[A/N: I don't know why, but I was vibing with this song the whole time on repeat while writing this chapter: Griffith x Help Urself (Hxi Remix) by Shikai]
I certainly wasn't expecting three women entering my store just two hours from close, specifically women that I could actually recognize.
Particularly, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and who I assume to be Catwoman.
"Welcome back, have you decided to take me up on my offer?" I asked, motioning my head towards Ivy who was turning pale.
Tilting my head after being answered with silence, I instead look over to the two other customers.
"Tell me, how would you two like to play a Ḡ̵͈͖̫̟̱̞̝̂̈́̀͜ͅa̴̧͙̱͈̼̞̠͛͗̎͆͒͋͝ṃ̸̡̢̠͖̩̻́̊̆̀̕ȅ̷̠͙͗̉̈?" I asked, with an inky black smile forming underneath the floating slab I had for a head.
Not even realizing the strange creepiness that came with my question, I looked at the two women with an expectant smile.
Catwoman paled, but Harley's grin grew wider.
"What do you have available big guy?" She asked, jumping forward and getting closer to the counter.
"Depends on your taste really, but I have three games available for players with two modes available in each one," I informed her.
"Lay it on me," She said excitedly.
"First, would be the Fallout Series of Games, set in a post-apocalyptic world struggling to recover from nuclear devastation, the second, is yet another post-apocalyptic world struggling with an apocalypse, but this one happens to be a Zombie apocalypse, the last and most recent addition to my cafe, would be a game in a world much like our own that is struggling with its own unique Supers problem."
"Oooh, that zombie one sounds fun, can I smash some zombie heads in it?" She asked, suddenly even more excited to commit violence.
"You can, though you can also even turn them to mush with a hammer, or decapitate a few zombie heads with a sword, or go guns blazing and take on an entire city's worth of zombies if you feel so inclined," I informed her, watching as her eyes seem to shine like stars the further I explained.
"That one!" She told me without any hesitation.
"Alright, a single session for the classic mode is $50 an hour, while the VR Mode is $100 an hour, for your information, I suggest you chose the VR experience to get an authentic experience," I suggested.
"Ooo, I'll go with the VR mode, Selina, could you pay for me? I promise I'll pay you back!" She informed me before turning around and basically tackling Catwoman.
"Sigh...You always say that..." She sighed as she pulled out a wad of cash from her purse.
"I'll go with the VR experience as well, do we select the games we play through the computers?" She asked, handing me the money, still seeming a bit pale.
"That's right, I do hope you enjoy your time in the game, and the adventure that awaits you," I wished them knowing they would get quite the surprise when they realized the games were a lot more realistic than what they were imagining.
Turning back to Ivy, I noticed she seemed to regain her confidence as she looked towards her friends who walked over to two of the computers and sat down while biting her lip.
"And you?" I asked, getting her attention.
"I'll...try," She hesitantly spoke.
"Wonderful, which mode would you like to play?"
"Virtual," She told me, before hesitantly approaching and paying me the money.
"Enjoy your session, I'll be right over here if you need me," I informed her before floating back up to my lotus pose behind the counter and having some of my minds focus on the three women.
---
[Harley Quinn]
'Ivy was really underselling that thing! It was even worse than what she described! Unfair! How come she is so lucky?!'
Focusing back on the computer before her, she simply put in Quinn as her username and moved on.
Before too long, she was playing the tutorial of Project Zomboid, running through a horde of zombies with a shotgun in hand shooting down rows of zombies as she slowly got swarmed by the zombies.
She kept shooting and running around until she eventually ran out of shells, and began using the shotgun as a makeshift bat and began bashing in the skull of every zombie.
However, she was still human, and eventually couldn't outrun the zombies or continue swinging the shotgun anymore.
Exhaustion took hold of her body, and she was killed.
[You have died!]
[Congratulations on completing the tutorial!]
[Would you like to continue, or exit the game?]
[Congratulations for gaining the achievement, 'To my dying breath' and surviving ten minutes against the horde, +5 Credits]
Smiling, she continued, ready to bash more brains in.
