Oh shiii...

[Taskmienster]

The world was demure at best. Darkness loomed across the surface, turning the world below into a disease infected free for all, welcoming any who wished to find themselves at the end of a blade, or dead with some zombie fuck eating away at their arm. The sky was not much better, but at least the mutated freaks were less prevalent, and those that could find an air ship were hardly present. Rough clouds drifted lazily, heavy with ash. Their gunmetal gray coloration was at first unnerving, never shifting to the cotton ball comfort that most would rather see. However, after a few short trips into the virtual world of earth the player quickly became accustomed to it.

Grimm was an exciting, every changing world of adventure. The virtual reality programming made it seem as real as the real world, a rather disheartening view of what society was plunging towards full force. Ethan “Lars” Calhoun was one of many players that joined in the fun. The character was headstrong, quick, played by a genius of a man known for his misadventures and ever combative background.

“Cap’n, we’re being followed… again.”

The spiked black hair, streaked with white, fought against the wind to remain aloft. The man’s hand danced through it, feeling the slick surface, re-programming the coding for his character so that it would be stiffer. It was simple movement, a simple touch. He turned his yellow veined eyes towards the woman who had addressed him, giving her a weak smile. “No worries love,” he responded as he walked towards the main deck. His hands reached inside his coat, fiddling with the latches that held the twin 12mm pistols tight. “I’m sure it’s nothing but a raiding party… and you know we’re ready for that shit when it comes… right?”

Georgea, a slight girl with off colored eyes, crinkled her nose and shook her head. Her make shift uniform was pulled down, covering what little it could. She adjusted her cleavage to fit, a sight that was always enjoyable to the captain. However, he face was a mask of unease. “N… Not exactly Lars, No.”

“What do you mean? Something wrong?”

“We’re headed to port, remember? If we don’t make it to Frigrad before they reach us we’ll still be without the rear boosters…” Shit, he had forgotten. The last attack by the administrators of Grimm had left his rear engines shot, broken and with a fragmented crystal. There was no power in either, no running if necessary. “And they sail under the Grimm flag…”

“Double shit,” he muttered as he shuttled across the deck towards the rear. His ship was miles over the ground; leaving them to their doom should they be caught by the approaching ship. “Call the crew to arms,” he commanded as he pondered over what to do. “Get the boards ready too… we’ll need to board and attack early before they can catch our flank.”

“Damned bloody man…” she muttered as she rushed under the deck to the slumbering crew. There were only five men left, and two kids who had taken interest in the path of the captain and his dangerous antics.

[turned into a solo]

[Taskmienster]

Lars was always being chased, by one group or another. The habits and knowledge of the man behind the scenes, Colin McFerrin were bound to attract any prying eyes. Coding was his habit, fucking with the system was his game. When the world of virtual reality came to life he was amongst the first to take up the mantle of creating and editing, climbing the corporate ladder quickly with the company he worked for (GramVR). However, ever since his childhood he had been interested in video games… not the educational aspects of the virtual worlds that could be created. It was his interest that brought him to multiple worlds on the web, from game to developing game.

Coding was something that was his interest, no matter what the game, and he was always fiddling with something here or there. As such, his ‘play’ in games was normally taken up with an attempt to read, write, and manipulate the very fabric of reality that the game was built upon. Whether everyone knew it was a game or not was unknown to him, and it was almost impossible to discern player controlled character from computer controlled. He was assumed to be a psychokinetic worker of wonders. To the administrators and moderators of each world he moved to, he was nothing more than a punk ass hacker.

Grimm had discovered his play as soon as he had entered and created the character. It was outside the logs of the site, quickly picked up but the coding was so intricate and hidden that even those that created and ran the world were unable to remove him. Lars was a grub, deep within the false sense of reality, eating away at the nutrients and enriching himself in the process. The more the years passed the more intricate each game became, and even the genius behind the scenes was unable to always keep up… leaving him with conundrums that were at times irritating

The post apocalyptic world of Grimm was no different.

“They’re ready Lars.” He turned and nodded at the woman, smiling as always. He had a plan up his sleeve, one that would absorb anyone willing or otherwise. Those that had joined his crew over the course of his play knew the risks, knew that at any time they could be removed from the game for violating the rules alongside the hacker. He had protected many over the years, but it was always his own ass he would look after first.

“Everyone’s a runner today!” he yelled towards his crew. They would take to the hover boards, the only means of attack they had from the rear or fore. They could board without exposing their flanks, leaving themselves at the advantage so that the worn hull of the ship would not be torn apart. “It’s your lucky day, looky there…”

Reluctantly two of the members passed out the long boards. Each member strapped them on, and let the pulse of the small engines support their light frames. The weapons they carried were unique to each, two of the crew carried small arms, another a rather large sub-machine gun, the lovely Georgea had only a shield and sword.

