“Come on Loophole, it’s gonna start any minute here!”

  “I have ears and we have a few minutes, there’s really not that much of a rush you know,” I said as I walked out of the hallway at the back of our base and into the pit.

  Swansong had been busy and while the overall layout of the place hadn’t changed, it certainly felt almost home-y in a way that Jon’s and my apartment never did. I dropped onto the curved couch that felt even more plush than it had before my fight. The hologram at the center of the pit rotated in place with an actual countdown clock ticking in the center of it.

  I had gotten back to the Squad Base with a few minutes to spare before Axio’s announcement and I had found myself exploring the different rooms of the base. The hallway led out from the main common space about twenty feet down and had three doors, two on the right and one on the left. The closest of the doors on either side opened up to our newly acquired Garage Gym and Team Book Nook.

  I poked my head into each of them in turn, finding that their names were surprisingly accurate. The Garage Gym quite literally looked like it was somebody’s garage. The far wall of the room was even a closed garage door with windows at the top, showing light from the setting sun in the distance. There were several different weight racks, an elliptical, and a treadmill, as well as a large punching bag hung up in the corner of the overly shabby room. There was even an old school style boombox perched on top of a stool in one of the corners of the room.

  The Team Book Nook while not currently all that stocked, felt like it could easily turn into an incredibly peaceful place. There were shelves lining the majority of the walls with a small cutout that gave way to a small desk and chair. When highlighted the desk was called the Transcription Table and I assumed that that was what we’d have to use to create any of the knowledge books that we would be able to create. The only other piece of furniture in the room was a comfortable looking recliner that had a plaid throw blanket draped over the back of it.

  The farthest of the doors opened to a decently sized bathroom, complete with a large walk in shower, sink, and toilet. Of all the amenities in the room, the only one I could actually highlight was the shower, which was labeled as an Advanced Relaxation Shower.

  As I let myself get comfortable on the couch in the pit, I looked over at Swansong. She sat on the other side of the table with a large pillow on her lap and a plate containing a large, extra cheesy slice of pizza that was still steaming. I felt my stomach rumble and Swansong rolled her eyes.

  “I’m not gonna eat the whole thing on my own… I left the box on the counter, feel free to grab a slice,” Swansong said and I could hear Jon’s chair as he hopped to his feet.

  “Grab me one!”

  “I was talking to Loophole!”

  “Oh, come on!” Jon groaned as he fell back into his seat. “What the hell did I do?”

  “You tried to defend pineapple on pizza!”

  “I didn’t say I liked it, just that I could understand why people did! Come on, I’ll grab you a Cuban tomorrow,” Jon offered and I saw a smile tug at the corner of Swansong’s lips as she looked over to me.

  “Fine, grab him one too,” she said.

  Even though I had just gotten comfortable, I pushed myself back off the couch and trotted up to the kitchen cutout. I still had several of my own Base Points to spend, but Swansong had apparently used all twelve of the ones she had available. In addition to the shower back in the bathroom, she had also spent some of her points setting up the oven, as well as an overly fancy looking coffee machine, and a microwave that sat directly over the oven. The Refrigerated cabinet that I had looted from the Viper’s train was pushed up and into a corner directly next to a rather ordinary looking fridge.

  I grabbed the slices of pizza, foregoing any plates as I walked over to the glass wall that separated Jon’s Command Room from the rest of the base. He didn’t have a way to actually enter the base as a whole, but there was a small door that we could open to pass things through. It felt like an odd restriction, but given that his entire inclusion in the game was experimental as it was, he wasn’t complaining about being separated from us by a wall.

  There was a brief sound of trumpets and I saw as the holographic display began to spin faster and faster as it expanded into a large screen. It didn’t seem to be rotating any longer, instead moving to stay with me as I made my way back around to the staircase and into the pit. No matter which angle I looked at the display, it simply looked like a screen as the game’s logo gave way to the regular montage of the top ten.

