Play Testers Wanted Pt. 06

"Permission to speak freely." I asked and she winked at me as I turned to face her. "Duh! A gorgeous woman gets naked in her shower and you wonder why I am sporting wood."

"Damn it all," Kat cursed. "If I invite you into the shower that might be looked at as sexual harassment. I could temporarily fire you and then rehire you after."

"Mistress?" A voice called out and I felt it in my head.

"Who the hell is that?" I exclaimed and Kat's expression grew intensely surprised.

"You can hear her, in your head?" Kat asked and I nodded. "What is it Nox?"

"I was about to warn you that I had detected another unnamed user on your private network." Nox replied. "I have to assume it is Mister Booker."

"Yes. Is dinner ready?" Kat asked changing the subject. "We will be dining on the roof."

I reluctantly left the bathroom so Kat could finish her shower in peace. Nox showed me to the roof so I could enjoy the open air and the excellent view of the city. I stood on the edge and looked out. Before the game I would have been shitting bricks. I had a terror of heights. I looked down and not a hint of vertigo or fear.

"I wonder." I whispered.

I walked to the helipad and took up a ready stance. I launched into the eighth form of combat and seamlessly performed every move flawlessly. I shouted in triumph and turned when I heard Kat clapping. Gone was the little black dress, stiletto heels, and perfectly coifed hair. She was now dressed in jeans, a loose-fitting sweatshirt, and her hair down and plastered to the back of her shirt. She gestured and I joined her at one of the pool side tables. When had dinner been brought out? I didn't remember seeing those dishes when I first got here. Maybe I just didn't notice.

"How are you enjoying yourself?" She asked as she lifted the metal dome over her plate.

"So many interesting characters and storylines. I am looking forward to Latveria." I said as I cut my steak.

"Remember, when I bought out Disney, I got all of their intellectual properties." She reminded me with a wicked smile. I knew she was hinting at something in the game that might not be Marvel or Star Wars related. There was so much that she might have added, and I looked forward to uncovering. "I hope the Negative Zone wasn't too intense."

"I will admit, it was a bit unnerving in between the watch tower and that giant cube." I shared. "It never became too much though."

"What is it?" Kat asked seeing my mood dip.

"Nothing." I said a little too intently. "Sorry. It is just a game. Damn it, I am still a little miffed about losing my lightsaber. I am just a little surprised I could lose it is all."

"Ah," She said nodding. "The game is a bit more realistic in some ways. The loss of your namesake is one of them. We might change it down the road though. It wouldn't be fair or fun if I intervened."

"No! Don't! I plan on getting it back on my own if I am able." I told her. "I will retrieve the Ghost Fire and Dark Saber gems if it is humanly possible."

"I have no doubts." She replied smiling now. "How's the steak?"

We finished dinner when an alert hit her A.I. and I had to leave. While I knew that she had received a message when a brief signal came across my own field of vision, I couldn't access it though. A kiss on the cheek a promise of something more perhaps. I took the elevator down to the sublevel. The elevator stopped abruptly and when the doors opened red emergency lights illuminated the hall.

"What the hell?"

I slipped into a gamer's mindset. I dropped to a crouch and crept forward. The poor illumination gave me some shadows to hide in. I went directly to my room but found an emergency door barring me from entry. I stood and looked through the bullet proof glass. Someone was on my bed using my gear to access the game. Fuck you buddy! I closed my eyes and tried to access Nox. What was going on and who was this asshole? He couldn't be alone.

'Nox?'

'User Booker. What can I do for you?' She replied.

'What is the status of gaming stations. Who is accessing my character?' I asked and there was a long pause.

'Transferring you. One moment please.' Nox stated. 'I have contacted the only one that can aid you.'

'Hello sexy!' Traci chimed in cheerily. 'What is going on?'

"Traci? Listen, I am not piloting Ghost right now.' I practically screamed.

'I know. A girl can tell these things.' She purred. 'He is paralyzed now. I can't help you on your end though.'

'I'll see what I can do here.' I sent smiling.

'Nox, what is going on?' I called out.

'User Booker.' Nox replied and then a short pause. 'The Mistress has given you access to security privileges. There appears to be a breach, accessing cameras and thermal sensors. Reestablishing connection.'