“They’re probably merc scum, no worries peeps.” He said, though he knew there was much to worry about. “Granted if they are admin’s again, we’re in for a hell of a fight. And if it’s that bloody bitch again, by god I’ll kill him myself and we’ll be on our way.”

[Taskmienster]

The ship was, in fact, the property of the ‘bloody bitch’. The man was known throughout the world as the ‘hero of the sky’. Lars knew him simply as the admin’s bitch. Victor Thorn was a pink haired, flamboyant, one eyed, ruthless mercenary hired and given special privileges by the administrators to do their dirty work when they grew tired of it, or were busy. He was the foremost adversary of the hacker, a quick minded and overpowered little prick that never quit.

“I guess since we got rid of that admin ship they sent the second best to come after us,” Ethan snickered as he put his feet into the board’s straps and tightened them down. “Look, I have a plan but we’ll probably not be here much longer if I do it. I can… manipulate the space and time, sending us somewhere else. I grow tired of the bitches that run this place anyway, it’ll be a nice change, I promise.”

The two lightly armed men looked at each other. They were young brothers, high school kids that got on from time to time to join in the mayhem of their fearless leader. Jack and Jonathan. They always did things together, but had spent only a handful of hours playing in the virtual world of Grimm. Lars noted their concerns, but ignored them. “Look, trust me, it’ll be straight.”

Instead of responding the two sat on the edge of the rail, swinging their legs over the side and letting their boards thrust take over. The rest of the crew followed suit, including their pirate captain. He looked towards the closing ship, shaking his head at the pink haired man standing at the front of the opposing ship. He would pay for this, for sure. He was costing them time, though what little value the time held for the hacker was obviously ignored.

In a matter of minutes the full crew was over the side and entering combat, excluding of course the two kids who stayed aboard and turned the ship to remain ahead. Ethan had both his guns locked and loaded, the semi-automatic pistols weight comforting in his hands. He was back in his element, cruising through the sky on a hover board, skimming across the tops of the clouds. It was a realm he knew well, trusted despite its precarious position high above the only solid ground.

“Holy hell…” Two bullets whizzed by his place. Instantly he crouched, bringing his guns up to point towards his opponent’s ship. His eyes were squinted, the gray-blue orbs searching for who or what had shot at him. From two holes in the front of the ship squinting eyes and gun barrels were peering at himself and his crew, the sharpshooters that Victor relied on for the initiation of all combat. “Fuckin’ prick motherfucker.”

Lars leveled the guns together before him, taking aim and letting bullets fly in turn. The two balls of led slipped through the small openings, taking the eyes of the combatants. The barrels disappeared as sprays of blood exploded from either opening. So much for the sharpshooters, he thought with a grin. Georgea’s shield clattered as a spray of bullets struck it, but the woman seemed stoic in her assault, unfazed by the attacks. She was a natural beauty with a headstrong personality, but the hacker captain truly admired her for her grace in the sky.

Acrobatic cartwheels through the air brought the woman to the ship first, unharmed and eager to kill. The two brothers were on her tail, taking the opposite side and opening fire with their extended barreled revolvers. Each took a life as they boarded, the crew under Victor falling to a hail of bullets pin pointing the heavier armed and armored opponents. The pink haired captain himself was mysteriously absent though, god knows where he went, but something felt off to Lars as he approached and boarded.

[Taskmienster]

The white fur lined collar and the open leather jacket wrapped around the thin frame of Lars was dancing, furiously. His hair was chaotic as well. But the modestly attractive face of the captain was anything but. His lips were pursed tight, the ring at the center pushing against his upper lip. His tongue stirred against the roof of his mouth, allowing the smooth metal ball on the end of the piercing through it rub gently. It was a habit; it meant he was thinking, heavily. The thoughts that came though were not comforting. Where were the other men that the ship should have been crawling with? There should have been more, including the captain.

Across the top of his pistol he searched the ship. The sight was a mere blur, the knob of metal obscuring very little. He could not think of what had happened, where the bastard captain of the ship had gone, or where the rest of his crew was. A bullet flew towards him, striking the back of his coat. He tumbled forward on unsure feet, frantically trying to catch his balance. Luckily the bullet had lodged itself into a Kevlar pocket, stopping short of piercing his body. “Mother fuck… that’s going to be a nasty bruise.”

