Deep Dive Ch. 03 - Working in Pairs

Note from the author:

Hello everyone.

Thanks for reading the previous chapters, I really do enjoy writing them.

I know that in the previous one the smut was limited, so I am making up for this with this chapter. I think it came out better than before, but it's still not as good as I hoped.

Or maybe I am just overly critical, let me know what you think.

Anyway, have a good read.

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I was at the front with Veronica trailing some distance behind me. We were both walking in silence, trying to find a way to navigate our current situation. That included both what happened not even half an hour ago and figuring out in what other ways the game changed after the last update.

After our encounter at the edge of the forest, where I had my first taste of how... intense this body can feel I was experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions. I was so conflicted about it, and knowing how Veronica felt right now was just making it worse.

I run a recap of everything we were able to establish so far, for now focusing on just straight facts. The game had an update, a big one. That was obvious, but we didn't know what changed. As it turns out, a lot.

For one, the 'mature' systems were no longer optional, but a core part of the game. That's how my arousal counter turned on without me noticing. Another thing was that my arousal somehow rose abnormally fast. That was a mystery for now, but sooner or later I had to figure it out. Most likely by random chance since I didn't even know where to look for clues.

There was also a matter of the encounter itself. Veronica didn't know about the effects of the update. From her point of view, I enabled the arousal system and now had no idea how to deal with it. She went in for a kiss to gauge my reaction and I, to my current embarrassment, reacted much stronger than I should have. She took that as a go-ahead and things escalated.

Would I have agreed to it if I had known what I know now? Well, an easier question was: would I have told her to stop? No, I wouldn't, as much as I want to think otherwise. She even gave me a chance to back out, but I didn't take it.

But she stopped anyway. When it looked like she was primed for a second round she asked me how long ago have I enabled the arousal gauge. When I told her that I never did she stopped, immediately. From there it was just a few questions and a quick check in the menu screen to flip the mood from exciting to awful.

Now the question was, how far the Big Update took those changes? Was this suddenly a free-for-all game, instead of mainly a co-op one? How would other players react to the arousal system being turned on for everyone? Probably it was that closer integration of current systems James mentioned. Or just an expansion of the existing ones? Right now I could only guess. Veronica has played this game already, so maybe she would know something more.

I slowed my pace, trying to make her catch up to me, but she slowed as well. I stopped. She also did.

- Listen, we need to talk - I said.

She looked up at me, for the first time since we started walking, but said nothing.

- I know, it's a shitty situation...

- I am sorry - she interrupted me - I assumed you knew what opting in for the arousal system meant, but I couldn't have known that the game changed it without your knowledge. When I was enabling it some time ago there was a long disclaimer you had to read, and...

- Wait, what are you talking about?

She stared at me for a moment. She opened her mouth to say something but maybe decided against it, instead looking at the ground again. Only now I understood, that I was more worried about the situation with the game, while she was more worried about what happened between us.

- Look, I don't blame you for what happened.

- You should - we were standing twenty feet apart, but I could still see her fighting to suppress emotions - I took advantage of you.

- I didn't stop you, even when you gave me a chance to back out.

- Not objecting is not the same as agreeing to something.

True, but not necessarily in this situation, even if I would never say it out loud. Still, this was going nowhere. I walked right up to her. She didn't move but still refused to look at me.

- Self-pity never helped anyone with anything - I said, quoting her own words back from the hangar.

Now she did.

- Hey, hate the game, not the player, right? - I smiled - It's not your fault that the game devs are a bunch of perverts. This may not be much, but you handled the situation better than I would. I think.

Now I had another thought, that once more reminded me of something. I thought this situation was somewhat familiar. Almost every weekend at college one of my friends had a new story about how he scored a date at the bar, where the girl was looking for any opportunity to get laid and they just happened to be at the right place at the right time. But now I was experiencing it from the other side.

- Oh god, now thinking about it I am so glad it was you who figured out what was happening with me - shiver went through my body - if I have met the others in that state...

