Jamal “Jam” Wilson sat up in his VR pod and rubbed at his tired eyes. He stretched his body, rolling his neck around, and climbed off of the pod. He took the mat out of the pod and tossed it into the washing machine, then got some cleaning solution and washed down the inside of the pod with practiced ease. Wiping it dry, he then replaced the bed mat with another and went off to shower.

“Jack, turn on VGtv for me.” Jam said when he walked back in from the shower sliding his legs into his underwear, and stepping onto the treadmill.

“You actually just missed the stream about WoH. Would you like me to rewind it for you.” The disembodied voice of Jack, Jam’s A.I. assistant answered.

“Yeah, thanks.” Jam responded tapping buttons on the treadmill until it started at a light jog.

“No problem, pulling it up.” Jack said.

A small feed clicked to life on the wall in front of him and on it a young and beautiful broadcaster began to speak.

“Hello nerds, hello geeks. Welcome to Shelly’s corner. I’m Shelly Lang, I’m a taurus; I like long walks on the beach, stargazing, dying my hair and bathing in the blood of my enemies.” The broadcaster said in an exaggerated girly and giggly voice while twirling a lock of her blood red hair. Jam picked up speed into a light run. Shelly Lang swiveled around her chair in a circle and like a switch had flipped her entire persona changed. “Let get right into it guys, we’ve gotten another great World of Heroes Online stream from everyone’s favorite villain Apex. Completing the challenge of defending his compound for 20 minutes he led over 100 villains with might a say a very rousing call to action. With this victory Apex has finally hit the level limit of 100 for WoH. Feeling aside about whether or not you’re happy to see his success, I’d just like to know: What is next for Apex?” Jam picked up speed again, running with ease.

“Sure he can continue as he has been, doing more and more extravagant missions and challenges, but when will the fans lose interest? The streamer Apex has been going strong for 2 years now but interest always wanes. He has already united all of the super villains under his banner, he has wiped the floor with all his greatest enemies on numerous occassion, and now he has reached the pinnacle of leveling; where does he go now? Not even just for his stream but for his play in general. He has reached the top of the mountain. With the rise of new games coming to market like Viridian Gate returning to the more classic fantasy style we’re all used to or Gun Meister giving us back shooters, how long will it be before people aren’t interested in World of Heroes anymore? It’s not the 2010’s anymore; superheroes have gone the way of fidget spinners and existential dread. Subscriptions have already dropped by nearly half and Arcturus Industries has already switched half their servers over to their new space battle game Cosmic Crisis. Should he continue on as the villain Apex? Or, hang up the cape, move on to another game, maybe be the greatest villain in all of the cosmos?”

Jam ran faster, his breathing heavy and ragged, his lungs burning and his leg muscles straining as he fought on and continued watching. Shelly Lang sighed aloud and cradled her head in her hand, her elbow on her desk. “Don’t get me wrong, I like the guy. He’s very entertaining and extremely nice to look at.” she mused dreamily then paused, a silly grin stretching across her face before fading away. “Every great show knew when it was time to end, and plenty of really good shows managed to overstay their welcome. Only time will tell which one Apex becomes.” Jam hit the glowing red stop button and the treadmill quickly slowed to a stop as he stepped off of it, bracing himself on the side of the treadmill as he waited for his legs to quit shaking and the slight dizziness to ease. He could feel his heart beat hammering all the way to his ears and sweat was beginning to burn his eyes as he tried to blink them quickly. Shelly Lang stretches her body out in her seat then sits up straight.

“Alright moving on, streamer Amaranth. .” Shelly continued before the feed cut out. Jam walked to the cabinet and grabbed a bottle of water before knocking back half of it and gasping. He grabbed his towel and wiped his face.

“It is something to think about Jam.” Jack said

“I’m not having this conversation Jack.” Jam answered curtly. He stretched his body.

“I just think you should figure something out before the decision is taken away from you.” Jack said concern evident in his voice. Jam didn’t bother to respond.

“Mail just came.” Jack said, changing the subject.

“Is that supposed to be a joke?” Jam asked mirthlessly.

“Just thought you might want to know.”

Jam contemplated it for a second then looked toward the door.

It’s just getting the mail. I could do that right?

Jam walked toward the door. His heart rate picked back up with every step he took. His fingers began to tingle. Every step felt heavier than the last. When his fingers grazed the doorknob his breathing was ragged almost gasping for air.