He spun around, but the blade of Triance (the final member of his unlucky crew) was halfway through the body of the attacker. Blood sprayed the face and visage of the hacker, leaving him with a sense of nausea uncontrolled. No matter how many times it happened, blood and guts was always disgusting. Reminding himself that it was virtual did nothing to still the senses either. The coding was better than it ever had been, the blood smelt metallic and warm, the scent filled his nose, and the taste on his tongue made him queasier. “Thanks, you haven’t seen Victor Thorn… have you?”

“No boss,” he responded. His voice was deep, threatening, hardly more than a guttural growl. But he was a reliable man, stalwart in the face of adversity and all that jazz. The man was, more or less, a walking mount of muscle, dark skinned, smooth faced, bald head, the works. “But this was easy. You think the others’re somewhere ‘roun here?”

“Yes,” the captain nearly whispered, “Sumwhere ‘round here. Spread out, take the brothers and find them. If there are any alive kill them, I don’t give a fuck if they want to surrender or not. I’m not going to have this shit happening again.”

“Ethan, come here.” He turned towards Georgea and her tight, revealing clothing. She was towards the top of the ship, looking over the side. Lars sidled up next to her, looking over the side and seeing nothing. He waited a moment, scanning again and again for something to note and sound important for noting, but nothing came.

“What are we lookin’ for love?”

“The boards are missing, they’re in the sky or attacking the ship.”

“FUCK!” In a matter of seconds the captain and his second in command were on their boards, leaping over the side and skimming the clouds to return to the ship. The other three members of the crew continued to sweep the deck, looking for any signs of left-behind assailants. Ethan’s brow was furrowed, his eyes locked on the rear of his ship, looking for any sign of boarding. But even at the distance himself and Georgea were at he could not tell if they had secreted themselves to his ship.

[Taskmienster]

The two slipped over the most rear section of the ship, the boards gliding gently up and over the railing and onto the deck. The helm was unmanned, the two boys nowhere to be seen. However, nobody else was either. It was unnerving. The budding distrust and misunderstanding had bloomed into a glorious case of pure rage. Lars unhooked his feet from the board and sprinted towards the railing, hopping over it to land heavily on his deck. Across from him, waiting, was Victor.

“A pleasant surprise to say the least, ‘ey?” The pink haired grinning bastard was smirking as he stood with open arms and a mocking bow. Behind him three men, big men, were holding weapons to the two children’s throats. Blue-gray eyes flashed from the two crew members to the one eyed captain, furiously looking for some way to take aim and fire without hurting the kids. Nothing came to him, and instead of an attack Victor continued to speak. “About time we were put on a level ground, do you not think? I have been given all sorts of new abilities and items by the administration; it seems you have played with their last nerve far too often. The reward for this ship and your death will be outstanding, and put me at the top of the Mercenary’s Federation.”

Mercenaries were always the same, did not care who they had to go through or what was required as long as they were paid. Victor Thorn was the head of the bounty hunting division of the Mercenary’s Federation. MF. Mother fuckers, as Ethan knew them. “Always about the rewards, huh? You ever think of what is going to happen when you’re at the head, with all the new shit they hand you for my capture? Who’s left to catch? What fun adventures remain when you have everything and the free will to do what you want? You’ll just become like me, bored of the trite bullshit… an anarchist to the system.”

Victor laughed, but did not move. His hands rose to his shoulders, rubbing the muscles as if they were sore from a long days work. He had done nothing more than kidnap a couple kids, threaten those that couldn’t threaten him. Lars looked at his attire, noting the different fabric. It was a slick body suit, made of leather, with an opening at the center of his chest allowing any to see the toned pectorals. The code was different though, something intricate, constantly shifting, something he couldn’t pick apart so easily. “Looks like you got yourself something new, huh? Can’t make your clothes disappear as easily as I did last time, leaving you to be a naked fool.”

“Shut the hell up,” his words were high pitched, his face flushed. “Just give up; you know you aren’t going to win. Your ship is in need of repair, and your crew is nearly diminished. What do you expect to do?”

“Beat your fuckin’ ass, then get the hell out of here.”

Victor laughed, loudly. His hands fell to wrap around his stomach, his body doubling over in laughter. Behind him the brutes at his command snickered, their broad shoulders shaking slightly. Ethan was in no mood though, he was completely serious. The coding of the world of Grimm was simple to him, nothing too complex and he had long since figured a way out… but it was dangerous and he didn’t want to risk it. Nothing else came to mind though, so he tossed his firearms back in their holster, only strapping one down. Before him the ethereal keypad appeared and he tapped a few quick buttons in conjunction.

