“Hey freaks, geeks, nerds and all you out there who hate labels. Welcome to Shelly’s corner and I’m your friendly neighborhood Shelly Lang. I’m a Taurus; my hobbies are exercising, hiking, small burglaries and making intense levels of eye contact with stranger.” Shelly said in her trademark pseudo-girly voice, twirling a strand of purple hair. Once again she spun in her chair and changed, then pretended to shuffle papers in her hands. “Well, the news is in guys. The Villain King Apex is now moving his evil to a new game. It’s the end of an era you guys. According to a statement put out by Arcturus we’ll see Apex switching games over to Cosmic Crisis; this should be interesting. Apex was at level 100 before he moved over to his private server and started playing under survival mode. For you newcomers that means one death and your game is done. However, he had plenty of experience with WoH before he made the switch to his private server; with the new game he’ll be starting just as fresh as everyone else. He has to learn the system and the landscape without dying once. I have to wonder; is he afraid? One mess up and he’s done for. I look forward to seeing how he does.” She said before the screen split down the middle.

“I was hoping to get an interview with the man himself but it looks like he is still denying appearances. I’m not sure why, he is using his actual face; can’t really be shy when you’re streaming to millions, but I digress. I did manage to get someone close to the source, his stream supervisor and public relation rep Richard Collins. Thanks for being on the show Mr. Collins.” Richard’s smiling face appeared on the other half.

“Thank you for having me Shelly. Please call me Richard, we’re all big fans of your show, even Apex.” Richard said.

“Aww thank you Richard, that’s so nice to hear. Although, I think if Apex were really a fan, he’d be on the show himself.” Shelly retorted.

Richard chuckled, “Apex is very focused on keeping his role-play active. When he is streaming, he is in character and when he’s not he doesn’t have much of anything to do with World of Heroes.”

“Is that right? What I don’t understand is why he seems to have no online presence besides twitter and facebook leading up to four years ago. His instagram and snapchat were deactivated, and he hasn’t posted a single picture anywhere outside of the game. No one can really claim to actually know him outside of watching his stream. According to our research, after his bout of house arrest four years ago, the information behind that seemingly expunged, he seemed to have gone totally dark. I’d just like to know exactly what you’re hiding. Some have speculated that he actually spends a lot more time in game than what is shown to us and that he isn’t even the one posting on all these social media sites but someone from Arcturus industries posting as him. Any response to the allegation that he doesn’t actually live outside the game?”

Richard laughed heartily and without skipping a beat he answered; “You seem to have done your homework Ms Lang. Well for one, of course he spends more time in game than what is shown. I’m his stream supervisor and my team is in charge of going through his gameplay footage and editing it. Most live streams are on at least a five minute delay if not longer. Remember, he doesn’t just go in and program the storylines, he has to live them and arrange them with the A.I. he’s working with. We have to take out the footage of uninteresting conversations and anything not quite pg. It’s the same as any movie or book, do they show all the uninteresting parts or do they focus on the good stuff? Streaming and professional gaming is a job just like any other. He has quite a few hours he has to dedicate per day to keep it going. While an A.I. controls his avatar when he’s not in game, he still needs to be in game to make any major choices or to complete missions. As for having a life outside of the game, I couldn’t really tell you. I’m his stream manager, what he does that isn’t for World of Heroes is on his own private time and I respect his privacy too much to be involved. However, I’m sure some inquisitive viewers have noticed that his attributes increase or sometimes decrease without level gain which is customary to the game. Ever since he joined his survival mode server he has gotten a state of the art VR pod.”

“VR pod? Why a pod, you only need a dive helmet to play the game.” Shelly interrupted.

“Very true Shelly; for the survival mode, each time Apex logs into the game his whole mind and body is scanned and any hint of extra muscle, training or knowledge he may have learned is used to improve his game character. Hopefully that information will help ease some of the worries about welfare of Apex. He always seems perfectly happy when I speak to him, and I know he enjoys making entertaining content for the fans or he wouldn’t be planning to make the switch for you guys. His contract with us ended 3 months ago. If he didn’t want to do it anymore, he would have been more than able to leave, maybe even stream with a different company for a different game. Apex stays with us because he loves the game and because he loves the fans. Simple as that.” Richard lectured his smiling enthusiasm never slipping.