She chose a random spawn option and selected the 'Police Officer' occupation, feeling like cosplaying a bit, and for the weapons, she would also apparently get with the occupation.
She certainly wasn't expecting that she would find herself immediately in a small police station with zombies bashing at the door.
Smiling, she unholstered the small pistol and calmly walked over to the door.
...
Meanwhile, Selina who was booting up the first Infamous game was met with a cutscene.
She was running around a city square when suddenly she heard screaming, and explosions, and in the distance, a blue dome of energy was rapidly expanding, consuming everything in its path.
Suddenly in a helicopter, she found herself looking down at what appeared to be new york city that was rapidly being consumed by the blue sphere, then a dot in the distance was noticeable, and rapidly growing in size, revealing a bus that slammed directly into the helicopter, destroying it near instantaneously.
A man's voice echoed in her mind.
"Activation plus six minutes. Pulse is 45. Respiration 10, looking good Cole."
Suddenly a different man's voice spoke in her head, as she opened her eyes and felt her entire body groaning and burning from pain.
"The hell happened?" The voice asked as I climbed up from the ground.
Surrounded by devastation, the voice spoke again, "Oh god."
Rubble, smoke, collapsed buildings, broken fire hydrants spraying water, electricity sparking off wires, it was as if she was standing at the center of where an explosion happened, right on an elevated platform in the center of a crater.
She felt off like she wasn't in her body.
Then she noticed it, large muscular hands, broad shoulders, no hair...she was a man.
Then a helicopter flew closer from around a building, stopping just above, and hovering.
Then a microphone switched on, "There's someone alive down there. Hey! Look up if you can hear me! If you can walk, get out of there, head for the bridge!
Moving as fast as she could, she got moving, somehow finding herself moving in a specific direction as if her body was guiding her where she needed to go.
Suddenly a phone rang, "Cole, Cole! You there?! Come on man, pick up!"
A name suddenly came to mind hearing that voice, Zeke...why does she know that name?
Answering the call, the voice in her head spoke out from her body, "...Zeke...? What the hell is going on? I think there was an explosion..."
"No shit there was an explosion! TV says terrorists are blowing stuff up all over the city, Meet me at the freemont bridge, we will get Trish and find someplace to hunker down!"
"See you there," the voice weakly spoke out to Zeke.
Slowly walking forward, getting used to how the body felt, she marched on, eventually having to jump and climb over a hanging bus, and up into a multistory car park where a sparking panel suddenly exploded and what felt like a lethal amount of volts burned right into her new body, only she didn't feel pain or weak from it, strangely enough, it felt like it made her stronger, giving her a boost of energy instead of frying her into a charred corpse.
"What the hell? I should be dead..." The voice spoke out.
Shrugging it off and focusing on surviving, she continued on.
Eventually coming around a corner towards some construction lights that were sparking with electricity.
Just like before, the lights seemed to burst and all the electricity in them seemed to slam right into her body causing her to momentarily spasm.
The lights exploded, collapsing some concrete and making a convenient ramp down.
She soon saw the bridge Zeke mentioned and a bunch of injured people, police, and helicopters flying above.
She rushed over, feeling invigorated and when she made it close enough, she could see who she assumed to be Zeke.
"Cole! Over here, man, we gotta go!"
Suddenly though, she felt my hair rise as multiple things around her exploded, and bolts of electricity struck her body and continued to do so until all the surrounding devices were completely drained.
"No, No!" The voice in her head screamed through her body.
Electricity warped and wrapped around her arms as if she was a living conductor, suddenly bolts of lightning struck the ground around her, sending the cops and injured people around her flying.
Raising her arms over her head, she ran forward, with the lighting following her down the bridge, striking everything around her.
"Oh no, it's the terrorists, run for the bridge Cole! Shit, the whole bridge is coming down, move your ass, Cole!"
Running forward, the electricity continued to wrap around her arms, and lighting bolts continued to rain down around her, destroying everything.
Just as she reached the other end of the bridge, she felt drained, and without warning, passed out.