“Not this time…” Victor’s words did nothing to the resolve that the hacker held at the forefront of his mind. He slammed the enter button and a swirling vortex appeared in the path of his ship. Its black abyss welcomed the Black Star and those that were on board, sucking them into a darkness overwhelming. Just as it did though, the ‘hero of the sky’ lunged forward with his sword and swiped through the keypad, cutting its coding into pieces. Ribbons of code disappeared and flitted into the air, much to the dismay and complete surprise of Lars. “We’re not playing with that.”

“Too late you stupid fuck.” Ethan, the great hacker of Grimm, the pirate captain of the Black Star pointed past his opponent towards the churning depths. The one eyed captain turned and looked, but could do nothing to stop what had happened. “We’re both going into that now, and you better fuckin’ hope that I can get us out… or both these faces we assume are forever stuck in this endless void… with nothing but each other.”

[Taskmienster]

[Sender]
Taskmienster
[Recipient Name]
xripxtoxshredsx, John_Truth, Jack_Justice
[Date]
Feburary 5th, 2016
[Time]
20:43
[Message]
Hey, sorry about the confusion… we’ll get it sorted out tomorrow and I’ll have us on our way. If that stupid fuck hadn’t interfered we’d have been where I wanted to go already, but he did so we need to sort this out. I’ll try and reprogram my codes tomorrow while everyone’s logged and hope that it’ll get back to normal. No worries guys.

Anyway, have any word, just hit me up.


Sending…

…sent.

Logging…

…goodnight!


~X~

Collin took the helmet off his head, letting the visor rise as he did so. Stupid bounty hunters, stupid Grimm, stupid admins, they had all messed shit up beyond what he wanted. He only hoped that he could fix it, or at the very least save the characters and simply restart somewhere else. But he had worked hard for the Black Star and everything his and his crew’s characters had on their person. It was ridiculous that the administration had given Victor Thorn that sword, all it had proved was that his immaturity was far understated.

He sat up, looking around as he unhooked the wires around his arms. The offices were empty, the other pods had only one other person in them. The rest were silent, black but thrumming softly. It was because the world was so bland, so monotonous that he immersed himself so often in the virtual reality gaming worlds available. When he stood up and closed the pod, putting into hibernation, the other pod opened and out of stepped his girlfriend.

The woman was short, thin as a rail, with long straight hair and a pair of cute glasses. She was frowning though, that always meant one of two things: the sex would be great, or there wouldn’t be any that night.

“What was that? What did you do?” Her tone… it was a no sex night, she was pissed and irritated. “You always seem to mess things up, always try and play hero. Those kids that play with us might have liked that place, but did you think about them? Nope, you just went ahead and ignored that they paid to be there to begin with, that the world they knew is gone and they aren’t allowed back.”

“Please,” the irish man huffed. “They knew I’m a troublemaker, they knew shit was going to go south, and the sour situation was going to force my hand. If we had left them the administration of Grimm would have found them eventually and booted them from the server anyway. That’s the way of my crew, join at your own risk… you know that.”

She didn’t say a word, just brushed past him roughly with her slight shoulder. He held it with his opposite hand, mocking her anger and her five feet of fury as he followed her out of the office. He flicked the lights as he closed the door behind him. Work would be fun tomorrow, he thought sarcastically. It would be full of more of his boring routine, more of his bosses asking him to program new languages and new worlds for their educational purposes. Till then, sleep would be slow coming, insomnia would undoubtedly take over the brunt of his night, and his angry girlfriend (Georgea) would give nothing but a cold shoulder.

[Taskmienster]

Ethan wandered into the office he had left but a few hours before, black circles under his eyes, sleep having eluded him as per usual. His girlfriend, Brit, was mysteriously absent from their shared room that morning. He was already on edge from the happenings of the night before; irritated by the overwhelming stupidity of Victor and the troubling situation they had been forced into. A light buzz and quiet chime from his pocket alerted him to a new message. With weary, bored interest he dug his personal phone-pad from his tight girl jean pocket. The small ‘iLife’ symbol was flashing; damned Microsoft had taken almost everything he thought as he tapped the screen.



[Sender]
xripxtoxshredzx
[Recipient Name]
Taskmienster
[Date]
Feburary 6th, 2016
[Time]
8:20
[Message]
got ur msg early this mornin. wont get on till late. maybe bout 9. have exam 2morrow, need to study. off to school, peace.


“You think he could at least learn to type correctly, college just isn’t what it used to be.” Collin smirked, but simply closed the message and deleted it. The little symbol turned orange, with a frowning face, asking if he was sure. He cursed the machine, if he wanted to delete something, he wanted it deleted when he clicked it… he was damned sure. The small face flashed to a green smile and the background light turned off. The Irishman tucked it away in his back pocket of his sagging pants, adjusted his belt and the heavy four leaf clover belt buckle.