It’s just the damn mail. Come on, I can do this. Just open the freaking door.

His hand grasped the doorknob and his whole body tensed. He went through it all again, could see her body, and could hear his mother’s words again. His teeth clenched and he gripped the knob so hard his fingers began to numb. He finally let go of the handle and stepped back away from it. His breathing became more manageable and his heart began to slow down.

“It’s okay Jam, you can keep trying” Jack said sympathetically. “It’s probably best you didn’t go out in just your underwear anyway” He continued trying to lighten the mood.

“Run simulation 10 and play the battle tactics podcast.” Jam ordered glancing once more at the doorknob before turning away.

“You sure you don’t want to rest a minute? Your vitals are still pretty elevated.” Jack asked

“Run it.” Jam shot back,

“Running.”

Years ago, long after body modifying became a common practice, Jam had haptic sensors embedded throughout his body and an AI implant from his cybernetic left eye that curved up around his left ear and along the left side of his jaw. It allows for him to see holograms and interact with them without any other devices and for his A.I. to speak directly into his ear when he isn’t home, which is no longer a problem these days.

Jam grabbed a pair of training parts from his wardrobe and slid into them. He walked to the certain of the room and got into a fighting position.

“Starting in 3. . . 2.” Jack started and instead of one Jam just barely dodged a punch from a hologram shaped like a faceless hero. Four other hologram heroes surrounded him and he stood there waiting for one to make another move. The one behind him stepped up to punch him while his back was turned but he grabbed it’s hand and flipped it over his back. While he continued to practice fighting with the holograms he listened to a lecture on battle tactics, this particular lecture was about a general who had a regimen unable to use guns instead giving them only knives and swords. They would then have to use their heads to figure out how to take out the enemy like moving in silence and attacking them under the masks of night. The troop had the most confirmed kills and the general attributed it to each soldier taking extra care not to make any mistakes as they didn’t have guns to fall back on. Jam lived in a tiny apartment in a terrible neighborhood, but since the building owners didn’t really care about it at all it allowed him to do a lot of remodeling work. His apartment was fairly soundproof and he had all he needed with just a treadmill, a punching bag, his favorite chair and his pod to sleep in. Jam had finally managed to put down the last hero and the simulation ended.

“It’s always amazing watching you do that.” He heard a voice say from behind him.

“Why are you in my apartment Camilla?” Jam asked not even bothering to turn around to the woman sitting in his chair.

“Got your mail for you” Camilla, his next door neighbor, answered holding out the couple of envelopes for him.

“Thanks.” he said concisely taking them from her.

“Grandma Gigi wanted to give you some of the chicken parm she made. She figured you probably weren’t eating right still. I put it in the microwave” she said getting comfortable in the chair.

“I see you’ve been all over my apartment. Just how long have you been in here.” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh stop complaining, If you really didn’t want me around you’d start locking your window.” she said referencing the window with the fire escape she had climbed in from. “Anyway, when are you finally going to get some furniture for this place? You’ve been here years now.”

“And for what pray tell do I need furniture for?” Jam asked taking a seat on his VR pod.

“For when you invite people over. Don’t you want your guests to be comfortable?”

“I don’t invite people over” Jam hissed.

“I mostly mean me” she answered swiveling the chair around in slow circles.

“Well for one, I didn’t invite you over, and two, you seem pretty comfortable in my chair” he shot back.

“Yeah but I mostly mean a bed.” she said a grin playing across her face.

“Don’t you have a bed at home.” he said, the message sailing completely over his head.

“I don’t think you’re going to want to share my bed, it’d probably be best to share yours” She said waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

Uh oh

“Well, it’s been fun but I think you should probably head home” Jam said quickly.

“Oh come on, a nice sweet neighbor girl is throwing herself at you and you’re throwing her out?” she asked an extra dose of honey to her voice and a small pout.

Jam looked at her appraisingly for a second. She was a beautiful girl; with amazing naturally copper complexion, long glossy layered hair ranging from light brown to almost black. Great breasts that showed easily in her current outfit of a tank top and terry shorts that showed a generous amount of her long legs. If she were anyone else in this same situation Jam might have gone for it. She was 19 though, and he was 26; which while not much of a difference considering she was legal, he had known her since she was 16. Right around the time she had started this game she played of trying to chase after him. Figuratively of course, since he doesn’t leave the apartment it wouldn’t be much of a chase. He couldn’t overcome the thought that if anyone had ever clued into them being together they would believe he had been after her since she was a minor. He couldn’t handle the scrutiny. Also, he really liked her grandmother Gigi. She had been very nice to him over the years and she had asked for him to look after Camilla. Besides, what did he really have to offer her anyway?

