Chapter Text
March, 1998
Alton Towers Resort
The newly completed area of X-Sector was the busiest area in the park. Guests flocked to see the new roller coaster and get in line to ride it, while others watched the train plummet into the hole, apparently vanishing, only to come out the other side perfectly fine as it curved back into the station for the next batch of riders.
Meanwhile, closer to the area’s entrance, The Black Hole stood where it always had, concealed beneath a now-dark tent. And nearby, its avatar stood - Dark hair, bright eyes, and a fresh new outfit to match the retheme of its corner of the park.
Martin Schwarzkopf looked around, searching for someone that he knew should be here by now, scanning the crowd as it walked by, fewer coming to his ride than before, mainly due to Oblivion being the cool new thing.
And then he approached a figure, certain it was who he was looking for. They were tall, with pitch black hair and wearing a clean black suit with bright orange highlights on the arms and inside. They stood at the drop, watching the latest batch of riders plummet into darkness.
“Hello!”
The man turned, his brilliant orange eyes looking at Martin as the Jet Star’s avatar walked over.
“You must be Oblivion! A pleasure to finally meet you!” Martin outstretched his hand, offering it to the new avatar.
The avatar looked at it for a second, before taking his hand, shaking it.
“Oliver Bolliger & Mabillard Alton. I’m guessing you’re the avatar of The Black Hole?”
“Yep!” Martin replied, his words almost drowned out by the screams of a new group of riders accompanied by the classic ‘BnM Roar’, though it wasn’t as loud as Nemesis, Oblivion’s underground drop cutting it off before it could reach the same level as the monster of Forbidden Valley.
“Interesting, I thought the model types didn’t get avatars.”
“We do.”
“How often?”
“As long as our ride exists, just like any other!” Martin said with a smile, something that Oliver noticed he did quite a lot. Perhaps he was just happy to meet the new Secret Weapon, to find out it had a proper avatar instead of the giant alien monster that had laid waste to Thunder Valley a few years earlier.
“And the same for other model types, like those SLCs that I’ve heard are becoming quite a thing now.”
“The Vekomas?”
“Yeah. Wonder if one will come to us.”
“I doubt it. Our park is growing, making quite a name for itself.”
“And that means it can’t have another Vekoma?”
“I don’t think Nemesis would enjoy the competition. It’s been rather upset lately.”
“It has?”
“You haven’t been to Forbidden Valley lately, have you? I went over there a few days ago, just to meet it. The creature seemed extremely irritated for some reason, more than it has been in the past. I did overhear something about a group doing research on it, though.”
“I mean who wouldn’t want to try and learn more about it? It’s a giant alien crab monster, we know nothing about it aside from the fact it’s big, has been living underneath the park for god knows how long, eats people, and is extremely pissed that the park unearthed it.”
“It also took military intervention to subdue it enough to build an entire roller coaster around it to keep it contained.”
“Yeah, I remember. A lot of good men died that day…” Martin sighed, remembering when Nemesis was awoken. Some of the other avatars thought it was partially also the wrath of the cancelled SW1 and SW2, since they had originally been planned to go where Nemesis now stood.
“Sounds like it was quite something.”
“It was. Think they had to call in some sort of special forces unit to help fight it.”
“I thought I heard it was something else.”
“Like what?”
Oliver stopped, thinking about what he had been told, what the Oblivion Operatives had learned about the rest of the park. How they weren’t alone, there was another group secretly operating on the park grounds.
“I don’t quite remember.”
“Oh.”
The two continued to chat as Martin showed Oliver around the rest of the park, introducing him to their Corkscrew, who seemed impressed that the park managed such an interesting type of coaster, even with the well-known Treeline Rule that they had to follow.
And as they walked, Oliver found himself liking Martin, feeling as if a friendship was starting between the two.