AN: So, here's the last chapter till after the weekend, possibly for the year. :)

Chapter 6: Companions

Expectations are a hell of a thing. People spend their lives expecting things to go a certain way. Sometimes they expect the best to happen. At other times, they wait trembling in the dark for the worst thing possible to occur.

Scott awoke in darkness. For a moment he expected to find himself back in the cell, or perhaps he had finally met his end. He was wrong.

The light levels gradually increased, and he soon saw that he was once again in the medical bay aboard Samantha's ship. He did not know how much time had passed, or even why he was still alive since his last mission had ended. He did not recognize the appearance of a glowing door of light, so it was difficult to know what he was supposed to feel or think. Had the door come and gone, the end result was that he was stuck in this world setting? Had it not come at all, and he needed to fulfill some sort of event action to call it? There was no way to know.

He winced a little as he sat up. His body was sore, stiff from being dormant for a while as he had healed. Scott rose from the bed then noticed the naked truth of his situation. "Where the hell are my clothes?"

A feminine laugh echoed through the air as Samantha faded into sight. For a moment Scott stared at her with the same expression that a deer had when it was caught by a set of bright headlights.

"Ha. You're shaking like a Vardosian hare." Samantha rose up from where she had been sitting then lifted a hand to her lips. "Though, I admit that you do have a greater resemblance to a Tazhian bull in some aspects."

"I'll thank you not to gaze so fondly upon my glorious aspects madam." said Scott in a poor approximation of a lordly accent before he pulled the bed sheet over his naked ambition.

An amused snort was her first response. "Your clothes were being cleaned, and that pathetic crap you seemed to think was armor is being mended."

"That's awfully accommodating." said Scott curiously. She had not seemed the type to do things for free.

"The words you are thinking for are thank you." she said, a slight smirk on her slips. She continued a moment later.

"Anyway, we'll be at Hellespont-IV in a few hours. You can probably find some way to get around from there."

"Right, Hellespont-IV." said Scott. He had no idea what that was, but there was no need to argue the point. He was completely at her mercy at the moment, anyway.

She tilted her head to the right then made a curious sounding noise. "Don't you think that it's about time that you came clean with me about what you were doing back there?"

Scott looked at her for a moment then shrugged. "I'm not sure how to explain it."

"Try me." she said.

"Fine. I'm an interplanetary traveler who goes into dangerous places for profit, but with little choice in the matter." said Scott. It was about as close to the truth as he could explain.

She blinked then snorted. She granted him a flat expression then said, "Ah, a bounty hunter like me? Why not just say that?"

"It's more complicated than that, but it's close enough to the truth." said Scott.

"A complicated truth, huh?" Samantha rose from her seat then gestured with her hand. "So, what were you doing on XEV-97."

"Would you believe me if I told you that I was fighting zombies, played a game, ended up crossing time and space, and then happened to land there just before you found me?"

She looked at him carefully for a moment. "No." Though, after a moment she asked. "What's a zombie?"

"Living dead. People who have contracted a virus that kills them, but it still animates the body. They wander around in a daze and try to feast on the living."

"Sounds nasty." She tapped her chin. "And a little like a fungal spore space pirates used to mind control a team of weapon research scientists in Nebula Seven."

"That sounds nasty, too." said Scott.

She nodded to him then took a deep breath that threated to make Scott's blood pressure rise. Her outfit really did leave little to the imagination. "It was. I had to spend three days putting my armor through decontamination before I could come out of it without breaking six federation laws."

It was not long after that admission that Samantha got to the point. "So, how's the pay?"

"What pay?" asked Scott.

"That bad, huh?" she asked with a laugh.

Scott laughed as well. "I'm paid in something like credits I guess. I can spend them on pretty much anything I want, and I'll get it immediately."

"Doesn't sound so bad." she said. She eyed his sideways for a moment. "You can even get things like that weird looking plasma pistol?"

"Easily." he said. "Though, spending my credit on stuff like that makes me poor, pretty fast."

Samantha laughed at what she thought was a joke. "Isn't that the way it is?"

Scott nodded. She really had no idea.

"Tell you what. If you ever need an extra blaster by your side and can pay my price, give me word."

That brought him up short. Why make such an offer to someone she barely knew. He voiced his question. "Really? You barely know me, though."

"True, but I know money. I like money. Most of my time is spent looking for work, or waiting for a job to show up." she said.

"Well, I don't really have that issue. I pretty much have a job to do every day." he admitted with a snort.

"Ok, now I'm interested. You work for an outfit that has steady mercenary work?"