[A/N: I don't know why, but I was vibing with this song the whole time on repeat while writing this chapter: Griffith x Help Urself (Hxi Remix) by Shikai]
I certainly wasn't expecting three women entering my store just two hours from close, specifically women that I could actually recognize.
Particularly, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and who I assume to be Catwoman.
"Welcome back, have you decided to take me up on my offer?" I asked, motioning my head towards Ivy who was turning pale.
Tilting my head after being answered with silence, I instead look over to the two other customers.
"Tell me, how would you two like to play a Ḡ̵͈͖̫̟̱̞̝̂̈́̀͜ͅa̴̧͙̱͈̼̞̠͛͗̎͆͒͋͝ṃ̸̡̢̠͖̩̻́̊̆̀̕ȅ̷̠͙͗̉̈?" I asked, with an inky black smile forming underneath the floating slab I had for a head.
Not even realizing the strange creepiness that came with my question, I looked at the two women with an expectant smile.
Catwoman paled, but Harley's grin grew wider.
"What do you have available big guy?" She asked, jumping forward and getting closer to the counter.
"Depends on your taste really, but I have three games available for players with two modes available in each one," I informed her.
"Lay it on me," She said excitedly.
"First, would be the Fallout Series of Games, set in a post-apocalyptic world struggling to recover from nuclear devastation, the second, is yet another post-apocalyptic world struggling with an apocalypse, but this one happens to be a Zombie apocalypse, the last and most recent addition to my cafe, would be a game in a world much like our own that is struggling with its own unique Supers problem."
"Oooh, that zombie one sounds fun, can I smash some zombie heads in it?" She asked, suddenly even more excited to commit violence.
"You can, though you can also even turn them to mush with a hammer, or decapitate a few zombie heads with a sword, or go guns blazing and take on an entire city's worth of zombies if you feel so inclined," I informed her, watching as her eyes seem to shine like stars the further I explained.
"That one!" She told me without any hesitation.
"Alright, a single session for the classic mode is $50 an hour, while the VR Mode is $100 an hour, for your information, I suggest you chose the VR experience to get an authentic experience," I suggested.
"Ooo, I'll go with the VR mode, Selina, could you pay for me? I promise I'll pay you back!" She informed me before turning around and basically tackling Catwoman.
"Sigh...You always say that..." She sighed as she pulled out a wad of cash from her purse.
"I'll go with the VR experience as well, do we select the games we play through the computers?" She asked, handing me the money, still seeming a bit pale.
"That's right, I do hope you enjoy your time in the game, and the adventure that awaits you," I wished them knowing they would get quite the surprise when they realized the games were a lot more realistic than what they were imagining.
Turning back to Ivy, I noticed she seemed to regain her confidence as she looked towards her friends who walked over to two of the computers and sat down while biting her lip.
"And you?" I asked, getting her attention.
"I'll...try," She hesitantly spoke.
"Wonderful, which mode would you like to play?"
"Virtual," She told me, before hesitantly approaching and paying me the money.
"Enjoy your session, I'll be right over here if you need me," I informed her before floating back up to my lotus pose behind the counter and having some of my minds focus on the three women.
---
[Harley Quinn]
'Ivy was really underselling that thing! It was even worse than what she described! Unfair! How come she is so lucky?!'
Focusing back on the computer before her, she simply put in Quinn as her username and moved on.
Before too long, she was playing the tutorial of Project Zomboid, running through a horde of zombies with a shotgun in hand shooting down rows of zombies as she slowly got swarmed by the zombies.
She kept shooting and running around until she eventually ran out of shells, and began using the shotgun as a makeshift bat and began bashing in the skull of every zombie.
However, she was still human, and eventually couldn't outrun the zombies or continue swinging the shotgun anymore.
Exhaustion took hold of her body, and she was killed.
[You have died!]
[Congratulations on completing the tutorial!]
[Would you like to continue, or exit the game?]
[Congratulations for gaining the achievement, 'To my dying breath' and surviving ten minutes against the horde, +5 Credits]
Smiling, she continued, ready to bash more brains in.
