direction. Let’s see how hard this is.

Focusing on the window above, John charged Jump and let go when he thought he had put enough into it. As a result, he appeared just in front of the building, a meter above the window. Shit shit shit. John steadied his breathing and kicked off the pocket of air provided by his boots, flying through the open window and landing on his side on the table, sliding to the end. As he slid, he noticed the instructor who had scolded him and rewritten his error message outside was in the room. Putting on his most charming smile, he said, “Oh hi. Almost didn’t see ya there.”

“That’s one way to make it on time,” was her simple response as she straightened her emerald glasses. “A waste of energy when intense physical effort would have likely sufficed.”

Their conversation was interrupted by Abigail bursting into the room, immediately sputtering in confusion upon seeing John, “But you- you were just- you weren’t-”

“Please take a seat while we wait for your peers to join us, Ms. Firenzia… and you Mr. Newman.” In short order, five more people joined them. With the instructor at the head of the table, that left one swivel chair unoccupied. “Tsk tsk tsk, tardiness will not be tolerated.”

The door slammed shut on its own as a spear of lightning sailed through the window into the ceiling, a pale man in a blue robe appearing out of it and falling into the only empty chair. Sparks fell onto the gray carpet below as his spear disappeared but caused no visible damage. “Sorry about that. Saw somebody else go in through the window and thought, ‘Damn that’s stylish and quicker than the stairs.’”

“As we have not yet begun, you will not be punished for the disturbance. Everyone, please look to the center of the table.” As she spoke, a hole opened in the middle of the wooden table out of which a black pyramid rose. It projected a hologram of the Rider-Waite logo before the image transformed to one of a concrete complex. “Greetings, prospective hunters. I am Jessica Albyn, a member of the Wand Department. That means I perform non-medical research and handle intel gathering and archiving, though the more learned of you likely already knew that. You’re here because you’ve passed your second test. Pass this one, and you will move on to the final test.”

“As many of you know, a section of the Geneva Conventions was dedicated to treatment of prisoners in War. What some of you may not know is that underground Abyssal meetings at this time decided these same rules would apply to prisons across Kingdoms to ensure liveable conditions for all prisoners. Today, you will be put into a prison that approximates what you would expect from a hostile Kingdom. As agents normally operate under the law, this scenario hopefully won’t be a problem, but if for any reason you are captured by hostile forces, you will know what to expect.” The hologram of the prison zoomed in for a view of bleak walls and guard patrols as it moved through as though it were a camera someone was carrying.

Jessica paused as she looked around the room, studying the expressions of the applicants. John and Abigail had looks of rapt attention, while others ranged from **** worry on the face of one elvish female applicant to relative indifference in the case of the lightning-spear guy. “We’ve teamed up with the Fateweavers to create this barrier, and as such many of the inmates and guards will be mere constructs. You eight are the only real inmates in the prison and will be placed randomly into cells. Your mission is to determine which eight guards are real people and to either gain control of the prison or escape within twenty-four hours. Since this is in a test barrier, any injuries sustained will be erased upon exiting. Such magic is extremely costly, so I suggest you use it to your advantage.”

“When being placed, you will have all of your equipment confiscated, including that in pocket dimensions. You may choose to find and recover this equipment to aid you in your task. A collar will be placed around your neck that will both block the flow of magic and chi within your body and render you **** if broken. You will be escorted to the dining area thrice, the showers once, and will have six hours of time to be spent recreationally. Use them wisely. Any questions?”

If they detect the first person who tries to escape, it’ll be a lot harder after that, the Gamer thought, ready to tackle this challenge. The nervous girl and the lightning man both raised their hands.

“Yes, Ms. Andor?” Jessica called on the girl first as the black pyramid retreated back under the table.

“Do we automatically fail completely if we fail both tasks within a day?” Andor probed, hiding behind the neck of her cloak.

“I’m afraid so. A failure to complete either task will result in a complete failure of the entrance trials,” Jessica responded. Her tone became much colder as she continued, “Yes, Mr. Ixwich?”

