Nineteen froze in the TARDIS, staring at the screen that was monitoring the space around him. The ship had simply just... Disappeared. It couldn't do that. He checked the map of the OASIS, with its twenty seven sectors all arranged in the shape of a Rubik's cube. They were practically in the middle of the OASIS, and yet the hackers ship had managed to vanish into thin air. They didn't jump to hyperspace or warp drive or anything, they just... Vanished.

The TARDIS shook, and Nineteen saw the vacuum of space turn into spinning vortex on the display screens. He wasn't actually in a vortex of course. This was basically a glorified screensaver while the TARDIS was teleported from one place to another. After a few moments, it landed, and the screens faded back into a moving image. And not a particularly nice one.

Nineteen opened the ships doors, and stepped out into a dirty, empty cargo bay. The dozen soldiers immediately pulled out their weapons and aimed them at his chest. "Who are you?" One asked in a digitally distorted voice. Nineteen adjusted a voice modulator to sound similar.

"Hey, calm down." He grumbled. "It's just me." Nineteen held up his weapon in a peaceful gesture.

"That didn't answer his question." Another one of the hackers said.

The man was silent for a moment. "Come on guys, it's me... Your old pal... Garry. I escaped The Globe attack."

Some of the hackers guns lowered slightly, but others kept them aimed at his chest. "No one escaped the Globe."

"Well obviously I did." Nineteen gestured to himself. Luckily he was wearing a mask, otherwise he might have pulled his already thin lie too far. "Or I wouldn't be here."

Another soldier entered the room, and nodded at him behind all the others. "Oh yeah, Garry!" The distorted voice chuckled. There was something about the man's movement that didn't sit right with Nineteen. It took him a moment to realise this was actually Ninja. "Man, good to see you again." He walked forward and patted him on the shoulder. "Nice ship you have stolen there."

At this, the other soldiers seemed to relax, and began to mill around casually. "Hey look." One called out after a while. "We're coming up on the planet."

Nineteen craned his neck around Ninja to glimpse the planet. For a moment, it looked more like a star then a planet. A giant, shining ball sitting in a starless galaxy, seemingly emoting its own light. It wasn't until the ship flew even closer that details came into focus. Giant, sprawling city's of mirrored skyscrapers lined the planets surface, their lights reflecting off each other, illuminating the whole planet. The ship landed, and the cargo door slid open.

All of the soldiers around the two avatars filed out. Ninja began to follow them, but before he could get too far, Nineteen grabbed him at the wrist. "What are you doing?" His Russian accent was barely noticeable behind the voice modulator.

Nineteen pulled up a screen in front of his avatars face, and flipped it around. It was a map of the OASIS, showing all of the sectors and planets with pain staking detail and accuracy. There was only one problem. They weren't on it. They were outside the OASIS. Something that shouldn't be possible.

"What do we do?" Ninja hissed, grabbing Nineteen and dragging him along behind the others. "Should we tell the others?"

The masked avatar shook his head. "I just tried. All communications are down. We're cut off from the rest of the OASIS."

"Well... Can you record this or something?"

"Of course I'm recording this genius." Nineteen snapped.

One of the hackers turned around to face them. "What are you two talking about?" The two men froze.

"Uh..." Nineteen muttered.

Ninja elbowed him in the ribs. "Just about The Globe." He muttered. The hacker shrugged, before turning around and following the others. The procession continued through the streets of the mirrored city. For a moment, Riley glanced down at the road below them. He immediately wished he hadn't.

The ground was clear, presumably glass. The problem was that it didn't simply show something underneath. There was nothing underneath. The glass just kept going. And going. He could see directly through the planet into out into space on the other side. The imagery almost made him nauseous.

"Ignore it." Ninja whispered. Nineteen nodded, and kept walking forwards, one step after the other.

A large dome rose up ahead of them, it's mirrored face reflecting brilliant beams of light in all directions. The group stepped through a large opening in the side, and into a grand hall. Hundreds, even thousands of hackers, dressed identically, stood row by row in front of a large stage. There was a moment of nervous silence among the hackers, before a bang echoed through the hall, and an avatar flickered into life on the stage. A man in a black Guy Fauks mask, with a green Joker smile sloppily painted across it.

"Is that..."  Nineteen nodded before Ninja could continue. Quickly, he set up his avatar to record what was going on.

"Welcome!" The man yelled, his voice amplified by invisible speakers around he hall. "One an all. As you may be aware, our little... Outing on Ludus Two, has been successful. As of now, one of our units has officially stopped the server reboot from effecting our work, meaning Ludus Two is now, non existent. Of course, the murder of al there avatars there wasn't planned, however, it was unfortunately made necessary, due to an... Error, made on behalf of our team..." He shook his head, pacing up and down the stage.

"As you may all know, despite our best efforts, some avatars escaped the planet. Rest assured, we will find them. We will take them down. They are no match for us. Soon the entire OASIS will crumble at the hands... Of Hellscape!"

