Stan, having never drunk the Potion of Swiftness, or QPO, before, was amazed by how lighthearted and free he felt. It was as if he could do no wrong, and he instantly felt that regaining the huge lead Corporal Emerick had taken would be nothing short of easy. Stan recognized the pleasant tickling sensation that came from running through the flames the fire charges had left on the ground.
As Stan burst from the smoke, he saw Corporal Emerick sprinting full speed down the main street, a trail of blue and orange fumes in his wake. Stan followed in pursuit, his own feet feeling like they weighed nothing under the effects of the potion. He soon realized he was not alone. Stan glanced behind him and saw DZ and Archie running alongside him, trailing blue wisps of smoke themselves.
“Hey, Stan!” said Archie, surprising Stan. He hadn’t realized the potion enabled them to talk easily while running.
“Hey, Archie,” said Stan with a grim smirk. “Sorry all your plans got ruined.”
“Honestly, I’m just thankful we all got out alive,” Archie replied.
“So nobody got hurt in the attack, then?” asked Stan.
“Nah, our snipers took ’em all down,” said DZ. “I gotta say, if this is the Noctem Alliance’s idea of an attack, then we really ain’t got too much to worry about.”
“I’m still getting over the fact that the organization still exists,” said Stan, his face reflecting the worry boiling within him. “I gotta be honest, these Noctem guys have shown that they can be both really smart and really rash and dumb.”
“That’s a good point,” said Archie, a frown crossing his skeleton face. “One day they override the redstone circuits of the courthouse, something we still haven’t figured out, and the next, they pull something like this? I mean, this was, like, the worst-thought-out offensive of all time!”
“It scares me, to be honest,” said Stan, speaking truthfully as they rounded a curve, following the corporal onto the main street of the government district. “When there are inconsistencies like this, it makes it hard to draw patterns. Are these guys from the Noctem Alliance smart or not? And, more important, are they a serious danger to the city?”
“Well, hopefully this little jerk’ll give us some answers. Look where he went.” DZ smirked, pointing as Emerick disappeared into the front doors of the Avery Memorial Courthouse.
Stan’s heart roared in triumph. The courthouse walls were made of obsidian. Corporal Emerick had just trapped himself in the building.
As they ran up the front steps of the courthouse, DZ yelled out, “Here, Stan!” and Stan saw something blue and brown flying out of DZ’s hand. Stan caught it and recognized it as his own diamond axe. He nodded a quick thanks to DZ, holding it in his hand as he pocketed the sword he had been carrying. DZ drew out two glowing diamond swords, and Archie drew his bow. The trio burst into the courthouse. Stan reached back without checking his speed and, in one movement, punched a painting off the wall near the door and pulled down the switch hidden behind it. The iron doors of the courthouse slammed shut behind them. Stan heard the mechanical whirs of various other mechanisms within the building ensuring that escape would be impossible until Stan input the security code.
The effects of the potion were beginning to wear off. Stan, Archie and DZ walked into the main courtroom immediately adjacent to the entrance hall, which was the only room in the building. The room sat stagnant as ever, the same rotunda of wooden seats around the main floor. Obsidian pillars stood looming in the middle of the rotunda seats. The Noctem leader could be hidden behind any of the seats, or any of the pillars, Stan realized.
Stan, Archie and DZ looked at one another in silence. A series of eye and head gestures seemed to indicate that splitting up was in order. As DZ snuck around the pillars and Archie stood ready to shoot at a split second’s notice, Stan crept through the seats, methodically and meticulously checking behind each and every row. However, the search yielded no results, and a quick shout down to DZ confirmed that his search had been equally unsuccessful.
Stan was stumped. Corporal Emerick was clearly somewhere within the room, but Stan had checked all the hiding places. From where he was standing, Stan could see the entire courtroom, including behind every single seat. He saw DZ and Archie checking around the pillars for a second time, and the looks of bewilderment on their faces were indicating that it was to no avail. Where was …
“AAAAUUUGH!”
Stan almost stumbled forwards off the seats at the yell from DZ that echoed throughout the rotunda. A pained grimace had taken to DZ’s face, and he was clutching at his arm, staring in surprise at the arrow that had just sunk into it. Stan whipped his head to the side, wildly thinking for a moment that Archie had betrayed them, but his skeletal face showed surprise to mirror DZ’s and his own.
Stan heard a whizzing sound, and he turned in time to see an arrow flying out of the vacant seats towards his face. Stan lunged to the side, the arrow sinking into the wall behind him. Sheathing his axe and drawing his bow, he tried to distinguish the source of the arrow. As he stared intently at the place where the arrow had originated, utterly confused and terrified as to what was happening, he noticed something from the corner of his eye. An iron sword, having materialized in mid-air in the middle of the rotunda floor, was now flying across the room, on a collision course with Archie’s back.
“Archie, hit the dirt!” Stan bellowed. Archie did so without hesitation, and the sword soared over him just as Stan sent an arrow towards the sword’s point of origin. The arrow connected. Stan heard a grunt of pain as the arrow found its unseen mark. Stan saw Corporal Emerick flicker into visibility for an instant, with an aggrieved look on his face, before vanishing once again.
“Guys, he’s there!” Stan yelled, directing DZ’s and Archie’s attention to the place where an arrow was being yanked out of the unseen player’s shoulder and tossed to the ground. “You can’t see him, but he’s there!”
Recognition flashed across Archie’s face. “He’s using an Invisibility Potion!” he cried, sending an arrow towards the invisible corporal, which Emerick sidestepped. Now that Stan knew where Emerick was, he was certain he could see a slight shimmering, as if heat were rising off of pavement, wherever the invisible player was. Stan saw Emerick darting across the room. A visible diamond sword appeared from thin air in what Stan assumed was his hand, flying right towards Stan himself. Stan drew his own axe to engage the corporal in combat.
This was easily the most bizarre fight Stan had ever been in, and considering what he had endured on his campaign to overthrow King Kev, that was saying something. Stan could not determine any distinct part of the invisible enemy he was fighting. It was all Stan could do to raise his axe to counterattack the levitating diamond sword, which was making floating jabs and slices.
Stan felt his legs being swept out from under him, and he knew that Corporal Emerick had swept his invisible foot underneath Stan’s own. Stan tumbled to the floor, barely raising his axe in time to block the sword that was coming down onto his neck. As Stan struggled to regain his upright footing, he felt an invisible foot pinning his chest to the ground. Stan felt he was being drained of all energy as his blood rushed from his heart in a wave.
Just as Stan was about to determine that it was too much, that he couldn’t fight any more, the pressure lifted the slightest bit. This gave Stan the opportunity to fling himself upwards and onto his feet. The corporal tumbled down the rotunda seats, a shimmering marking his place as well as the arrow sticking from his shoulder blade.
Stan’s vision on the rotunda floor refocused on DZ trying to mend the wound from the arrow he had pulled from his unarmoured bicep, but he did not see Archie by DZ’s side. Stan saw Archie firing arrow after arrow at the place