- Yeah, that could be awkward - she finished for me, wiping her face with one hand - but still, I should have asked you first...

- And if I refused then what? - I interrupted her - I would just be walking around bow-legged through the rest of the tutorial?

- I mean - she blushed suddenly, it was such a change it took me by surprise - you could, you know, handle it yourself.

- Oh. Right.

- So you didn't even think about that? - Now she laughed. Precisely, she laughed at me, but it was still a nice change - Did you think that only guys have a special ability to get themselves off all alone?

- Ugh, kind of? - I was feeling so stupid right now - I mean, I didn't have the time to think about that, to be honest.

- Right, sorry again for that. I should have given you more time to figure things out.

- Come on already, I told you it wasn't that bad - what an understatement, but something stopped me from saying how I felt.

Veronica crossed her arms and looked me straight in the eyes.

- Wasn't that bad. Seriously? You came so hard you couldn't sit upright, not to mention even move your legs.

- Shut up - now it was my time to check if there was something interesting laying on the ground - I just didn't know what to expect.

- You and me both - she smirked - come on, the guys probably already cleared the whole level.

She moved past me and I watched her go before I also started moving. This whole conversation felt like the one you have with a one-night stand in the morning when you both were drunk the day before. I had a few like this before. All of them went much worse than this one.

------------|V|------------

We caught up with the rest only to learn that they cleared out almost every single spot along the way to the factory. Until now we were on the outskirts of the industrial area, where things were supposed to be easy, but now we would be moving into the proper facility. As far as I understood there should be just a few more fights ahead, then a boss arena and then we would be out of the tutorial zone.

When I thought about it this whole tutorial was just a series of repeating fights, with no other challenges on the way, but when I brought it up James said that it was because we were not supposed to fight on every occasion. There were traps, puzzles, platforming sections, stealth challenges, and others alike. Even more, the game design discouraged trying to fight everything you saw, but since we could just brute-force our way through, why shouldn't we?

Yes, it was faster that way, and made sense for them, since they knew how this stuff worked, but I didn't. There may have also been somewhere in there a lesson about learning how to play the game wrong from the start, but what do I know?

- Nothing is stopping you from still going the correct route - James said, pointing at one of the ruined buildings - over there should be the way through the upper portion of the level. Platforming section and stealth if I remember correctly.

- Shouldn't there be a sign or a prompt at least? It's supposed to be a tutorial.

- There was, right at the start. You had to click it, and it moved to the next checkpoint, and then repeat that until the end. But we skipped it.

- So, it's still at the start? - it might have been as well a rhetorical question.

- It probably is at the start, correct - he nodded - gotta love MMO tutorial designs. Devs touch it once and then forget about it.

- Fantastic - I sighed - so I just climb the ruins and follow you guys from above?

- Yeah, that should work - James agreed - it also should give us enough distance so the lower-level bots shouldn't spawn, but it will be close. Also, check your ammo; there may also be some enemies on your path, and you will have no backup.

Now that gave me a pause. I got so used to having a meat shield in front of me that I never considered how I would fight alone. I doubted that I could just snipe everyone from the distance before they got in range to be a threat. This whole area was just buildings and machinery, and there would be no open spaces big enough to give me any sizable advantage.

- I can go with Val - Veronica appeared right beside me - She can't deal with CQC threats, but I can cover her up close. And with me, she would still have a way to communicate with you without the open channel.

- What's wrong with the open channel? - I asked - We have used it before.

- Only during a fight - James answered - and even then it's not a great choice. Everyone nearby can hear you.

- What's wrong with that?

- Enemies are part of everyone - he tapped on his comm link - even bots. Unless you want to be found you should never use it.

- So what is it even for?

- Maybe throwing insults at other players? - he shrugged - I mean, if you insult someone, but they couldn't hear it, have you insulted them or not?

I blinked. Once, then twice more. That was a philosophical question I was not ready for.