“What do we do now?” Ixwich responded, eager to get started.

“If there are no further questions, then I will lead you eight outside to the location of the prison barrier.” Jessica answered, looking at everybody else. Upon seeing no other hands raised, she moved toward the door. “Then please follow me.”

Each applicant had to put everything except their clothes in storage on the first level of the basement before moving outside. Jessica used her quill to tear a hole in the air in front of each applicant. “Please step inside to begin the test.”

Here goes, John thought as he stepped into the tear… and immediately into a concrete hallway, a collar around his neck. As popups appeared in front of him, he noticed that one of the people he was standing in line with was a fellow applicant, an extremely muscular man wearing little more than basketball shorts. Aside from the clothing, he looked like a caricature of Hercules. The muscular man also had a collar around his neck, a relatively spartan exterior except for a glowing green light.

Magic Suppression Collar attempted to suppress Gamer’s Body, but Divine Abilities cannot be suppressed!

Magic Suppression Collar attempted to suppress Gamer’s Spirit, but Divine Abilities cannot be suppressed!

Magic Suppression Collar attempted to suppress Gamer’s Luck, but Divine Abilities cannot be suppressed!

Opening his character sheet, he noticed all of his abilities except Gamer’s Body, Gamer’s Spirit, Gamer’s Luck, Marksmanship, Guitar Playing, Alchemy, Parkour, Driving, Gun-Kata, Masturbation, and Meditate were all grayed out. Not the most useful skill set. On the upside, yellow bars overlapped his health and mana bars as they had done in the other test barrier.

David, are you still here? If you are, appear on my shoulder, John thought to his companion, and when David failed to appear on his shoulder, he became worried. If you’re still here, give me some sign!! For a moment, his eyesight narrowed and became hawk-like, and John reminded himself to use the Attunement book he had gotten a month ago when he went back to storage.

New Quest: Jailbreak!
Objectives: Escape the Prison OR Take Over the Prison
Optional Objective 1: Escape undetected
Optional Objective 2: Take over the prison without any casualties
Rewards: 10,000 XP, $5,000, Consumable Lootbox OR $10,000, 5,000 XP, Epic Weapon
Optional Reward 1: Shroud of Shadows
Optional Reward 2: Epic Weapon Lootbox

“Alright, inmates! You are here because for one reason or another you are a danger or detriment to our wonderful society. Strip!” a none too kind guide ordered, flicking an electric baton at them.

These clothes are one of my greatest advantages. If I want to take over the prison, now’s the time to do it… John thought, hesitating to take off his duster.

“Get on with it, inmate,” the loud guard ordered, waving the baton in John’s direction. “Strip all the way down.”

I don’t know what that thing is capable of, and he’s got a gun at his waist to boot. Better do some reconnaissance first, John thought as he took off his hat and duster, folding the duster and resting the hat on it before pulling off his shirt, which joined his duster as a hat cushion. A guard stiffly walked over and collected the small bundle of clothes as John took off his boots, his socks following. Left in his jeans and underwear, he looked around and noticed everyone else was already done. This caused him to speed up, though it wasn’t fast enough as his slow stripping earned him a strike from one of the stun batons.

He felt the electricity flow through his body and numb the place on his back where he was struck. It was only when the stun baton stopped making contact that he had the air in his lungs to yelp in pain. That’s humbling.

“That’ll serve as a reminder to obey orders more quickly next time,” the guard in charge remarked. He pointed with his empty hand toward a doorway as he said, “Your caretakers will escort you to a nice shower.”

Having no other choice, John followed the other prisoners in a line to the cell block he would be residing in, having an inkling as to what was to come from some prison movies he had seen. His thoughts were confirmed when he saw a guard pointing a firehose at them when they walked in.