He laughed once more. "Yeah, but it's extremely dangerous work and I get stuck having to do it a lot, sometimes for no real benefit. A few times it works out really well to make up for the crap work, though."

"Danger isn't exactly something I worry about." she said with a grin. "As long as I can get paid and I can live with myself after I get done, it doesn't matter what I do."

"You sure about that?" asked Scott.

She misunderstood his line of questioning and said, "Absolutely. If you can find me some long term, paying, mercenary work, I'll take it."

Scott was about to say something but the world and everything in it came to a completely stop. It turned grey, and a bright blue screen flared into life before him.

Companion Request

The absurdly attractive intergalactic mercenary [Samantha Jeran] has offered to become your companion.

Don't get your hopes up! She's all business.

Approximate Companion Level: 12

Hit Points: [18|18]

Strength: 3.46

Resilience: 3.62

Vitality: 3.21

Dexterity: 4.78

Concentration: 2.45

Charisma: 3.62

Feats

[Power Armor Operation: Master]

[Energy Weapon Control: Master]

[Starship Navigation: Expert]

[Negotiation: Expert]

Powers

[Sex Appeal I]

[Overload Shot II]

Notable Equipment:

Starship: Argo-Tech Light Cruiser MK. IV

Power Armor: Epsilon-VI Variable Technology Armor System [HP: 1640][Dur: 460]

- Freeze Cannon

- Plasma Beam

- Lightning Arc Shot

Recruitment Cost

Galactic Federation Credits: 40000 credits, plus 5000 additional credits per day

Note[1]: Companion cost related items can be purchased from the [Companion Roster] once a companion had been recruited.

Note[2]: You cannot recruit a companion for a mission until you have built a mission command center and a companion gathering area in your [Home]. Potential companions will be listed in your companion roster until these locations have been created.

[—]

Scott stared at the blue screen hard for a moment then grinned. He could recruit people from these game worlds? That could be useful. Of course, he had to see how much five thousand credits would cost, not to mention how much upgrading his cell would cost him.

"Sure thing. Though, right now it's mostly just zombie extermination stuff. If something good comes up, I'll let you know." said Scott.

Samantha grinned. "I'll be there with bells on, as long as you have the credits. Speaking of which..."

Scott looked to her and her grin slipped into a flat expression. She said, "I could not possibly work for less than eighty thousand credits, and an additional twelve thousand per day."

"That's a bit steep isn't it?" asked Scott. He had no idea what those credits were worth, but he understood that she was trying to negotiate. The recruitment thing claimed she would work for forty thousand credits.

"Hey, I'm not a cheap date." she said, her arms out to the side. She shook her head lightly, which caused other things to shake lightly.

Scott suddenly felt a strange compulsion come over him. It took everything that he had inside not to immediately give in to her request. What the hell was going on? It was like his whole body wanted to do something stupid. Finally, he averted his eyes and took a breath. "I was thinking twenty-five thousand, and three thousand a day."

"Ha! Hell no. That's scrub pay." She placed her hands on her hips then leaned forward slightly while lifting her chin. "I'm worthy at least sixty thousand upfront, aren't I?"

Scott's teeth ground together as another wave of raw desire washed over him. It was like his very body and soul were under attack. "Th-thirty thousand."

Samantha's lips spread into a slight grin. She knew damned well what she was doing. Her finger rose to her lips and she lightly pressed down against the bottom one. "But a girl has to eat. Fifty thousand is the lowest I can go."

"Thirty-five..." Said Scott, before he loosened the sheet around him to hide how close he was to giving in to her negotiation tactics.

She walked over to him then slipped her arms around his waist. He did not have any inclination to resist her actions. She brushed her nose lightly against his cheek then gently whispered in his ear. "Forty-five..."

"F-forty..." Scott tried to argue her down to forty thousand, but she suddenly lifted her right leg and pressed her thigh against his hip. He could feel a certain amount of warmth pressing just above his previously mentioned bull-like aspect. His mind went blank and the world went black just as he said, "Five..." When he awoke, he was fully dressed and felt ashamed of himself. Why had he given in? It made no sense.

Not long after they arrived at Hellespont and they disembarked. Samantha inclined her head then made a finger gun in his direction. "Remember our deal."

"Yeah, forty-five thousand credits up front and seven thousand per day." groused Scott. He had never felt so dirty in his life. He had only had a few girlfriends but none of them had ever gotten the better of him like that. He still could not understand what had happened.

"Pleasure doing business with you." She winked at him in a saucy manner then wandered off to do whatever overly talented female mercenaries did when they came to port.

Scott stood there for a moment as she walked away then sighed. The port was filled with all manner of strange looking people. It was a kaleidoscope of various colors and sights. There were fish people, cat people, and various human looking people. Some of them looked more like slugs than people.