"Hellscape!" The army of hackers chanted back, saluting as they did so.

Nineteen started back away, before finding he was surrounded on all sides by hundreds of hackers. "We have to get out of here." He hissed to Ninja. The man nodded. Slowly, the pair turned around.

"Hey," one of the hackers behind them whispered, "What are you—" The two avatars charged through the rows of people, drawing their weapons.

"Intruders!" The leader screams, pointing them out in the crowd. "Kill them! Now!"

Both young men barrelled through the soldiers, Nineteen shooting arrows in all directions, Ninja throwing grenades left and right. In a crazy attempt, Nineteen spun around, and fired an arrow at the leader. The virtual world seemed to move in slow motion as the projectile sailed through the air.

Higher...

Higher...

Lower...

Lower...

There was a sickening thud, as the arrow lodged itself in the neck of the masked leader. His avatars body collapsed to the ground, before fading away, leaving his items floating above the wooden stage. "Nice one!" Ninja screamed over the havoc. The pair were almost out, with the majority of their hit points too. That was, until dozens of men slammed shut the doors in front of them. Nineteen swore under his breath. They were trapped.

"I have a plan..." He whispered, backing up against Ninja.

"Is it going to save us in the next three seconds?" The Russian asked. His voice modulator had disappeared.

Nineteen nodded. "Of course." He squeezed the TARDIS key in his free hand, and the blue box began to materialise around them, making its signature whirring sound. Before the box could fully form, Nineteen took the most powerful bomb in his inventory, a small nuclear weapon, and threw it at the ground.

3.
The TARDIS materialised around them, and Riley raced to the control panel.

2.
He slammed his hand on the buttons, and the space ship shot upwards, breaking through the surface of the dome.

1. The ship hovered in the atmosphere for a moment.

The bomb detonated.

The TARDIS shook violently, and thousands, millions of credits flooded into the pairs inventories, flowing in from all of the avatars they'd just killed. Nineteen punched the air. "Yes!" He screamed. "Yes, yes, yes!" He laughed hysterically as the TARDIS broke the atmosphere, and reappeared in the OASIS map. "Did you see that?" He quickly skulled a health potion to restore his hit points.

Ninja's avatar stared blankly at a screen. "Did you just destroy the entire threat?"

Nineteen shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. I just killed their avatars. It'll set them back a while, sure, but destroyed? Not in the slightest. I suspect there's some that even made it off the planet."

"Good... Good..." Ninja muttered under his breath.

"Excuse me?"

The large Russian turned to face him. He drew a large sword. "Nothing personal. But if the OASIS is falling, I'd like to be on the winning side." He lunged forwards at the young man.

Nineteen managed to dart out of the way just in time, the blade sinking into the TARDIS control deck. "Are you insane?" He yelled, throwing his arm out and sending the TARDIS hurtling towards the nearest planet.

"Possibly." Ninja shrugged. He lunged again, this time catching Nineteen across the chest. "But who is more insane. The insane man, or the man who didn't realise he was insane?"

"The insane ma— What the hell are you talking about?" They were closing in on the planets atmosphere now. Nineteen cursed. It was a magic zone. If he flew the TARDIS in there, I'd crash to the ground, killing them both.

"It won't matter. Soon you'll be dead." Ninja leapt over the console, and swung his sword again. This time, Nineteen ducked, sending Ninja stumbling down the bridge to the door.

"You sure about that?" The avatar threw out his hand and hit a button. The double doors flew open, and Ninja toppled out, falling directly into the planets atmosphere, and hurtling towards the ground. Nineteen pulled the TARDIS back at the last possible moment, jerking the ship back into open space, the doors slamming shut. He panted on the floor for a moment, before healing himself, and logging out. This had been a long day.

* * * * *

Thaimes scrambled out of his crashed space ship, noticing Reaper do the same thing in the corner of his eye. "You okay?" He called over to the younger boy. There was a low groan in response. Thaimes groaned back, falling into the plowed up dirt and laying there for a moment, panting.

"What do we do now?" Reaper asked from not too far away. Thaimes waved his hand, and crumbled ship shrank down to the size of a toy. He rolled over, snatched it up, and placed it in his inventory.

"There's gotta be a town somewhere. Probably one with a teleportation terminal. I can get home, and you can go... Wherever you're going." Reaper nodded, pushing himself to his feet, and helping his friend up. "Thanks mate."

The pair looked around at their surroundings. A huge forest stretched off in one direction, and endless grassy plains in the other. Smoke was visible over the horizon. "I say we go that way." Reaper sighed. Thaimes nodded, and the two began the trek across the unknown world.