  Tempest’s Wrath moved like a bolt of lightning, quite literally in fact as her body turned into electricity and surged across a battlefield before enveloping a man made out of shadows. The man’s hands turned into monstrous looking claws that dissolved into nothing as he tried to rip at her impossibly bright, intangible form. The sparks from her body rushed inward, piercing the shadowy form until it suddenly dissolved and turned into a black and white clad man that slumped to the ground in a smoking heap.

  The video changed to a shot of me punching Pinneedle up and into the sky before he took down the swarm of Clockwork Falcons. The camera stayed with me, tracking as I shot into the air and toward the giant pterodactyl.

  “Do you think Axio is just able to pull videos of you guys from anywhere, or is this some sort of situation where he has cameras hidden in the trees?” Jon called. I looked over my shoulder and saw he had his feet up on his counter. I could see the same set of videos from the announcement playing on the glass above several of his monitors. “I mean, I’m sure I’ve seen video on the forums of shots close to this, but this looks so much more clear than someone’s phone hundreds of yards away.”

  “This whole system lets us do things that shouldn’t be possible and you’re questioning where it gets its footage from?” Swansong asked curiously as the pterodactyl went down on the screen.

  “Yup,” was all Jon responded with as the footage flipped over to a wide shot from outside of a large hospital.

  Quizmaster was standing atop a large platform with two men flanking him on either side. They were each wearing costumes of their own and each looked like they were on way too many steroids. Quizmaster looked as if he was right in the middle of a monologue when a pink blur crashed into the platform and sent him flying into the air. Pinky stopped and threw something up into the air that exploded out into a net that quickly enveloped Quizmaster, sending him crashing to the ground as he struggled against his bonds.

  The two men jumped into action, trying to beat Pinky down as she threw up her arms. She was practically beaming in excitement as their blows landed and then stopped ineffectually against her. The over-muscled men briefly stopped in shock before one of them tripled in size and threw a boulder-sized fist that sent a shower of pink sparks flying off of her the moment it impacted.

  “What’s she doing?” Swansong asked curiously. “I thought her whole thing was charging people down?”

  “As far as I’ve figured out she’s sorta like a kinetic battery,” I explained as I watched her buck her head to the side, her tusks extending outward and smacking into the smaller of the men. The man was sent rocketing backwards like he was hit by a truck before Pinky launched off the pavement toward him. “She can absorb blows to build up her store on top of being able to slowly generate it on her own. That’s what she uses for her charges and to add extra power to her strikes.”

  “Wow…” She murmured, her attention focused on the screen as Pinky stomped the man down and into the ground. A crater formed around the crushed Miscreant before she turned on the giant. “You’re a brawler and your biggest attacks are all punches… if she can just absorb blows, how’d you manage to beat her?”

  “The first time he got her stuck in a wall,” Jon called out, his mouth clearly full.

  “A win’s a win,” I said with a shrug. “She can only absorb strikes when she’s not moving. My Gravity Punch has the knockback effect, so once I got her moving I was able to chip her health bar away. But yeah, that’s why I’m focused on trying to increase my ranged capabilities.”

  “Huh, someone maybe shoulda told the big fella about it,” Swansong said just as Pinky absorbed yet another strike from the large man before she sent a shockwave through the ground that left the man tripping. She took the opportunity to jump up in a wide arc before she smashed into his chest and released yet another wave of energy into him that sent a small fountain of blood spitting from his mouth.

  The last bit of footage that was left of her was Pinky hopping off the shrinking man, walking over, and picking up a still struggling Quizmaster before throwing him over her shoulder with a grin. It cut over just as she started to say something that didn’t come through in the audio. Although she had also appeared in the footage alongside me, Swansong was given her own spotlight showing as she sang and ushered the crowd from the zoo before the attack.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  After the rest of the Top Ten were given their time on the screen, including a new blob of a man that I hadn’t seen before, the video finally flipped over to the current standings. I had gotten so used to watching the number of Augments drop by dozens, if not hundreds of people each night that only losing five people felt like a miracle.