“Up late again?” He smiled a friendly, though meaningless smile at Janet and her lackluster concerns. “Well, we have a lot of work to do today, and the bosses are looking into some new project. They wanted to consult with you first, something about how you were going to be a ‘pivotal piece of the puzzle’. Where’s Brit?”

“I don’t know.” Collin responded as he took a premade cup of coffee from the rest area and headed to the bosses office. The woman said something else, but she was no different than anyone else, and would gain nothing by putting on her cheery face for him. They could all rot in hell for all he cared, and at that point he could care less about Brit’s existence either. Whatever the project was they had ready and waiting for him, the hacker only hoped that it would be something worthwhile. He had to recode an entire area, and find a new world to fuck around in.

The two men that sat in the same room were hooked up to the virtual reality world when he stepped in, toying with new VR items. A simple screen was before them, their chairs soft and insulated, wrapped in the finest of leather. Instead of a helmet with a visor, as everyone else used, they had simply the visor on. No cords were wrapped around their arms in different sections, but attached to a white jacket they both wore. Whatever it was, it seemed that it was an easier way to access the net… little more than a smaller version of the pods.

“‘Scuse me, sirs, you wanted to see me about some project?” The two both smiled, lifting their visors and tapping keys on the pad before them. They spun the chair towards him smoothly, the small hover pad beneath it lighting just as the cubicle chairs did. “Janet told me to come in here, sorry if I bothered either of you.”

“No no, we have something very special, a project you would love to take on.” George Heartcliff III was the vice president of GramVR, a tech savvy though somewhat stupid man. His wrinkled face said a lot for the stress he had been through, since his age was barely over forty. The other man, Fredrick McBride was even older and little more than a financial advisor with no tech knowledge, much less the basics on how to even world virtual reality. “We know of your late night adventures through the pods, we have the records, and all the information on what you have been up to in them. You’ve built quite a name for yourself on our time, been paid to this point to dawdle with your games and toy with your little worlds.”

“Sir, I assure you… I mean, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean…” Mr. Heartcliff raised his hand with a genuine smile on his wizened, stupid face.

“We know, because we’ve been monitoring what you can do. Amazing stuff, that coding, decoding, and reprogramming. Not even the administrators, moderators, or game creators can track you sometimes. Last night you seem to have slipped though, and your ‘crew’ in Grimm has been trapped. We have a way to help you, and you can play your games on our dollar without having to hide, at all times if you want…”

“Please sirs, continue.” Collin took a seat, closing the doors, and tapped a small button once it was shut. A veil of transparent light shimmered for a split second over the windows. Outside the world could not see in, would see nothing but a reflective mirror. Inside they could see out, watch those working, and take note from behind the hologram mirror.

[Taskmienster]

Collin sat down in the small pod, tapping flat screens, lights flashing and the humming rising to a slight buzz. Fellow coworkers looked at him, watching as he put on a helmet. His smile was wide, bright as the morning sun. The other people weren’t to know of his new mission, his new position for the company. The extra forty thousand a year would keep his mouth shut, wandering ears and loose lips would be excessive if the plans for the company escaped. GramVR was finally getting into gaming. Fredrick McBride was the head financial agent for the company, and had been talking to George Heartcliff II (the father of the vice president) and had taken note of the financial security of the gaming world. As such, the genius hacking mind of Collin was going to be utilized as it should be, as a weapon against other companies.

Brit walked in just as the pod was closing, giving him a curious look. She was wearing makeup, a rare treat for the Irishman, but one that always brought up questions as to why. Her head tilted, but that was the only thing he saw before the world of the virtual reality sparked to life and enveloped him. A blinding light took his vision, immersing him in the ecstasy of anticipation.


~X~

The world was white at always, pre-game entrance almost like a waiting room. It was a full screen window, with all sorts of information that he could access. Company wares, upgrades if there were any pending, personal data and the like. He tapped a small log-in screen and tapped on the ethereal keypad. Name: Taskmienster. Password: *********.

Welcome back Taskmienster! Your last log in was 02/05/16, 14:30. There have been… error code 34x500.

Limbo land, there was nobody else there; the computer could not note where it was or what was going on there. Collin tapped the screen to enter; clicking ctr alt 8 before it could finish loading though. The black screen was stationary and in place of it was a simple : symbol. He began typing furiously, opening programs from the database, inputting new information, downloading information to his data pad. While the computers light-speed thoughts were moving he arched his back up, pulling his iLife from his pocket and slipping a cord into the jack at the base of it.