It was around two hours by the time they made it to source of the smoke. It was a small cottage, with a thatched roof, and a stone chimney curling up into the sky on its side. Thaimes knocked on the wooden door. "Coming, coming..." Muttered a feeble old voice. The door swung open to reveal a small, widened looking old man, who stared up at them from under unwieldy white eyebrows. "Welcome travellers, to my humble abode!" He chuckled, his great silver beard bouncing as he spoke. "How may I assist you? I'm afraid I've lost my lucky amulet, so my healing powers are—"

"We don't care about your side quest old man." Thaimes grunted. He hadn't slept in a little over a day, and he didn't have the patience for whatever NPC garbage this man was going to tell him. "Where's a teleportation terminal?"

"Teleportation terminal?" The old man raised a busy eyebrow. "Over never heard tell of this which you speak. However, if you're in need to quick transportation, might I suggest, my enchanted fireplace?" He gesture inside to the large open fireplace, big enough for a man to stand in. "Just tell it where you want to go, and it will take you there For a fee, of course." He chuckled again.

"Whatever." Thaimes grunted, pushing past the man and stepping into the fireplace. "I'll be back online in about ten hours." He told Reaper.

"Same here." The young boy nodded.

"Great. We'll meet up then. I'll send you an email or something." Thaimes stood up straight, closed his eyes, and said the name of his base, an elfish word created by Tolkien, meaning home. Blue flames engulfed his avatar, and he disappeared, reappearing on the front entrance to his in online house. He simply phased through the door, crashed in a replica of the Simpsons couch, and logged out...

* * * * *

Morte sat on the front bonnet of the DeLorien, flicking through things he could by online for his avatar.

GingerSnap paced up and down on the rooftop in front of him. "You sure that's everything? You haven't left anything out?"

"I'm sure." Morte sighed, opening a page of weapons. "Is there any reason I'd leave you out of the loop? You escaped Ludus with us."

The ginger girl nodded. "Okay, I guess you're right... How many people did you say there was again?"

"Seven." Morte growled through his teeth. He selected an item, and purchased it. It was a weaponised umbrella from the movie series Kingsman. Not particularly eighties themes, like the rest of his items, but he thought it looked cool. The umbrella appeared in his inventory, and he took it out, turning it around in his hands. Morte stood up, placing the tip on the ground and the using it like a cane. "I think it suits me." He smirked. "Or maybe..."

His avatar flickered, and his ratty jeans and coat were replaced by a finely tailored suit, with a long black tailcoat, and shiny silver pocket watch in a waistcoat pocket. "Better?" He asked.

GingerSnap stared at him. "How the hell did you afford all that?"

Morte shrugged. "My line of work pays well."

"And that is?"

The tall, white haired young man considered her for a second. "Bounty hunter." He said eventually. "Get paid, and I get a share of whoever I kills' loot."

"That's a little unfair." GingerSnap huffed. "How do you know they deserve to have their avatars killed?"

Morte shrugged. "I only take the douchebags. People who sacrifice their friends to complete quests, steal from places, blow up virtual churches and stuff. You know the drill. Anyway, most people around here have a lot of cash."

"Well not me." GingerSnap shook her head. "Then again I don't do too many quests. Just schooling and socialising for me."

"You don't use it as an escape?" Morte asked, changing his skin back to the tatter black trench coat, the hood reappearing over his head.

"Where I come from, there isn't much to escape from. My real world isn't so bad."

Morte scoffed. "Sure it isn't princess. I doubt there's anywhere the human race hasn't already screwed up."

"You'd be surprised." GingerSnap smirked. "Anyway, I should get going. Beats waiting around here for something. To happen."

"Guess so." Morte agreed. He took something from a pocket inside his coat and handed it to her. "My contact card. In case we need to meet up again. Which I expect we will, considering the circumstances."

GingerSnap inspected it. It was a designed like the tarot card for death. Instead of the number, it displayed a level. And instead of a role, it read his avatar name- Morte, which she realised was just death in Italian. The image was of a grim reaper, leaning on his scythe. She flipped it over to read all of the other details, which had been written into the patterned design. "Cool card." She muttered. "About as emo as the rest of your aesthetic." She took out her own.

It was designed to look like an early cassette, with her avatar name and level written in the lines where the album name and artist would be, and her details scrawled in on the back instead of songs. "Retro." Morte nodded, slipping it into his pocket. He shrunk down his DeLorien, and placed it in his inventory.

"Well, miss Snap, I bid you farewell." Morte stepped towards the edge of the roof, ready to walk right off it... And logged out at the last moment, just as he was about to fall over the edge.

GingerSnap shook her head, placing his contact card in her inventory. He glanced around at the forever dark skyline of Neonoir, and logged out.

* * * * *

GingerNinja's avatar opened its eyes. The bearded Russian stared out at the empty desert around him, his emergency parachute blowing around in the red sand. He unclipped it from his body, casting it aside. He could buy a new one later. He checked his inventory... His space ship was gone. He must have left it parked on that our planet. Even so, based on his surroundings he doubted it would work. He'd just have to stay here long enough to find a teleportation terminal.

Ninja scowled at the horizon, holding his arm up to shield his eyes from the harsh desert sun. THE19 was going to pay for what he'd done...