As Wade walked out with his combat loadout, his back was visible and one could barely see a red and silver light peeking through the dark fabric of his suit.

******************

"So, chief. Did we get him?"

Mr. King questioned the police chief as he released a triumphant smile.

"Unfortunately, we didn't. He was merely too quick for us to catch."

Mr. King's triumphant smile disappeared as he crushed a pen in his hand. 'Wade incapacitated one of our allies by destroying their headquarters and eliminating many of their soldiers. We can't rely on them now.'

Mr. King stroked the stubble on his chin as he thought about Wade's actions and how they would affect him in the future.

"Uh, sir. What's our next action. You'll still be paying us the same amount right?"

The police chief questioned him as he drank some water.

"Of course. However, that's only if you catch him or kill him. Our clients at the Searing Snake gang have used one of their favors to make me kill or capture Wade. How annoying."

"I see. So that's why you're requesting me to do this for you. Wade eliminated 80% of the Searing Snake gang's forces and they want you to take him out in return."

The police chief reasoned as he silently thought it all out.

"Well, I'll leave you to your devices. I don't care what you use. Just finish the job. I'd rather get this affair over as soon as possible."

Mr. King left the room as he waved his hand at the police chief.

"I guess I'll use my connections to capture him as soon as possible. You did say I could use anything after all."

The police chief murmured as he reached for his phone.

*************************

Wade laid on the ground as he played with Needleshock by slashing a few twigs here and there. He stared at the sun, daydreaming as he waited for nightfall. He dared not sleep due to the threat that came before when he was playing the game. If he hadn't disconnected early, who knew what could've happened.

'Well, it seems that checking the news would be a good way to see my status on the wanted list' he chuckled as he removed a miniature screen from his pocket and as he turned it on, he switched the channels rapidly before stopping at one that talked about him.

"Hmm. Interesting" Wade murmured as he stared at the screen in mild shock.

"Today, we have some exciting news. Right, Ralph?"

The female news reporter lead off with a question as she fiddled with the pen in her hand.

"Of course. Now, this was news last night but involving the murder of a high-level politician, John Faltion. The police had received an anonymous tip that described the man who murdered Mr. Faltion. The police are following this lead now." 

"We hope that anyone who sees this person stays away and reports to the police."

Linda then pointed toward a screen with Wade's information on it as well as a picture of him in his high school days.

Wade turned off the mini screen he was holding before shoving it back in the case in his pocket.

********************

"We've done it!"

"We defeated the boss with only three of us!"

"Look at the loot drops! We'll be rich!"

All of a sudden, all three of the men cheering disintegrated as they disappeared. A man walked up to the boss's loot and picked up a few items as he looked at their stats.

"Hmm. Seems to be good loot. Oh, a shield. Quite nice indeed."

The man who had spoken was Unbreakable Defense, the second ranker on the global leaderboard of Second World Online. He was trying to find a game-changing item that could make him the #1 ranker as his supposed defense was his high offense. Although he was a defense class, he had a unique class that allowed him to use his defense as his offense. As long as a person touched him physically, it would reflect damage to the person who had hurt him. His class was called [Thorned Wall] and it was a unique class that he had found through a trial in a cave near the Beginner Village. It was an Epic class and had many unique skills and capabilities.

After picking up the items, Unbreakable Defense equipped a new shield that was almost slightly worse than the one he had on but had more flexibility.

As he waved his teammates over, he handed each one of the gear from the boss according to their classes.

"Thanks, boss."

"Yeah, no problem. We have to look out for each other if we're going to be the top of this new world."

As he finished packing things up, Unbreakable Defense glanced toward the sky and with determination in his eyes, he spoke.

"I will take the #1 ranking spot. Whoever you are, you will die to me and me alone."

**************************

As Wade snuck into the city, he glanced at the tracker in his hand. He had tracked the phone that had given the new station the anonymous tip about how he was the one who killed Mr. Haltion. As he leaped across the rooftops, the GPS constantly beeped as he was getting closer to his target.

'Beep, beep, beep, beep.'

The GPS started beeping extremely fast and Wade muted it before examining the GPS's map closely. There were two dots. Red and green. Green symbolized Wade and red symbolized his target. The red dot was a block away from him in a large house while Wade sat atop a roof of an apartment building.

"Well, let us see who's inside, shall we?"

He chuckled as he flicked a switch on the side of the GPS. There was a scan function that was equipped with x-ray, night vision, and heat detection. He held the GPS and scanned the building that it showed the phone was in. There were 3 people on the third floor while none throughout the rest of the building.

It seemed that he would have to go inside to identify all three people. He activated Needleshock and leaped over a few buildings before reaching the balcony of the building he wanted to reach. He didn't care about the sound and slashed the window directly before jumping in.

Nobody was in the room so Wade hid behind the door as he turned on his x-ray vision on his goggles.

He saw a man holding a gun as he walked toward the door and as he kicked it in, Wade stabbed Needleshock into his throat without releasing the needles inside. He kicked the man aside and saw two women rushing up with a gun in one's hand and a kitchen knife being held by the smaller woman.