'Reestablishing? Did they cut you out?' I asked. 'Can you open the emergency door?'

'I am working on the damage they have created.' Nox growled.

I heard gunfire and that startled the hell out of me. There were voices. Some of them screaming and shouting and others barking orders. My name was mentioned, and I looked for the deepest shadow to hide in. I took off my shoes so I could move as quietly as possible. My adrenalin was pumping as I crept towards the voices.

"Who the hell are you? Why are you here?" One of the male gamers asked. I didn't remember his name.

"Numenor falls today!" One of the men shouted. "The game is tied directly to their central hub. We have it on good authority that Booker's character is the key. Our best hacker is in there and soon the entirety of this godless corporation's secrets will be ours."

Corporate espionage? It was like the stone cube in the Negative Zone. Someone was playing up their part too much. Then it hit me, what if I never left the game? What if this was a test scenario for another game? If that was the case I should check and see if my abilities still worked. I tried to pull down my HUD, but nothing happened. That didn't prove anything though. This one might not have that kind of interface. What was real anymore? I fought down a sense of panic at the thought of going mad. Roll with it I thought and continued. I sat and closed my eyes. I tried to reach for the shadows and wrap them around myself. It was damn hard at first but slowly I felt the power coursing through me. I opened my eyes and it had worked. Great! I brought my hands close to one another with palms facing. Just like with the shadows it was damn near impossible but after a while I had a steady stream of energy arcing between them. I just had to catch them off guard and take them out one at a time.

My heart was thudding in my ears and it damn near drowned out everything else. Calm yourself I repeated until I was back in the groove. I was clear headed and focused. Using the thermal sensors, I tracked them down one by one. The first bad guy went down like a sack of bricks. I hit him with enough power to piss himself. I took his weapon and half expected to see made in Latveria. It didn't, it was a Remington. The next three guards took a combination of electrical attacks and martial arts to take them out. I was quickly running out of juice. I saved it for the cinematic finish or boss fight. By the time I reached the room where they were holding the hostages, they had taken Kat a prisoner. I watched, listened, and waited.

"What is taking so long?" The gentleman I took as the second in command snapped impatiently.

"Let's find out, he's been in there long enough to clean out all of their dirty little secrets." The boss declared. The tall thin man wore Numenor coveralls with a nametag that read Mark. "Gary... Gary... what is taking so damn long?!" He growled into his smart phone.

"The damn personal A.I. has me locked out. This bitch Traci won't let me move an inch." Gary replied clearly exasperated. That's my girl I thought as he continued. "There is nothing in the programming about players having their own fucking A.I.s! Let me jump out and try one of the other characters!"

"Fine! Hurry up!" The boss ordered. "Who is this Booker guy anyway?" He asked turning to face Kat.

"He is just a play tester. He answered the ad just like everyone else here." Kat said with a smile. "Look him up all you want. He is a nobody. I took pity on the poor schlep and gave him a job. So, sue me."

"Speaking of Booker, where the hell is he?" The second in command asked.

As he used his smart phone to call to his men, I spied what I needed on one of the tables, an open bottle of water. The lid was next to the bottle leaving it for me to use. It took the last remaining energy I had, but I slowly walked the bottle to the edge of the table. Two of the play testers and Kat saw it and their eyes widened in shock. As number two grew more and more anxious I tipped the bottle over and the water puddled at the feet of the two bad guys. I didn't have much energy left in me, but I had to try and at least stun them long enough to close ranks before anyone was shot.

"What the..." The boss began to say as he looked down and then behind him. I fired off the bolt of lightning at their feet and it wasn't until he felt the effects that his face registered anything being wrong. "...fuck?" I dashed forward as they stood transfixed by the electrical current passing through their bodies. I throat punched the leader and kicked his number two in the balls. While the boss gagged and grabbed his neck and the other dude folded, I finished up with two satisfying Atemi strikes rendering them unconscious.

"Must dash!" I said and raced out to catch up with the hacker.

If I was going to finish the mission, I needed to take him out as well. I had just cleared the room when the sound of a smoke grenade going off behind me caught my attention. The cloud of purple smoke rendered everyone unconscious. They were safe and asleep. I checked the other rooms and found the hacker. He had just hotwired one of the emergency doors and was entering one of the other play tester's rooms. I body slammed him. Funny how with all that training and I tackled him.

