1 Ultron System
For four straight days, Caesar, a sixteen year old youtuber, live streamed himself playing the game Ultron.
Tons of dedicated subscribers tuned in, and watched with bated breaths as his avatar, clad in combat gear, AR-15 in hand, completely dominated the game- until he did not.
Caesar's clumsy feet hit his half empty energy drink.
The liquid spilled over, and trickled its way onto a power cord, which in turn invited a spark that immediately shot a power surge through him. The controller dropped from his hands. It was all over in a moment. Caesar died in his chair.
By the time he came to, Caesar's sight was met with a silvery orb that hung proudly on a black canvas. It was the moon- in the night sky. Shock met surprise, and Caesar bolted upright with a quickness.
Caesar jumped his feet. It was night time. And clearly, he was outside (which almost never happened). The moonlit night afforded him enough illumination to see that there were trees around him. He was in some kind of woods, but his memory failed to give him the concise detail of where he was and, most importantly, how he had got here.
As he stood there, desperately trying to make sense of his situation, a generic metallic voice struck out from the darkness;
[PLEASE STAND BY. ULTRON SYSTEM ACTIVATING.]
Caesar eyebrows co-joined together at the top of his head, forming an arc of confusion;
"Who's there?" His own unsteady, terror filled voice echoed into the darkness; "I said who's there?!"
[ULTRON IS FULLY ONLINE. STAND BY FOR ACTIVATION PROMPT.]
"Wait a minute. . ." Caesar stammered. He could not believe his ears; "ULTRON?? As in from the actual game?"
[SUBJECT NAME: CAESARION W. ACKERMAN]
[AGE: SIXTEEN YEARS.]
[HEIGHT: SIX FOOT TWO.]
[SPECIAL SKILLS: NONE.]
[MISSION #1: GAIN SKILLS FROM THE PREVIOUS GAME. TO PROCEED, UTTER THE COMMAND PROMPT; 'BETA UPGRADE']
The words fell out of Caesar's mouth almost immediately; "Beta Upgrade."
[BETA UPGRADE SUCESSFUL.]
[SKILLS UNLOCKED: HAND TO HAND COMBAT- 67%, ENHANCED MUSCLE MEMORY- 73%, STAMINA- 55%, SPEED: 72%, WEAPON DEXTERITY: 58%]
Ceasar felt every single atom of his body get revamped on the spot, as he got back his previous progress he had worked hard for.
Ceasar spent the next few days exploring his new environment, also wondering how this was all possible.
Alone, save for the ubiquitous A.I system, Caesar braved through the wilderness on foot. The days were hot, and at night, the temperatures dropped dramatically to subzero-like temperatures.
He endured the harshness of the overbearing sun, and feasted on berries and mushrooms. For a city boy who had been snatched out of the comfort of suburban life, Caesar was starting to get used to the nomadic lifestyle- till he stumbled on his first bit of action.
On that particular evening, huddled behind the base of a small hill, Ceasar was trying the arduous task of having to take a dump like a neandethral. He was very nearly there, when he heard the spontaneous cries of despair coming.
His bowel movement disappeared completely.
Alarmed, Caesar scrambled to his feet and cocked his head in the direction of the disruption. He carefully eased his way through the ridges, and quietly came close to a cleft.
A group of people enclosed in a crescent-like formation came into the orbit of his sight. Even with their backs turned from him, he was still able to tell that they were a menacing bunch. From the midst of the angry voices came a piercing sharp cry.
In the middle of this unsavory crowd, flanked all sides by unseemly characters was a young girl who looked like she was done for.
[MISSION #2: RESCUE THE GIRL TO OBTAIN A SONIC BOMB AND TWIN DEFENSIVE ARMOR.]
From his vantage point, Caesar fully asessed the situation.
The hostiles in question were about a dozen and a half men. All well over six foot, all had calves like rhinos, and all built like tanks. He was totally alone.
". . .I'd die first before I give up, you'd better get on with it if I were you!"
It was the girl, doing her best not to appear craven.
A sneer formed on the face of one of the men at the vanguard.
"Trying to act brave huh? How cute." He stepped forward into her personal space provocatively: "Too bad bravado doesn't count for much here." He spat.
The girl clasped both here hands together, and held her palms out, forming a thin shield of defence.
Laughter erupted through the group, echoing their amusment and patronizing sarcasm.
"Good, let's put that pathetic barrier to a test shall we?"
She yelled; "Stay ba---"
It became obvious that their formation was not just a cornering or intimidating tactic.
Their arms barely moved, and yet, all at once, powerful blasts of raw energy came at the poor girl from all sides in the form of a tornado. The very air seemed to shift, and for a moment, it seemed reality itself had been distorted.
She did not stand a chance.
The insane blast of whirling air, mixed with cackling lighting slammed right into her force field, dissolving it upon impact, and sending her flying through the air.
Her body had not even landed before a couple men at the flanks, stumped their feet on the ground, triggering a low scale tremor in the earth, making the girl's landing a whole lot rougher
Caesar gawked at the scene with unbelief in his eyes.
"Now I know this Ultron system's surely tryin' to kill me!" He thought.
He was gladdened with each and every passing moment that he hadn't made the foolish mistake of jumping right in. That would have proven to be a disastrous error on his part.
"Damn it what the hell kind of mission is this?" He wondered. "These bastards are the real deal. . . "
Caesar's heart was actively racing, so he tried to will himself to calm down and tried to look at things more logically. Charging in blindly was not an option at all. In fact, it was a sure receipe for disaster.
While he was still debating his situation, one of the cloaked men at the front twitched his hands, and Caesar watched as fiery orange flames shot out from his palm like he was a human flamethrower. Hot raw destruction, in the form of fire charged right at the girl's body that had been thrown a few yard ahead.
Ceasar swallowed. In slow motion, he watched the horrific scene play before his eyes;
Just in the nick of time, just when he had concluded the girl was already toast, she managed to summon enough strength to conjure another shield. And thus, the roaring fireball that should have totally eviscerated her was snuffed out upon impact.
"Glad to see you still have enough juice to stop my fireball! I would have been sad to see you die so early, smelling like roasted lamb!"
The others laughed. But Caesar did not.
"Fuck no. . ." he cursed silently; "No way. This is impossible."
The sun began to set, giving the group the gift of darkness. Like a pack of hyenas, they moved as one, and closed the gap between them and their prey.
Caesar genuinely began to wonder if the system was deliberately setting him up to die here. These guys were taking their time to toy with her. This was not an execution. It was torture.
Slowly, Caesar began to slowly back off, all the while shaking his head.
"Not today Ultron, not today."
[COUNTDOWN TO MISSION VALIDITY: T MINUS SIX HUNDRED SECONDS]
"Screw you Ultron. I refuse to die for anyone, not even for myself! So, you can take your mission and shove it up your unmentionables!"
Praying silently that he would not be noticed, Caesar began to retreat, all the while raining obscenities on the system. In the mean time, the gang of cloaked douchebags continued to bully their prey. They surrounded her, taunted her on all sides, with an occasional jab here an there.
Caesar tried to avert his eyes from the atrocity:
"Only heaven knows what exactly she might have done to bring this kind of heat on her. . ."
But unfortunately for him, his empathy was stronger than his fear.
So, when one of the cloaked assailanst lifted up a mean looking magical staff in the air above her still body, Caesar knew that something big was coming.