Instantly a text appeared from Brit. He could hear the tone of her voice, but the picture was not showing up. Venom was spit with every question, her mind was as curious as all the others were as to his new project, but she was the only one that would get even close to the answer. There wasn’t time to waste though, he tapped the text midsentence from his girlfriend and closed and deleted it. He’d deal with it later, when he wasn’t so excited and the anticipation at the success of the endeavor wasn’t so worrisome.

Downloads complete, data base accessed, entering… error code…

“34x500, I know I know, get on with it.” Collin tapped the flat projected screen quickly, his thoughts racing, his heart pounding. It was just as he had left it; his ship was suspended in a void of nothingness. Transfixed in the void was the other ship, the Lone Wolf was so fierce a name for so pathetic a captain. Two hover boards were also suspended between the two ships, it seemed the brothers had tried to come back to the ship before the vortex, but had been caught between the two instead. “Wonderful.”

[Taskmienster]

“Back so soon?” The biting words of the one eyed, wanna be fierce captain of the Lone Wolf caught Lars off guard. He turned around to see the flaming pink hair of his most determined adversary. It was hard to see anything else at first, no matter how often you saw Victor, or how much you dealt with him. The cool, stone blue eyes of the hacker looked into the single black of the hunter. He saw lust, desire, a need to kill his prey and be rid of the stupid world he was trapped in. “Come back to dawdle with your silly codes, eh?”

“Don’t you ever sleep?” Ethan moved away from the man, turning his back and ignoring him. He moved to the middle of the ship and looked at the masts, the still suspended sails despite the lack of any wind, and the blank sky overhead. Twisting his lips to the side, he shook his head and sighed, what a task he had ahead of him. But with all the time in the world to do it, and a wicked good raise, he was determined. “Oh,” he said as something pushed into his lower back, “It’s gonna be like this… stupid fuck.”

“Yes it is.” The sword that Victor had attacked his ethereal keypad with the night before was touching his lower back, twisting slowly just beneath his short open jacket. If he wanted to push and force the blade into the character known as Ethan Calhoun the coding that made him would undoubtedly be destroyed instantly. But it did not pass through him, just rested there like a cat playing with a mouse. “You cost me a lot of money, a lot of time, and I’ll be damned if you just waltz around like you own the place and forget any of that.”

“Mind you, the money is not real, the time is because you have no life, and I can waltz around and do whatever I want… you’re on my ship.”

“Bollocks,” he responded, the blade pulled away slowly and he watched the captain circle to the front of him. “You are just trying to anger me, and it is not going to work. I have the advantage here. No matter what code you can make, destroy, or change I can remove it with this little treat. You can’t get your guns fast enough, so you’re defenseless, at the mercy of my whims.”

Lars snickered and turned away from the man, walking towards the rear of the ship and his navigation area. He needed to look through old codes, old worlds, try and find a matching code and some old experiment he had done that might be similar to what he needed now. “Stupid prick,” he called out over his shoulder as he hopped up the stairs two at a time. “You are stuck in nothingness, the void of the web. If I don’t get us out of here you will never leave, and then what does any of that matter? Sure, you can destroy me, but I can just remake myself and return to this exact spot. I can dance like a fuckin’ leprechaun around you daily, a different form every time, maybe one of you sometime acting like an idiot. You’ll tire of killing me eventually, and then what? You’ll have to let me do what I need to do anyway.”

Victor Thorn huffed and sheathed the blade. He might be a stupid blood prick, a brown nose little bitch, but he knew when to give up and let things go the way they should. It was good for Ethan; he sure as hell didn’t want to come back as Victor. “Good, I’d hate to be that ugly anyway if I had to remake myself…”

The pink haired man yelled after him, but he didn’t hear a word of what his high squeaky voice was saying. It did not matter, he was busy. He was looking through records, piecing together little codes that he had used prior. Before he could continue though he needed his keypad that Victor had so quickly destroyed, how he had even seen it was still beyond Lars. He thought about codes, pulling them together, putting his prized possession back together. It took nearly half an hour to recode the data pad, and another ten minutes resetting all the hot keys that he used. “There,” he said with a tone of finality. “Now, time to go to work for real. You mind getting me a cup of coffee? Or maybe a doughnut?”

