Setting: SILICON VALLEY, CALIFORNIA

Date: February 15th, 2026. (14 Hours Since The Launch)

The building was buzzing and it wasn't the good kind. The moment people at the gaming headquarters realized that players were unable to log out, or log in anymore for that matter, that's when people in IT started to become suspicious. They tried to log in via a backdoor, but that didn't work. The even tried to hack the system, but the servers were too well encrypted for its own good and that wasn't an option either. Tempers were flaring and people were yelling at each other, and for good reason. For the first time since the game launched several years ago, they were no longer in control. They couldn't see what was going on in there. No eyes, no ears, nothing. No one in the building could log in and when reports of people being trapped inside started to spread, that's when things started to get really dicey. That's when the big wigs started to chime in and even show up in person. The CEO of the parent company even showed up to find out what the hell was going on. His phone was ringing off the hook, but his lawyers were telling him not to make any statements. Upon hearing word from said lawyers that there was something bad happening with the launch of the new expansion, the CEO wasn't going to wait to hear back from anyone and dropped what he was doing to head over to the game headquarters himself. He was actually attending a charity function and sipping champagne with potential investors when he got the call, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where he just come from. It took the CEO three hours to fly up from where the function was held, but there he was in a tuxedo but with a face that looked like someone had just shot his dog. Thorne walked right in bellowed out to everyone who could hear him.

"What in the hell is going on in here?" Thorne roared, "I want answers or people are going to start getting fired!"

"Mr. Thorne!" a man called out as he ran over to speak with him. "We're about to be briefed in the conference room by one of our best techs. If you have any questions, it's best to save them for this meeting."

"Alright," Thorne said, as he liked the idea of attending this briefing. "Led me to the conference room. I want to know what the hell is going on!"

Inside the conference room were over a dozen techs and executives who were packed into the room and waiting for the connection. Moments later they were connected with someone on the other side of the planet. Their offices in Tokyo were just as busy and unable to figure out what was going on as well.

"Riku," the man who spoke to Thorne moments ago, "My name is Joshua Bolan, and I'm the head technician here at headquarters. We need to know what's going on here. You're our best man in the field, what happened?"

"There was a serious server error when the expansion launched," Riku answered. "We are unable to find out what exactly happened because we're all locked out. No one can log in, and we cannot observe the game from outside like we used to. We're blind as a bat and everything is out of control."

"Hold on," Thorne interrupted, "I'm getting reports from source and even the media that no one can log out either."

"That is also correct," Riku responded, "The number of those logged in has pretty much been the same ever since the expansion launched. No one has come in, and no one has logged out since that event. So not only are we locked out, but every player that was logged in when the expansion launched is locked in."

"Holy shit," Thorne said, as he could hardly believe what was going on. "How many people are stuck in there?"

"At last count," Riku said, "Just over fifteen and a half million."

"Break it down by nation," Thorne ordered.

"In North-America, we're looking at four million users." Riku replied, "There are two million in Europe, and one and a half in South-America. The rest are in Asia and Oceania, which is just north of eight million users. Most of those are in China, Korea, and Japan."

"Son of a bitch!" Thorne screamed as he pounded a fist into the table, which in turn startled everyone else in the room.

"Sir, this is just a bug." Bolan tried to reassure him. "We just need time to..."

"Time to what?" Thorne replied, "I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation or the reality of how fucked we are!"

"Sir," Joshua said, "This is not the time to panic."

"Are you sure about that?" Thorne asked, as he took out his cell phone, and showed him the screen. "According to my phone, I'm getting calls from the police, politicians, the F.B.I., and even the damn White House! What exactly should I tell the authorities, or the damn President when they ask me what the hell happened?"

"I'm kind of curious to know that myself." A voice called out.

Everyone in the room turned to the now open door, and standing there was a man in a black suit with his arms folded. What stood out more was the dozen other men in suits, as well as men in full body armor who were also standing outside the window of the conference room.

"Oh shit," Thorne said, looking back at the man at the door. "Who are you?"

"Special Agent Mark Roberts," The man said, flashing a badge. "Homeland Security."

"Homeland Security?" Thorne repeated.

"What are you doing here?" Bolan asked the fed at his door.

"I was sent here by the secretary, who was following orders from the President." Roberts explained, "As of right now, this building is under our control. No one comes in or out without our approval."

"What? You can't do that?" Bolan said, shocked to hear it.

"Yes, he can." Thorne said, stepping between the two. "You think this is an act of terrorism, don't you? You're here because someone in Washington believes our game has been attacked."

"It's one of many possibilities that we're considering," Roberts confirmed, "But we are not ruling out that it could be bug or malfunction in the new expansion. Do you guys have any idea what caused this lock out to occur?"

"We have no idea," Bolan said, "We can't even get eyes in there to find out what's going on with the players who are stuck in there."

"So you're locked out of the system as well?" Roberts asked, but he didn't wait for an answer. "That doesn't bode well for the situation. Locking you out might be an act to control the game, which could point to possible cyber-terrorism."

Thorne noticed that Roberts was scanning the room with his eyes and head, as if he was looking for something.

"Agent Roberts," Thorne said, "What are you looking for?"

"Not what, who." Roberts replied, "Where the hell is Gregory Jannsen?"

Thorne immediately spun around and looked at Bolan, "That's a good question, Joshua. Where the fuck is the man who created this game? This is his baby, so why isn't he front and center when it's all going to hell in a hand basket?"

"We've been trying to call him for hours," Bolan answered, "We're not getting any answers, and have left many messages on his voice mail."

"That's not a good sign either," Roberts said, pointing at Bolan. "Taking out the man who knows this game better than anyone else would solidify that control if someone was trying to take over the game."

"This could be a bug," Thorne said, despite suddenly starting to have doubts.

"I get that, but we can't take any chances." Robert said, as he pointed to Bolan, "You, give me his address. We're going to check on Jannsen, verify that he's alright, and bring him in."

Thorne turned to Bolan and nodded, "Give it to him."

Bolan quickly wrote something down on a piece of paper and handed it to the agent. Roberts pointed to the screen and spoke to everyone in the room.

"When I get back here with Jannsen," Roberts started, "Everybody better have some answers for me, especially you point dexter! There are over fifteen million lives at stake. We cannot afford to be this blind and out of touch with the situation. Get as much Intel as you can, and get it right now! If there is an enemy causing this, he's already got a twelve hour head start. We're already playing catch up, so back to work and get me eyes in that game!"