"Booker!" He called out as he drew a lethal looking double-edged knife. He thrust with it and that's when the training paid off. I side stepped the thrust, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him off balance. As he stumbled forward, I swapped hands and held his wrist with my right hand and rewarded the hacker with a rigid knife hand to the throat. I hit him too hard. I felt his windpipe crunch under the attack, and he went down gasping for air. I kicked the knife away and waited for the scene to end. It didn't. I watched his face turn blue and after a minute he quit breathing.

"Shit! That was a little too real."

I returned to the cafeteria and found the others waking from the short-term effects of the gas. I stripped the shoelaces from the bad guys shoes and used it to tie up the villains. Kat and the others looked woozy and confused.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked Kat as she got to her feet.

"Yeah... What is going on?" Kat asked seeing the two prone men on the floor. "Who the hell are they? I don't remember inviting them. Hell, I don't remember how I got here. Last thing I recall is being in the shower." She said as Numenor security arrived armed to the teeth. "Shit! You scared the hell out of me!"

"Sorry Ms. Shaw." The head of her private security force announced. "Remain here please. The rest of my men are doing a complete sweep of the area."

He questioned everyone and it became clear the gas had taken out the last hour or so of their short-term memory. Who had thrown the grenade though? Numenor security took away the bad guys. They didn't know what had happened. The bad guys had locked out all security measures and sensors.

"I want a full analysis of what happened!" Kat growled at her head of security.

"Yes Ma'am!" She replied. "We do have one casualty. He was dead when we arrived." She continued and they both looked at me.

"Booker?" Kat asked as the normal lights kicked back in.

"He had a knife." I said and the head of security confirmed this.

"What happened?" She queried with an unreadable expression. "I know you were only defending yourself. The report will clearly show that."

"What happened to me? Do you know?" I asked and she smiled even as tears filled those lovely eyes of hers.

"Nick." I stated and nodded as she sobbed.

"Happening." She corrected me. "Nick's last hurrah."

"How did he die?" I asked. "The papers never went into any detail. All that was mentioned was a lingering illness."

"Yes. He suffered from chronic headaches, pain spikes, and seizures. Even that didn't stop him." She stated with a small smile on her lips. "He tried and failed to download himself into a private crystal server. A massive seizure killed him."

"Who else is down here?" I asked the head of security.

"No one, we didn't breach the security lockdown until recently." She said. "All of the players and staff are accounted for. Why?"

"Yes why?" Kat asked with a raised eyebrow.

"When I went after the hacker someone tossed a smoke grenade into the room with the hostages." I said yawning.

"Smoke, what color was the smoke?" Kat asked her voice intent.

"Purple." I said and she made a face. "What?"

"It is a nontoxic crowd control device we are still developing." She said her face looking more contemplative now. "How?"

"I am exhausted." I yawned again.

"Get some rest." Kat ordered and while she appeared okay with how things had turned out her expression was a mix of concern, curiosity, and surprise.

I returned to my room only to find it taped off as a crime scene. One of the security personnel spotted me and showed to my new room. My belongings had already been moved. I thanked her and closed the door behind her. I stripped down, crawled under the sheets, and fell asleep. My dreams were strange and troubled. I was at a loss as to whether I was still in the game or not. My thoughts were on the events after I logged out and spent time with Kat. Who threw the smoke grenade? Security stated that every person had been accounted for. What if it hadn't been a person? What if it was in fact a Numenor Protector? They had been producing security robots for a decade. What if one of them had been ordered to go to another sublevel where research was being done and grabbed a grenade to knock out any intruders?

Out of the depths of my dream stepped one of the robots. It was brightly colored and nonthreatening. Even its expression, which was very human, was friendly and reassuring. The dream dove into the depths of the robot. My perception went under the armored exoskeleton to the intricate workings beneath. The light alloy skeleton below with its artificial muscles and complex sensors made it the closest thing to humanity coming off the production line. The dream continued as I swam through every major components of the robot until I knew it intimately well. Had I somehow tied into Nox subconsciously and given access to these files? I was still dealing with whether or not what had occurred was real or a simulation. If it was a simulation, then the things I did were just a matter of programming. If it hadn't been part of the game, then I didn't want to think about it. Insanity lie that way.