“Damn you, damn you to hell.” It was the only response Victor could come up with. For the next four hours the two remained in a state of silence. Thank god, Ethan thought as he worked furiously with his pad. Mathematical equations formed and were worked out; error codes were almost as prevalent as backslash signs. He rubbed as his eyes as time passed, tired with a budding headache growing with every error code and blue screen of death that popped up. Fuck insomnia, and fuck the blue screen of death… you would think after 20 years technology would have replaced it with something far less degrading.

[Taskmienster]

Besides a single break, which Collin NEEDED so he could go smoke, he had been zealously devoted to the coding. He was like a demi-god of the coding world; self-titled as such and by no means unwarranted. Lars had nearly completed his coding masterpiece, fiddling with the process over and over until he got a little bit past the errors and blue screen. Finally he pulled up a picture of the world he was going to move the entirety of the void into. He would rather leave Victor and the data for his stupid brute of a crew in the void for eternity, but there was no way around it – he had spent an extra hour trying to find one.

“What the hell is going on?” The voice of Georgea was sudden and as startling as Victors had been hours earlier. Ethan turned to his love and his closest friend with a smile but got nothing but a slap for his trouble. While rubbing his sore, red face the woman prattled on. “You get here early, took one break, and that was only to smoke. You haven’t said a word to me, I know for damned sure you got my message this morning. The bosses don’t say a word, just smile like stupid kids, and you (“I got a forty thousand dollar raise”)… and you. Wait. What?”

Ethan smiled, despite his sore face. The woman’s mouth was open, almost as open as her shirt was. Her words stopped and she squealed like a giddy school girl, jumping into his arms. Lars hugged her tightly, holding her, cherishing every second. “What happened? Why the raise? What’s going on?”

“I’ll explain it all later. Is it already 14:30?”

“It was that time an hour ago; you’ve been in here forever. Have you eaten? You should. You always forget…” The hacker snorted his laughter at her, turning away and continuing the finalization of his ultimate code. Georgea continued to talk, incessant as always when she was excited. Her voice was soft, comforting, and Lars was more than happy to have it as background noise for his thoughts. Fingers tapped quickly on the screen, the code was complete. Stepping back he looked at the final product; read and re-read the code over quickly. It was a masterpiece, a pure splendid masterpiece. In his eyes, and probably his eyes alone, comparing his work to the renaissance men and their leaps and bounds in the artistic realm was not far off.

How vain he was.

“There is going to be a jerk, and a new vortex like the one I created before the prick destroyed the data pad. I’m honestly not sure what is going to happen once we enter the new realm, so be prepared for anything… We may or may not continue having the strength we have, or the gear we have, but it shouldn’t matter that much. We’re going to enemy territory, uncharted waters, into the unknown and probably not back.”

“Enemy?”

“TechFront INC… our rival and the only VR company that stands to gain more per year than GramVR, one of their games. Going on a little exploration detail, fuckin’ with the system, causing general anarchy and whatnot. No worries though love, after the firewall we’ll be home clear.”

“Firewall! You said never to go through firewalls, never to deal with that madness. We’ll be torn apart, the ship won’t make it, the worlds not compatible!”

“Honey, love, sugar dumplings… don’t worry. I’ve figured it all out. TechFront INC is a corporately owned international business; they have stock everywhere, but put their silly faith in some gaming world known as Althanas. It’s low tech, high in ‘magic’, but I’m pretty sure I can pull all the coding of the ship, us, and unfortunately Victory through without any issues.”

[Taskmienster]

Things did NOT go as planned.

The firewall of TechFront was heavily laced with intricately disguised codes that the genius mind of Lars would have needed a week at least to trace and route. He had taken one day though. It was a dangerous endeavor at that point; one that would assuredly be noticed by the administrators of the world for what it was… a hacker. He cared very little though, and instead of stopping the ship and halting the running program that created the vortex into the world, he let it push on. The ship was torn apart code by streaming code, guns were pieces and fractured, specialized tools were broken and shattered with every passing minute. It was a grizzly site that did not sit well with the hacker, or Georgea, both clenching their teeth tightly and grimacing as they too moved through the firewall.

It felt like an hour before they passed through, but when they did, it was red alert… all hands to deck and hold on tight. Unfortunately the code that created the character known as Victor was not destroyed in the movement through the firewall, but was affected just as Ethan and Georgea were. Technology was torn asunder by the world itself, but nothing on the man was tech bound to him luckily. He fell to the floor, rolling around as his ship was engulfed in shallow flames that were little more than light and show. Sail’s were tattered, engine crystals shattered, and in it all the weapons in the possession of all were tossed about just as their masters were.

“Go! Go to the hover board!” Georgea darted for one, strapping in, but not turning it on. Who knew if it would work, if it would last if turned on? Ethan followed suit and strapped one onto his feet, as did Victor. The three of them were spiraling out of control, high in the air above the pristine world of Althanas. “Wait till we close with the ground, then turn them on and pray.”