  Tenth Wave

  Guardians: 199 Miscreants: 295

  1. Tempest’s Wrath - Level 15 Thunder God - Miscreant - 28815 Points

  2. Loophole - Level 14 Perfect Planner - Guardian - 26705 Points

  3. Pretty Pink Warthog - Level 14 Berserking Boar - Guardian - 23985 Points

  4. Swansong - Level 13 Healing Voice - Guardian- 21040 Points

  5. Freakenstein - Level 13 Patchwork Armorer - Miscreant - 20530 Points

  6. Duke Juke’em- Level 12 Highschool Athlete - Miscreant - 19860 Points

  7. Vice Grip - Level 12 Toolbox Mechanic - Guardian - 19625 Points

  8. Lazer Tazer - Level 12 Lethal Lighting Specialist - Miscreant - 19220 Points

  9. Pigeon - Level 12 Pigeon - Miscreant - 18835 Points

  10. Thiccc Thighs - Level 12 Sumo Quaker - Miscreant - 17540 Points

  “Goooooood Evening Augments! We are now just 24 hours away from the start of the Tenth Wave’s Second Phase! Isn’t that just so incredibly exciting! Now, I have been thinking about this all day and I think instead of waiting for the phase to actually begin, I’m going to explain just how things are going to go, especially since I think you all are going to be quite a bit occupied during our regular nightly pow-wow tomorrow. Before we get to that though, I have a few of you in particular that I really want to shine a light on.”

  “Marking the very first Top Ten Takedown of your Wave, Pretty Pink Warthog has rocketed up to third place in the rankings for an impressive defeat over Quizmaster and his Ninth Wave Associates, Hightower and Muscle Multiplier. While I do have to admire Quizmaster’s moxie with convincing those two to help him, that eager beaver just didn’t have what it took to finish the job. Stopping him did save everyone in the hospital and since I did promise you a reward, you will now receive an S+:Tier box for being the first person to claim a bounty. Moving forward, just so you are all aware, the Top Ten will all have a permanent bounty on their heads. Any Augment that kills or captures a member of the Top Ten will receive two A+:Tier loot boxes. If it is a member of the Top Three, you will receive two S:Tier loot boxes instead.”

  “I’d also like to give a special shoutout to Dr. Noodle. Once again, that is an incredibly stupid name, I really cannot believe you actually decided to keep it, but I can appreciate that level of hardheadedness. Not only did you impressively handle that first Major Threat I sent your way on the first day, you also managed to handle the second one you accidentally summoned when you revealed your Secret Identity to your wife. Being alive still really is its own reward for that, but you’re going to receive an extra little Teacher’s Pet Phase Point gain at the end of this announcement. Trust me, that’s going to be reward enough and you don’t even have to wait that long to find out why.”

  “Finally, Tempest’s Wrath. My staticky sweetheart. Now, I appreciate just how much pep you have in your step, trust me when I tell you that that’s the kind of initiative that I just love to see! But with your victory over Midnight Claws, you have unfortunately removed all of the other Tenth Wave Augments from your region. Strictly speaking, this is going to limit your growth potential during Phase Two due to the preset conditions I had to establish in the system’s programming, but I believe I have a way to mitigate those losses, you’ll just need to hear me out when we get a moment to chat offline.”

  “Okay, now let’s get on to the part that the majority of you are so patiently waiting for. Much like with Phase One, there will be a set Phase Point requirement for Phase Two. And that requirement iiiiiiiiiiis… 100,000 points! Yes, yes I know, that is a lot of points, but don’t any of you go fretting, I’m giving you thirty days to get them! As I’m hoping many of you are aware of by now, scoring Phase Points really is not that hard to do! I’ve put in so many ways to do it, you should be able to score these points in no time at all, especially with the introduction of Phase Two’s unique collectible item!”

  The screen that normally just stayed focused on the Top Ten list faded as a large golden coin emblazoned with the game’s logo appeared spinning at the center of the screen. Along the outer edge of the coin, the phrases “power through ascension” and “strength through unity” were easily legible and separated by stars.