"The hell do I do now?" he asked himself. He had no money, only one contact and she expected him to give her money, and no idea of where to change that.

Eventually, he shrugged then walked out of the landing area and toward the space station proper. The moment he crossed the threshold to the interior, a blue screen popped up.

Hub-Location Unlocked

You have unlocked the free space port Hellespont. You may return here in the future when you wish to spend your free time between missions. You will have to create a recreation room, and a recreation door in order to make use of this location.

--

Note: You have now completed the opening scene for this world-setting. As the only champion to have reached this setting through a warp zone, you were granted a unique chance to recruit a high quality companion. This chance will remain yours alone for thirty days. If you fail to recruit your companion properly, another champion will obtain the chance.

You will now return to your previous mission. Would you like to return to your [Home] first to remove your current status effects?

Current Status Effects

Minor physical injuries – 2 EXP

Excessive Arousal – 5 EXP

[Yes | No]

[—]

"Excessive Arousal? How...?" Scott slapped his forehead after he realized the truth. "Of course."

He had not been a gullible sap who could not withstand the interest of a woman. She had used one of her abilities on him to make him more suggestible to negotiation. "Damned sexy mercenary. She got me."

A lot of things made sense now. He would need to find a way to defend against that in the future. Admittedly, he was not even made that she had done that to him. If anything he wanted her to negotiate harder in the future. He made a silly face then clicked the no option. He doubted that he would become aroused by zombies, and he saw no reason to go through restoration twice.

The glowing door opened before him and he strolled through without a care for who might be watching. It wasn't like he knew any way to make the door pop up where he wanted it to, anyway.

Scott stepped into total darkness. The word Loading... appeared before him. He smirked at it briefly then watched as it started to blink. He was also delighted to see that while the world loaded various still images appeared before him. There were captions that told him various tips and bits of lore about the world of Dead Men Walking.

"Wait! What's that?" asked Scott as he leaned forward to read one of the image captions. "So I can take items back to my cell..."

Protip

If you purchase storage items for your home, you can use it them to store and call out items from your linked item inventory. Don't be afraid to buy a storage box or a closet just because those items seem a little expensive.

[--]

"Better look into that." he said to himself just before the loading screens faded away. The door of light rose up and he was once again faced with a journey to destroy the undead.

Scott stepped out into the parking lot of the strip mall then took a deep breath. The scent of death and decay returned to him like an old friend. "God I hate this place." he said in a friendly tone of voice.

Pistol at the ready, he began to grisly task of finishing off the undead. A little time passed as he combed through the buildings. He searched out of the way places for both zombies and possible treasures. He had not found a single treasure item since the pistol, and he suspected they were supposed to be well hidden and random. Though, there might be other factors involved in their appearance.

Zombie after zombie fell, but no new treasures or random warp zones appeared before him. For that day, his task was done. Scott went back to his [Home] and looked around at the walls that greeted him. Life had returned to the monotony from before, but at least this time he was not badly hurt.

He strolled over to his status menu then went through restoration. His equipment and his body were restored for six total EXP. Five points spent for his body and mind, and a single point spent to restore his gear.

"Time to see what happened while I was gone." he said thoughtfully.

Mission Score

You have completed your sixth daily mission. Congratulations!

Someone's been a busy little boy, neh?

Grade: A

Base Reward: 10 EXP

Grade Bonus: X4

Total: 40 EXP

Elimination Bonus: 294 EXP

Settings Bonus

Zombie Killer Route: Nothing to say here. You killed some zombies. Woot!

Grade: B

Route Bonus: 20 EXP

Special Bonus[1]: You unlocked a warp zone to [Bounty Star]

Special Bonus[2]: You unlocked the hub-zone [Hellespont]

Bonus: 1000 EXP

Special elimination Bonus: You met interesting space pirates and killed them.

Bonus: 27 EXP

Side Quest Bonus: You completed the escape from XEV-97 side quest.

Grade: C

Grade Bonus: X1.5

Total: 105

Entertainment Bonus

You proved to be highly entertaining on several occasions. This reduces the annoyance of our people as they wait for your race to fail their challenges and become our property.

Entertainment Grade: B

Entertainment Bonus: 20 EXP

Fan Following: You have acquired new fans. Once you have 100 fans, you will be granted a one percent bonus to all EXP earned. Each additional 100 fans will increase your EXP by one percent as well.

Fans: (28)

Total EXP Earned: 1506

[—]

"Holy shit." said Scott slowly. He had made a serious upgrade in his EXP totals with that. He had started the day thinking that he would have to deal with nothing but garbage missions. Instead, he had earned more in one day than he had for the entire time that he had been involved in this crazy game.