She chose a random spawn option and selected the 'Police Officer' occupation, feeling like cosplaying a bit, and for the weapons, she would also apparently get with the occupation.
She certainly wasn't expecting that she would find herself immediately in a small police station with zombies bashing at the door.
Smiling, she unholstered the small pistol and calmly walked over to the door.
...
Meanwhile, Selina who was booting up the first Infamous game was met with a cutscene.
She was running around a city square when suddenly she heard screaming, and explosions, and in the distance, a blue dome of energy was rapidly expanding, consuming everything in its path.
Suddenly in a helicopter, she found herself looking down at what appeared to be new york city that was rapidly being consumed by the blue sphere, then a dot in the distance was noticeable, and rapidly growing in size, revealing a bus that slammed directly into the helicopter, destroying it near instantaneously.
A man's voice echoed in her mind.
"Activation plus six minutes. Pulse is 45. Respiration 10, looking good Cole."
Suddenly a different man's voice spoke in her head, as she opened her eyes and felt her entire body groaning and burning from pain.
"The hell happened?" The voice asked as I climbed up from the ground.
Surrounded by devastation, the voice spoke again, "Oh god."
Rubble, smoke, collapsed buildings, broken fire hydrants spraying water, electricity sparking off wires, it was as if she was standing at the center of where an explosion happened, right on an elevated platform in the center of a crater.
She felt off like she wasn't in her body.
Then she noticed it, large muscular hands, broad shoulders, no hair...she was a man.
Then a helicopter flew closer from around a building, stopping just above, and hovering.
Then a microphone switched on, "There's someone alive down there. Hey! Look up if you can hear me! If you can walk, get out of there, head for the bridge!
Moving as fast as she could, she got moving, somehow finding herself moving in a specific direction as if her body was guiding her where she needed to go.
Suddenly a phone rang, "Cole, Cole! You there?! Come on man, pick up!"
A name suddenly came to mind hearing that voice, Zeke...why does she know that name?
Answering the call, the voice in her head spoke out from her body, "...Zeke...? What the hell is going on? I think there was an explosion..."
"No shit there was an explosion! TV says terrorists are blowing stuff up all over the city, Meet me at the freemont bridge, we will get Trish and find someplace to hunker down!"
"See you there," the voice weakly spoke out to Zeke.
Slowly walking forward, getting used to how the body felt, she marched on, eventually having to jump and climb over a hanging bus, and up into a multistory car park where a sparking panel suddenly exploded and what felt like a lethal amount of volts burned right into her new body, only she didn't feel pain or weak from it, strangely enough, it felt like it made her stronger, giving her a boost of energy instead of frying her into a charred corpse.
"What the hell? I should be dead..." The voice spoke out.
Shrugging it off and focusing on surviving, she continued on.
Eventually coming around a corner towards some construction lights that were sparking with electricity.
Just like before, the lights seemed to burst and all the electricity in them seemed to slam right into her body causing her to momentarily spasm.
The lights exploded, collapsing some concrete and making a convenient ramp down.
She soon saw the bridge Zeke mentioned and a bunch of injured people, police, and helicopters flying above.
She rushed over, feeling invigorated and when she made it close enough, she could see who she assumed to be Zeke.
"Cole! Over here, man, we gotta go!"
Suddenly though, she felt my hair rise as multiple things around her exploded, and bolts of electricity struck her body and continued to do so until all the surrounding devices were completely drained.
"No, No!" The voice in her head screamed through her body.
Electricity warped and wrapped around her arms as if she was a living conductor, suddenly bolts of lightning struck the ground around her, sending the cops and injured people around her flying.
Raising her arms over her head, she ran forward, with the lighting following her down the bridge, striking everything around her.
"Oh no, it's the terrorists, run for the bridge Cole! Shit, the whole bridge is coming down, move your ass, Cole!"
Running forward, the electricity continued to wrap around her arms, and lighting bolts continued to rain down around her, destroying everything.
Just as she reached the other end of the bridge, she felt drained, and without warning, passed out.