  “This is an Ascension Token. Every day for the month of Phase Two, six of these tokens will be randomly generated in every single region with two or more Tenth Wave Augments. These tokens, when collected, can be deposited into the brand new Ascension Upgrader device to immediately gain 2,000 Phase Points. Now here’s where things get fun and why Squads are going to be important. While the Ascension Upgrader will be available for free as an upgrade for your Safe House, it will be available as a Squad Base Upgrade as well, ALSO for free! If an Ascension Token is placed into the Upgrader within a Squad Base, this Phase Point gain will be granted to all members of the Squad within the base at the time of deposit. Additionally, for every ten tokens placed into an Ascension Upgrader within a Squad Base, each member of the Squad in the base at the time of the tenth deposit will immediately go up by 1 Level!”

  A large brick of a device was on the screen with a crude animation of one of the Ascension Tokens dropping down and into it. Rather simple looking cartoon characters were cheering around the device as little +1s appeared over their heads.

  “That’s weird… when did he decide to rip off Fallout?” Jon wondered out loud. “Not that I’m complaining, other than the leaderboard montage, these little monologues of his really could use more visuals.”

  “You focus on the weirdest things…” Swansong said, looking over toward him. “Shouldn’t we be focused on the fact that Phase Two is some sort of scavenger hunt?”

  “Oh come on, I already have to deal with Loophole's fixation on conspiracies, can’t we focus on the big picture stuff after the weird A.I. is done with his rant?”

  “Now, since I don’t want you all just stumbling around blindly, hoping you find these tokens, they aren’t exactly going to be all that hidden! Instead of appearing all at the same time, tokens will be generated one at a time, two hours apart beginning at daybreak each day. I’m not going to be letting these things appear in the middle of the night, I’m not a monster after all, people are trying to sleep. With all that said, given that Phase Two will be starting near nighttime for most of you, there will be one coin that is deployed at the inception of the phase, with the remainder beginning the next morning. If a token has not been found by the time the next token is generated, all Augments within the region will be given an immediate notification with its location. I’m sure that will make for some excellent visuals for my little nightly monologues.”

  “He’s also so weirdly passive aggressive. Like, I can’t be the only one commenting on this nonsense, right? That last line was absolutely because of my complaint,” Jon said.

  “Maybe don’t complain so much,” I offered and he scoffed.

  “Come on bud, you should know by now that’s not gonna change,” he said and I couldn’t help but laugh. The cartoons faded from the screen before the spinning image of the Ascension Token reappeared in the video once again.

  “The Squad in Phase Two that overall collects the most Ascension Tokens by the end of Phase Two will have their Squad Base immediately upgraded by 2 Levels and they will receive an S+:Tier Squad Base loot box. On top of anyone who does not reach the required 100,000 Phase Points, Critical Level threats will be deployed to the Squad or Augment that overall collects the least Ascension Tokens by the end of Phase Two.”

  “All of this sure sounds super simple and it almost makes you wonder why I’ve been building this up so much, doesn’t it?! Keep thinking that, it’s gonna make this next part a lot more fun. Those of you who make it through this next Phase are undoubtedly going to come out stronger than any of the Waves before you. That’s good. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I need you all to be as strong as possible for what’s coming, and I’m learning that forging you all in the hottest of fires is the best way to get the sharpest steel. Good luck Augments. You’re going to need it.”

  Happy Monday! If you're enjoying the story, don't forget to leave a Rate, Review, or Comment!

  While it has no full relevance to today's chapter, I'd like to point out that the specifics behind the Garage Gym have changed as, several folks pointed out, it had a severe lack of limitations that would have kind have had some broken implications for other Augments. See below for the updated upgrade:

  Garage Gym. Uncommon Squad Base Upgrade. Install this upgrade into an available Squad Display Case to unlock the Garage Gym Expansion. This expansion occupies 150 square feet of your base’s total size allocation and provides a dedicated space for personal growth. Each squad member may spend up to one hour per day, 4 days per week, utilizing the various gym equipment in this room to raise either their Strength, Dexterity, or Toughness by 1 point up to a maximum of 35 base points in any of these stats. Members are subject to one instance of the Exhausted debuff after utilizing this room.

  Come on over to my Discord to talk about the story, see advanced news, and just talk nonsense!