Scott immediately began to look into the new functions that had been unlocked as well. He checked his companion roster, a function now available, and noted that Samantha was listed. It also listed her price.

He checked the cost of credits then grinned. They cost only one EXP per thousand credits. Fifty-two EXP could buy her services for a day.

The next thing he did was check the home items that he could use to upgrade his cell. The command center and companion room that he needed would cost twenty-five hundred EXP total. The recreation room and recreation room door would cost seven hundred fifty total. In order to expand his home in the ways that would allow him to better use his time, it would cost over three thousand EXP.

He decided that he would need to get to work. This was a great chance to greatly increase his abilities. He purchased two more days of life then bypassed purchasing armor and other items in favor of checking out what a storage box would cost.

"I'll test out the cheapest one first." he said. Scott spent two hundred fifty points to purchase a small foot locker.

Household Item

Small Foot Locker

This storage item provides one storage unit. This specific item is a storage unit that offers general utility and can be used to store up to four small items, two medium sized items, or one large item that could conceivably fit inside the box.

If you wish to store items in the field, find any similarly shaped foot locker and create a [storage link] by strongly thinking of creating that link. Item transfers can be performed between words with no cost in EXP.

Level 1/4

EXP: 0/10

Storage: 1 unit[s]

[—]

The foot locker appeared on the floor nearby. Scott moved it to the wall then opened it up. He experimented with placing his items inside to see what happened. His pistol and bracers were considered small items. His leg guards were medium items. He chose not to upgrade its level until after he tested it in the game.

Before he became too excited, he purchased two more days of life, which brought his total expenditure to four hundred fifty. He had only a little over eleven hundred points left.

Scott looked his status over for a moment then nodded. He could afford to buy several good items now, but what he really wanted to do was increase his base statistics. If he could bring items into this world from the world beyond, he could make do with the lesser equipment he might find there until he reached a point where he felt good about things.

He spent his points on resilience, vitality, and dexterity. Each of those skills was raised to four points for a total cost of seven hundred eighty five points. The moment he did so, he saw little blue screens flash up that informed him that he had new options. Those options were feat purchases.

"Three hundred seventeen points left..." he said to himself while he looked over the possibilities. He could buy a few cheap feats or one more expensive hybrid feat, it seemed.

Scott frowned. He wanted to hit point increasing feat, but the other two simple feats were gun control and improved regeneration. The hybrid feats were various resistance skills such as resistance to disease or poison, when vitality and resilience were the pre-requisites. Dexterity and vitality worked together to grant an improved evasion feat, though he was not certain how that worked. Resilience and dexterity would allow him to have a feat that allowed him to parry attacks easier, or recover from knock downs more quickly.

In the end, he preferred three simple feats to one hybrid feat. Scott chose [Improved Regeneration I], [Improved Hit Points I], and [Improved Coordination I].

He would have liked to have taken a power as well, but the least expensive power was four hundred EXP. The feats, or rather passive abilities from what he could see, were only one hundred points each for class one versions.

[Name: Scott Davidson]

[Age: 20]

[Race: Earthling]

[Level: 2][281/2000]

[EXP: 17.00]

[Life Span: 5 Day(s)]

Hit Points: 41

ATTRIBUTES

[Strength: 1.10][Resilience:4.00]

[Vitality: 4.00][Dexterity: 4.00]

[Concentration: 1.48][Charisma: 1.00]

FEATS

[Improved Regeneration I]

[Improved Hit Points I]

[Improved Coordination I]

POWERS

[None]

[—]

Scott grinned at his status. "That's enough hit points to take a shot to the face from a low end handgun and not even notice."

He took out his pistol then flipped it into the air. He caught it easily then whipped it around with great skill and precision. He might not have improved gun control, but he could actually feel a major increase in his ability to move his body the way that he wanted.

New blue screens popped up. He had awakened new abilities that he could purchase in the future by activating the simple feats. "Sweet, there's a feat that will add a flat amount of additional hit points to my base." Four more points did not seem like a lot, until he took the scaling from level ups into account. Increasing his resilience to four and taking the simple feat had caused his hit points to increase by six points total after the level adjustment for reaching his second level was also included.

"This was what I needed." he said, a smile on his lips. He could feel things starting to turn around. He had already reached a level of resilience, vitality, and dexterity that would be the match of only the most elite of Olympic athletes on Earth.

He turned to the door. There were new missions waiting for him. Even if they were boring, he did not mind. It was time to get the party started for real. "Let's do this."