Victor did not wait, he plunged face first over the side, doing a flip midair and slapping the board beneath him. The boost mechanism sputtered to life, fitfully, but held him nonetheless. It slowed his descent to a safe speed, but offered no chance for him to steer, his body veering off into the distance with his own ship. The other two boards that had been suspended too took a sharp plunge for the surface, but without a person to command them they were little more than falling debris. Georgea accidentally initiated hers, and suddenly became airborne… leaving the falling hacker to go down with his ship.

And down he went.


~X~

His hands opened and closed like a cat kneading for a more comfortable place. In his open palms he could feel soft grass, cool with morning dew. A light wind drifted over his still body, cooling his near boiling blood. He could hear it whipping around him, listened to its serenity pass over the countryside and all around him. A pounding headache throbbed and made its presence known rather firmly. Lars held his head tightly, trying to relieve pressure, trying to rid himself of the pain. But the codes that his body had taken on were different, something he could hardly recognize, something altogether unique and completely foreign.

Stone blue, yellow streaked eyes opened finally and met the harsh light of the high sun. The clouds were not the gunmetal gray he had grown comfortable with. They were light, fluffy white clouds. The ground was as vivid as any grass he had ever seen, a deep emerald green. He sat up, despite the pain telling him to lie down and enjoy the crisp winds. Where was he? How had he survived? The questions were drifting through his mind lazily and sporadically, as if there was not a care in the world as to his detection. In both directions he could only see lines and lines of trees, as lively and sharp as the grass and stone around him. In the distance he could see a mountain range, and the streak of black smoke that signified the downfall of his ship.

“Bloody fuck,” he muttered as he stood up, brushing dirt and grass from his jeans and leather jacket. He had successfully entered the world of Althanas, the world of the enemy. It was time to explore, find his girlfriend, where his crewmates would re-spawn, and start all over. In the mean time he would let his wrecked ship remain in the hills, time would not cause too much trouble for it or him… hopefully. “Gotta report in, log for the night and start traveling around tomorrow…”

Around him was strewn wreckage from the ship. Bits and pieces of his gear, what little had fallen with him luckily. He picked up a couple empty magazines for his 12mm pistol, only one remaining within its sheath. It was broken, of course, but he could fix it slowly over time if the pieces and ability of the realm were able to keep up with the demands required. Instead of field stripping it to find out what was broken he placed it back in its shoulder holster and felt for his knife and daggers. They were still within their respective places, thankfully, unharmed due to their low tech status.



[Sender]
Taskmienster
[Recipient Name]
xripxtoxshredzx, John_Truth, Jack_Justice
[Date]
February 6th, 2016
[Time]
21:03
[Message]
Well peeps, here we are. It’s a low tech world, sorry if your shit was fucked in the vortex. Not sure if you’ll keep up with play or not, but I’ll be here, piddlin’ around the world. We’ll run into each other soon, no doubt. If this message even works, respond when you can… I’ll be on all the time here from now on.

Peace guys, and welcome to the new world. It’s called Althanas, owned by TechFront INC, and because of the way we entered you won’t have to pay shit as long as you can keep the admins and that prick off your back.

[Skie and Avery]

Quest Judging
Oh Shiii...

STORY

Continuity ~ 6/10. Hit or miss here. Some problems had to do with clarity, but there were far too many times where I was staring at the screen, arching a brow going, "....what?"
Setting ~ 4/10. Most of the time the setting was severely lacking, most of your description going into just the characters. I know that Grimm is post-apocalyptic based on your post, but you didn't show me it at all. I was really disappointed, because I know you can do so much better.
Pacing ~ 8/10.

CHARACTER

Dialogue ~ 8/10. Definitely a modern character, and it showed.
Action ~ 7/10.
Persona ~ 7/10.

WRITING STYLE

Technique ~ 5/10. Work more on showing me the scenes instead of just telling them.
Mechanics ~ 8/10.
Clarity ~ 6/10. There were times when your word usage was all wrong. I could understand mostly what was going on, but usually not why.

MISCELLANEOUS

Wild Card ~ 7/10. It was interesting to see the perspective you were giving online games, and I'm looking forward to reading more of your story. Thinking about Althanas less as a written story and more like a MMORPG is really fascinating.

TOTAL ~ 66/100.

Rewards

Taskmienster gains 696 EXP and 145 GP. He also gains two empty magazines.

[Witchblade]

EXP and GP added!

Taskmienster reaches level 1!