- Anyway - Veronica once again barged in on our conversation - so the plan is this: Valerie will take the upper route with me, I will keep her safe and she will keep you safe in turn, if we get a clear line of sight. Don't you roll your eyes, I can see that. You both will go through the ground level. If you need any help just call me and we will... seriously J, go fuck yourself.

I had to admit, it was kind of impressive. He was rolling his eyes so far back I swear he could see his brain, but somehow still noticed the knife flying straight at him.

He dodged to the side and started walking towards the factory as if nothing happened. Vera stared daggers at his back, while the one she threw more literally returned to her hand. Right, she had the cool thing that let her do that.

- Good luck - Lazar passed us with just a glance in our direction, following after James.

- You think they will be alright? - I asked after a while when I was sure they were out of earshot - It is a tutorial, but it's still meant for a party of four.

- James just acts like he doesn't care about anything, but he takes the game very seriously - Vera answered - and Lazar is a bit of a power gamer if you ask me. I think he found his current build on some forum dedicated to min-maxing in any game. They will be fine.

- And what about us?

- Oh, I don't know yet. I mean, I have known you for only a day or so, that's not enough time to build a relationship.

I didn't have a knife, so I threw my pistol at her. Then I went to pick it up since I didn't have a fancy thing that let me just recall it.

------------|V|------------

- Come on, give me a hand - Veronica tried and failed for the third time to reach the catwalk I was standing on - this is not funny.

- I disagree - I reached down, and helped her climb up - I am having a lot of fun.

Either the platforming section was much harder than it should be for a tutorial, or we both were completely lost. The second option was more likely since from the very start we were trying to not lose visual contact with our ground team, and that meant picking a path that certainly was not intended by the devs.

I had not only higher Dexterity than Veronica (by a single point, but still) but also had a passive bonus to Mobility, and on top of that, I could enhance it even further with ARCS skill. That gave me not only a sizable edge while reaching new vantage points, but also the time to get a good look at our surroundings while she was catching up to me.

The whole industrial area was in a state of highest disrepair. What once was surely a mighty complex of factories was now a loose collection of partially or fully ruined buildings. Red bricks that were most commonly used here turned brown and were covered by a thick layer o vegetation, from moss up to full-blown trees growing straight from holes in the walls.

As far as I could see, almost every building had its roof gone, and most of the light machinery was missing, almost as if someone was stealing every metal part that wasn't bolted to the floor or too heavy to be taken away. Maybe that's why the robots were here, to defend the place from the looters.

- Val? I could use some help here - Veronica once again was lingering behind, stuck below me - And I would appreciate it if I didn't have to ask every single time.

- Maybe I just like to hear you beg - I crouched down to give her a hand - level 10 and can't climb stairs?

She disappeared. Not metaphorically, I was looking at her, and the next moment she was gone. Then I felt a hand grab me by the neck and was thrown backward. As I was scrambling to get my side pistol someone stepped on my hand, pinning it to the ground. I looked up and saw Veronica standing over me, arms crossed.

- You got anything more to say? - she asked calmly.

I didn't even try to resist anymore, as her hand slowly moved to one of the knives hanging from her belt. I held my breath.

- Damn it - she relaxed, taking her foot off my hand and helping me get up - I may have overreacted a bit. This stupid level is getting on my nerves.

- Yeah - my voice was shaking - just a little. How did you even do it?

- Blink - she simply answered - it lets me teleport a short distance.

- And you have never used it until now? - I was surprised, that seemed like a really strong ability.

- It's got limited uses. Just two per day - she started walking down the corridor and I followed her - I shouldn't just waste it playing pranks. But it was fun, so maybe it wasn't a complete waste after all.

- Yeah - I said quietly - fun.

- Come on, don't be such a killjoy. You didn't look that scared when you were on the ground.