Looking around the long room, John saw cells lining the longer walls opposite each other. A walkway connected the two sides at each of the four levels. A man in a suit, seemingly unarmed, looked with disdain upon them as they entered. When John made eye contact with him, he began speaking. “You are not here to be reformed. You are not here to be rehabilitated. You’re here because you’re an enemy of our society in one way or another, and we can’t outright kill you because you’re a citizen of another. If you think you’re going to be saved by your nation, you’re wrong. If you think you will be transferred, you’re wrong. You will serve your sentence, and if you’re lucky, you’ll be released afterwards.”

The moment the speech ended, the firehose was turned on and John was pushed back slightly by the **** of it, trying not to stand his ground as a false act of submission. As the hose passed over them, each prisoner had a similar reaction except for Hercules, who acted as though nothing was happening. The guard at the hose scowled but did nothing immediately. When they were done being hosed down, they were given jumpsuits and escorted to their cells without any opportunity to dry off.

There’s about twenty cells per row and five rows in total counting the ground floor, John thought as he was pushed into a cell on the first floor. Though there were two cots, he thankfully seemed to be its sole inhabitant. He noticed Hercules wasn’t as lucky, as he was pushed into a cell on the third floor that contained a short man with a long black beard. Abigail, Andor, and Ixwich were nowhere to be found.

Don’t they normally have separate prisons for men and women? John thought as he sat on his cot. Can’t think about that now. Escape plan time. With all the people I’ve seen, I’d guess the guard on the hose, the warden, and the baton-happy guard were all real. Their movement was more animated than the other guards’ at least. That’s three out of… I don’t know how many. I’ll guess eight for now, since that’s how many of us there are. The sound of metal crashing took him out of his head, and he looked up to see the Strongman had punched his cell open. Immediately, deafening alarms blared throughout the block.

Hercules jumped over the railing outside his cell and slammed to the ground below. Dozens of guards swarmed him immediately. A stun baton impacted his right arm which sagged to the ground uselessly as it went numb. His other arm seized the weapon, but it was small and awkward in his hands. Backpedaling and swinging the baton wildly, a guard caught his left leg with a wide arc, and Hercules fell onto his back. Both limbs were completely unresponsive, and as a last ditch effort, he slammed the nearest guard against the wall with a ton of ****.

John had a decent view of the action from where he was and took notes on the guards’ fighting styles and the effect of their weapons. As Hercules brutalized a guard, making a dent in the concrete in the process, the guard slowly faded away. Guess that one wasn’t real, John thought, trying to analyze if the real guards fought differently from the fake ones. The guard who had armed the hose, nicknamed Glasses by John on account of his glasses, stood out. His fighting style differed from the guards around him as he got up close and personal to Hercules.

An elvish guard landed a heavy smack onto Hercules’ head, who retorted with a haymaker just before falling ****. The elf also faded away. Guess I can’t distinguish it by race either, since the baton-happy guard had elf ears. Or something similar at least. Is that racist?

His fellow applicant was ejected from the barrier after a gunshot rang out, John following the line of fire back to a female guard, who quickly disappeared from his line of sight. Well, if the guards aren’t segregated based on gender, I guess the inmates probably aren’t. That sounds like a terrible idea.

From where he was, John could just barely hear snippets of conversation from below. “Why’d she have to go and do that! He was so promising,” Glasses complained, to which somebody out of his line of sight replied.

“You know we’re not supposed to give bias. We should’ve done that ourselves. Still, to think he’d pass the combat test with flying colors and then immediately fail this one. What a waste of potential.” John nicknamed the owner of this voice Squeaky, as it sounded like a child speaking.

“Alright, inmates!” Glasses called up. “After that excitement I bet lots of you are feeling pretty restless. You’re thinking to yourselves, ‘Breakfast is in fifteen minutes and the guards are hurt and distracted, that big idiot created a good chance for me.’ Well if any of you step one toe out of line, we will not hesitate to disable you immediately. That’s what we do when on high alert. If I were you, I wouldn’t try anything for at least another two hours.” Glasses stared directly at John for the last part, his voice dropping considerably. John, too surprised to do much more than stare back, nodded dumbly.