Wade ducked under a table nearby and pulled the table covers down as he kept his x-ray vision on to monitor what happened outside. The women walked up only to see a dead man on the floor with a gun still in his hand.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!"

One of the women screamed while the other stayed calm and looked around carefully before helping her friend calm down. Wade had identified the man he killed as Mr. King and one of the women to be Samantha and the other being Rose who he met at the high school reunion.

"Calm down, Samantha. If one dies, he's dead. You gotta move on and take revenge for him later on. That's how cruel life is. You can't change his fate but you can change the one who killed him by taking revenge. Come on. Let's see if the murderer is still here."

Rose comforted Samantha as she led her toward a few rooms with her gun held out in front of her.

As soon as they walked into a room, Wade slipped out of the table and broke another window open before jumping out and using Needleshock to stab into the building's wall so he could slow down his falling speed. After reaching the ground, he ran out of the alley just as Rose and Samantha peeked outside the window. The only glimpse they had of him was the black cloak that whipped around the corner Wade had turned.

********************

The next day...

The funeral for Mr. King had been held and Wade was glad to see that it had all worked out. Revenge had been made and the police assumed him missing so all he had to do was lay low for a few months before leaving his bunker.

Wade unequipped his armor and weapons as he hung them up where they were before after washing them thoroughly of sweat and dust from sliding down the wall before. He then grabbed a black t-shirt and jeans and wore them after taking a shower.

Wade walked out of the bunker and stretched as the rock trapdoor closed behind him. He fit on a hoodie before leaving toward the city in a light jog. He had jogged a few miles before stopping at a park in the city to drink some water from a nearby water fountain. As he finished drinking, he wiped his mouth only to see Rose sitting on a bench in a tracksuit eating a few energy bars a few meters away.

Wade quickly ran away and as he passed her, Rose noticed his red and silver hair in his hoodie and quickly ran after him. Luckily, his leftover stamina was enough to outrun her and he sighed in relief as he leaned on a tree.

He quickly resumed jogging again and as he neared one of the familiar black markets, he walked inside. He showed a gang token to the receptionist and as the door opened, he stepped inside. This was one of the black markets that supported illegal dog fights and sold varieties of weapons unavailable in the current market.

Wade had only walked into this black market because it had a tunnel that led to the edge of the city and he wanted to visit Hal. As he turned the corner and walked into the tunnel, he crashed into a bald man that seemed to not be in a good mood.

"Damn it. Why am I having so much bad luck today. Crashing into 14 people, spilling my coffee, and missing 50% of my shots in a gang war. What the fuck!"

The man rambled as he moved past him. Wade went through the tunnel and as he reached the end of it, he climbed up a ladder and into a familiar neighborhood.

As far as he knew, Hal lived in the same place for his whole life. Hal's parents had died so he had taken it upon himself to work from high school and have enough left to live a comfortable life. Surprisingly, he had gotten a high-paying job and it was enough to pay his bills and even allow him to travel to other countries on vacations.

Wade rang Hal's doorbell as he reached his house. As the door opened, Hal saw Wade and he gasped.

"You're alive, Wade?"

"Yeah, you're not going to report me to the police, are ya?"

Wade asked just in case as he was prepared to stab Hal in a non-fatal area with Needleshock if need be.

"Of course not. We're buddies since high school. I could never ditch ya."

As Hal stepped to the side and allowed Wade into his house, he closed the door and locked it.

Wade walked in and slouched into the sofa as he sighed.

"Well, anybody bother you, Hal? You know I can take em out for ya right?"

"No, no. Everything's been fine ever since I got that job, you know? I even planned to take a vacation until I heard about your problem. Want cookies? I'm practicing baking various foods and this is one of my best."

"Sure. Give me one."

Wade smelled it and stared at it to check for any harmful substances before eating it.

"Mm. Pretty good if I do say so myself."

"I know right? It took me about 20 tries to get it right."

Wade opened his eyes and stared at Hal.

"20 tries? Isn't that a lot?"

"Of course not. I was baking the usual recipe but I wanted to make it taste better."

"Just add sugar."

Wade chuckled as he thought up Hal trying 20 different recipes to get the one that tasted right.

"Hahaha, I believe sugar is merely an ingredient used to increase some's sensitivity. I don't use it to create good food. I'd rather make it myself and get it perfect even if it requires my taste buds dying in the process."

"True, true." Wade laughed as well as he imagined Hal throwing up in the toilet due to his dumb baking creations. 

"Hey, Wade. Do you play Second World Online? I'd like to be friends with you so we can party up and earn experience and adventure together."

"Of course I play Second World Online."

Wade grabbed a water bottle and sipped it as he spoke.

"What's your username. I'll write it down so I can friend you when I get back in."

"War."

"Hmm. That's quite short for a username. Why'd you pick it anyway. I mean like why War of all the names you could've chosen."

"One reason. War is the result of all our hatred, arrogance, and other negative emotions. It also creates peace for a set amount of time. In my opinion, war is the perfect name for something in between peace and chaos. In other words, war is balance."

As Wade explained, his tattoo pulsed for a moment before fading. Neither Wade nor Hal noticed it as they ate their cookies and sipped their drinks. As time went by, laughter echoed throughout the house, and many future ideas and philosophies were shared.