Now that she mentioned it, I realized that I wasn't. I couldn't move at all even though she pinned just one of my hands to the ground, but that was not because of fear. I opened my HUD to check something, despite already having an idea what happened. Yup, there it was. Colored in dark pink [5]. I disabled all pop-up notifications earlier in hope that the arousal system would just deactivate, but it was no surprise that it didn't work like that.

- Hey, are you coming? - Veronica shouted from ahead - I think I can hear gunshots nearby, maybe we can score some exp for ourselves before guys kill everyone.

- Yeah - I closed the HUD, shaking my head in disbelief - right behind you.

------------|V|------------

As it turned out, the path we took was not only annoying to walk through, it was completely devoid of any armed resistance. We moved from one vantage point to the other and helped the ground team with long-range covering fire.

Well, I did. Veronica was bored out of her mind since at this range she couldn't do anything except watch. She had a light pistol on her, but it dealt a pathetic amount of damage at that distance, that is if she even managed to hit anything. After Lazar complained to her about the friendly fire she decided to just let me have all the fun.

We went back to the sniper-spotter roles, with her picking targets, and me doing my best to kill them in an amusing way. At first, I was just going for the head (as one should), but since guys on the ground were doing just fine on their own I switched to blowing off arms and legs off of the bots. Both as a challenge for myself and to save Veronica from dying from boredom.

- May I ask you something personal? - she inquired while we were walking toward our next spot - you don't have to answer if you don't want to

- No, it's fine - I crawled on all fours under a huge chunk of a fallen wall, into a long, makeshift tunnel, that seemed like the only way forward - Ask away.

- Ok, so, outside of the game, do you have a significant other?

I turned around to see her crawling behind me.

- Do you mean like a girlfriend?

- Yes, but I didn't want to assume - she made a small pause - you know what? Forget I asked, don't answer it, just keep going.

- I don't - I said anyway - Had a few passing relationships but that's about it. It never clicked for me. How about you?

- I had three, but nothing long-term.

- Well, still better than me - I stopped, realizing something, and looked back at her - wait, do you mean girlfriends?

- Are you surprised by that? - she moved her hand, signaling me to keep going - Two girls and one guy so far. I don't like to limit myself.

- Yeah, I should have figured. Any perspectives to make it two for two, or give girls a bigger lead?

- Oh, I have a nice perspective all right, especially now, I just don't know where to put it on the scoreboard.

What? I looked back at her again and caught her right before she turned her head away. I could feel my face getting all red, both from anger and embarrassment as I understood what she was talking about. Her smile when she saw my face was all the confirmation I needed.

- Come on, you seriously are clueless - she tried to defend herself - but it's not my fault, you just took the lead and I followed.

I wasn't listening anymore as I picked up the pace, trying to leave this damn passageway as soon as possible.

- Yeah, move your knees further up, stretch it more - she stayed back, to not follow right behind me, but I knew she could see everything either way - that suit of yours looks like it's airtight, I swear it's showing the outline of your...

I pushed myself out of the narrow corridor with a grunt and started walking further without waiting for her. I opened my HUD. [11]. Fuck. That couldn't be right, that five from the last time should have dropped over time, I should have been at zero when I walked in.

I went into the setting and turned the pop-ups back on. All of them, even the ones that were turned off from the start. If I were to figure out how this damned system worked I had to spot what caused the gauge to go up. It for sure wasn't random, and it couldn't be rising that fast on its own.

- Val? Come on, I was just joking - I heard Veronica shout from behind me - where are you? I promise that from now on I will check you out respectfully.

I smiled despite myself. Damn, I just couldn't stay mad at that girl.

The sound of gunfire brought me back to more pressing matters. I walked to one of the windows from which I had a good view of the street below. Once again the frontline duo disregarded stealth altogether and went for a head-on fight.

I took out my rifle from the equipment and tried resting it on the window frame, but it was a bit low for me. I found three bricks on the floor and made makeshift support, now being able to get a better shooting position, even if not as stable.

- Straight to the action, huh? - Veronica asked finally catching up to me - I hope you won't give me the silent treatment now, would you?