“We’ve talked about this girly, not gonna happen. You’re too young for me.” he said with a soft smile.

“Oh come on now, I’m 19. I’m perfectly leg” she started.

“Jam, a phone call coming through; it looks like its Richard.” Jack interrupted.

Perfect timing as usual Rich

“Patch him through.” Jam said.

“Sure you don’t want to put on a shirt?” Jack asked.

“I’d prefer you didn’t,” Camilla flirted. Jam grabbed a shirt and pulled it over his head. “Aww man.”

“Patching through now.” Jack said before the face of Richard appeared on Jam’s wall.

“Jamal, buddy. How are you doing today?” Richard asked with a large smile. Richard had been Jam’s stream supervisor from Arcturus Industries since the start of his career with them.

“Not bad Richard, how are Emily and the kids?” Jam asked, he did feel very fortunate having Richard as his supervisor, He had heard of other streamers who weren’t so lucky.

“They’re very good, Jenny loves that art set you sent her, she uses it all the time.” Richard said

“I’m glad to hear it.”

“Look, Jamal. We need to talk.” Richard said, his face darkening.

“I know.” Jam said solemnly

“I’m sure you saw Shelly’s corner today.”

“I did.”

“She has a point; Arcturus Industries values your relationship with it of course. We’d never drop you, the stories you’ve created over the years has been very valuable for us. You have so many writing credits under your belt, which is unprecedented but you know I managed to work that into your deal with us. We really need to know, do you think you can keep interest going in World of Heroes or would you like to make the jump over to Cosmic Crisis?” Richard asked, Jam went to open his mouth but Richard interrupted.

“I know how you feel Jam, I know the team that helped create World of Heroes and I saw how much they loved the game and how much they loved what you were accomplishing with it; but the original team is ready to move on as well. Before you decide you should at least know the details. Of course, as an employee, you will get a copy and subscription for free. You can decide whether you want to join the public server or have us make a private server for you. You’re free to go in whatever direction you want with the story if you want to continue as the villain and like any other players who’ve reached level 100 in World of Heroes, you’d start out at level 35. Unless you want your private server, then you can start at whatever level you think would best suit your purposes.” Richard stated, Jam put a hand up stopping him.

“If I were to switch over to the new game could I take Rose and Thorn with me?” Jam asked, which elicited a sigh from Richard

“Jamal, I don’t know if. . .”

“I would stay on my own server, I’ll keep going with survival mode and start as a level 1 the same way I have been, I just want her with me. Cosmic Crisis is supposed to have some kind of companion NPC system right? She can be mine. There has to be some way for the A.I. to transfer her across the server.” Jam interrupted.

“I don’t know Jamal” Richard said shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “I can’t make any promises but I’ll see what I can do about it. Her powers and the fact that she is two people in one space make it complicated. Cosmic Crisis has rules that anchor it more heavily in reality than World of Heroes. I’ll just see what I can do.”

“That’s all I ask.” Jam responded.

“I’ll keep in touch. Keep your fingers crossed.” Richard said waving goodbye

“Will do.” Jam said nodding back before ending the call.

“Ah, so you have another lady in your game. That’s why you’re not interested. Makes a lot more sense now, but if there’s two of them they shouldn’t mind sharing you.” Camilla said upside down in the chair, her legs draped over the back while it slowly rotated. She then placed her palms on the ground and flipped backward onto her feet. She threw her arms up as if she were a gymnast who just landed an impressive flip. Then without another word, she slid the window open and climbed out.

Jam let out a heavy sigh, then took a seat in his pod. He pressed a button on the pod and it changed from a sitting position to laid flat. He slid the dive helmet on and pressed a button to log in to World of Heroes Online.

Logging in to World of Heroes Online. ..

Body Scan commencing. . .

Grabbing cape. . .

Lacing bootstrap. . .

Putting underwear on the outside. . .

Welcome Villain Apex. Body Scan completed. .

Stat Upgrades:

Constitution +6

Perception +4

Dexterity +3

Intelligence +3

Leadership +2

Charisma -2