"Well, no guarantees that will assuage the viewers but I’m glad we got some kind of explanation and I have to say, it all makes sense to me. Thanks for joining me today Richard and give my best to Apex.” Shelly said

Thanks for having me.” Richard said before his face cut out.

“Alright guys we’re in the final 10 minutes before Apex’s farewell to WoH stream. We’re going to have a few short messages from our sponsors and when we get back we’ll unveil the final results of the ‘Will you continue following Apex?’ poll. Stay tuned guys.” Shelly finished. Instead of commercials the feed cut out and a timer counting down from ten minutes began.

“That Shelly girl is smarter than I gave her credit for, deducing your life story and circumstances like that.” Camilla said jogging on Jam’s treadmill.

“Shelly and her team” Jam started before dodging a punch from a holohero and returning one of his own, “know nothing.” he finished before kicking another one away.

“What do you mean?” she said

“If I may,” Jack spoke.”Ms. Lang was fed the information by Arcturus Industries. Some inquisitive viewers had began to wonder why Jam had became such a ghost. No one has ever seen him in person outside of the game other than you, Richard and the odd Arcturus repair man for 2 years now. You do his food shopping for him so not even delivery people have seen him. You don’t live in the most inviting neighborhood and I doubt your neighbors would be interested in games enough to even notice him through a window. He doesn’t talk to the camera, to his fans, like other streamers. He was basically just like watching a tv show. He failed from time to time sure, but no one expected him to get to level 100 playing on survival mode. Especially when players die constantly in the public game, but even when he played in the public game he rarely died.”

“The villain king Apex, king because even in the public game he led a party of NPC villains and destroyed every other gamer, hero and villain alike. They began to wonder if Apex was just another A.I. inserted into the game to make more money for the company. Especially since he is now making the move to the newest game on the market by Arcturus even though he passed on many other interesting games that have come out. Despite being human themselves, they don’t seem to believe any man could possibly achieve as much. It’s kind of sad how little they value the human spirit. Arcturus wanted to get ahead of those rumors before they caught fire and burned the Apex brand to the ground. Especially since Jam rejected the contract and didn’t stream for weeks the last time they tried to add a public appearance and endorsement clause. The only way to completely disprove it is to let them see Jam or to let him go and cut their losses. The problem with that is that he has bought the VR pod outright, it would be his property to use on whatever game he so chooses, an attractive prospect for any other gaming company out there. Especially with Apex’s reputation” Jack explained.

“He is too good of an asset to lose; all by playing a video game. If that isn’t the American dream I don’t know what is.” Camilla laughed, before her cool down jog came to a close and she climbed off the treadmill. “Also, that was super creepy Jack. I feel like you were two seconds away from a maniacal laugh.”

“My sincerest apologies.”

“So do you Jam?” she asked plopping heavily on the chair

“Do I what?” Jam asked back, wiping his face off with a towel as his simulation came to an end.

“Love the game and your fans.” she asked

Jam paused choosing his words and then took a seat in his pod. “I like what they allow me to do. I appreciate them. To say I do this for them, would be a lie. I do this for my own selfish reasons but I feel like that’s why the appreciate me as well. I’m not interested in placating anyone; in dancing to anyone’s music but my own. I work toward a goal and I meet that goal; then I change the goal. Wash, rinse and repeat.” He said in his usual flat tone. Still, Camilla watched and listened in earnest.

“You really should think about talking to your fans, I think they would love to hear things like that.” Camilla said, a touch in adoration in her voice.

“They do, it’s conversations like this that make others follow him into battle. The only thing that matters in the game is that you have enough people willing to make your goals come to fruition and in turn their own. He’s had plenty of practice.” Jack said, admiration of his own slipping into his voice. “You’re almost at one, are you ready to say goodbye to World of Heroes Jam?”

Jam heaved a heavy sigh, “Camilla, it’s time for you to go. Thank you for visiting but. .”

“I know, no one is allowed in here while you’re gaming.” she said getting to her feet and heading out the window.

Jam clicked buttons and laid back as his pod shifted from sitting position and laid back. He slid the dive helmet on as he prepared to bid farewell to the game that had been his life for 3 and a half years. Jamal Wilson would never get the chance.