When I awoke, I was standing outside the Wakandan embassy. It was official mind fuck ultra achieved.

Latveria or Bust:

I checked my HUD for trophies or rewards for the extra scenario and didn't find any. I chalked it up to bonus action for the sake of play testing. Either way, one hell of a romp! Reed had been taken into the Wakandan embassy for treatment. Between Shuri and her trusted technicians I had the highest hope of his recovery. While Susan and Jennifer rebuilt Reed's damaged labs Morya and I spent time at the Wakandan embassy. I had the great delight to pass off the data Traci had collected about Dark Elf technology. Once the language files had been decoded and assimilated Shuri and I were having entire conversations in the dark elf tongue. I watched as she dismantled the three sets of Svartalfar armor and examine their construction, materials, and beauty. It inspired her to craft the Mark III armor for me and T'Challa. I noted how she kept an overall feline theme with his suit while mine fit my combat and stealth ideals perfectly.

"While you wait, I wrote a training program for you." Shuri purred. "My brother allowed me to give you access to his training facilities here at the embassy. It is well known your web slinging skills are... less than amazing. I will contact you once I have finished. Go have fun. Morya has agreed to help me if I stumble."

"Go Master," Morya said and I saw a glint in Shuri's eyes. Was that jealousy or hunger? Had Susan and Jennifer been talking?

I went down to the trainer and Traci helped me plug into it. Once I was connected, I heard Peter Parker's voice walk me through the basics of form, movement, and what to look out for. I started at level one and threw myself into the virtual environment. Once more I had that Inception feel as I perambulated through the skyscrapers of New York City. I progressed to level five by the time Shuri called me for a break. She gave me a preview of my new armor and I looked forward to her finishing it.

"Darkforce." Shuri muttered as she munched on a salad. "One of your scans leads me to believe you can tap into it and the Lightforce to create a new or perhaps a yet unknown power, the Shadowforce."

"Really." I exclaimed surprised by her interest in my skills.

"Yes Master," Morya eagerly declared. "Before the universe changed the Old Ones were able to tap into the primal force and shape it as they saw fit. I explained that to the Princess."

"Thank you Morya for being so helpful." I praised her and she beamed happily. "Let's see." I stated as I raised my left hand and imagined a basic dagger shaped object. My hand glowed brilliantly and a 'light dagger' formed. I did the same thing with my right hand and a black nonreflective dagger formed. I brought my hands together and a shadowy sword manifested. "Look at you, right again."

"Was there any doubt Ghost man?" Shuri giggled. "Master of the Shadowforce!"

"I like the sound of that," Morya said proudly. "How goes your training Sir?"

"I've worked my way up to level five. It is slow going and I am more of a glider than a swinger." I laughed. "I'll keep up on it. How goes the translation process?"

"Slow. I have gotten some of the basics down, but it will take a long time to find a correlation between what I know and their technology. It is exciting though. I'll pass on anything I learn if you want. It is the least I can do." Shuri offered.

"Um... sure." I said unsure on my ability to grasp the simplest of the dark elf technologies. "I'll give it a try." I stated loving the look in her eyes and that fiery expression that the challenge of learning a whole new technology inspired in Shuri.

I modeled the Mark III prototype for them and Morya especially like the lines and curves. I liked the maneuverability it provided without losing any protection. Shuri took some mental notes and made some final minor adjustments. I asked to see the new Black Panther suit, but she clucked her tongue and informed me that she promised the King that he would be the first to see it. I accepted her reasons and managed to talk her into taking a break which lasted until morning.

Shuri cried out and lay atop me panting and covered in sweat.

"That was a good one!" She gasped.

"They were all good ones." I added and she blushed. "Princess Insatiable."

"I blame you." She stated with a critical glance. "If you weren't so damn eager to please me, I wouldn't be so enthralled. Ooh!" She cried out suddenly. I thought she was ready for another go, but I was wrong. "I made a breakthrough with your people's deliciously sophisticated technology."