Initializing start-up…
Status: Immersion Pod: Optimal
Status: Pod Occupant: Normal
Player One recognized…
Loading profile and settings…
Loading into the last game “Modern Age Online”
Welcome user: “Shaggy”
Norbert Roberts, better known to his friends as Shaggy or Shags, blinked his eyes as the bright whiteness of logging in faded. The musty smell of Under-Town filled his nose. He was so happy that he had set his log-in point to the underground city beneath downtown Austin, Texas. He would not have liked the long trek from that lizard player’s airstrip.
He stretched his digital body. Unfortunately, he couldn’t change his height too much in-game, but everything else about his character differed from his real-world body. His blonde hair in the real-world was now a dark brunette color. Also, his slightly bulging belly was now a nicely taught set of six-pack abs. He had the body he had once had in high-school all those years ago.
The sharp, dank smell of dirt, mud and sweat assaulted his senses. Reminding him of his other changes. In-game, Shaggy was a werewolf, with all the bells and whistles that came with it. Including heightened senses. He moved through the streets of Under-Town as he got used to his digital body again.
His increased hearing picked up a few fights and muggings going on in the back alleys of the city. Modern Age Online was a game about Superheroes and Villains and Under-Town was definitely a place for Villains. Gangs and organized crime were rampant through the large underground city. As he cut his way through the streets, he noticed a log-jam of people ahead of him. Not wanting to get stuck in the mob, he leapt ten feet to the top of a nearby squat building made of rotted wood and corrugated metal.
He caught himself on the rim of the building and pulled himself over with ease. As his foot hit the patchwork roof, however, it crashed through up to his ankle. He jerked forward and caught himself before he could fall, but he heard a loud scream come from inside the building.
“What the fuck!”
Shaggy chuckled. “Sorry, dude. Needed a shortcut.”
“Oh, I’ll give you a cut, Motherfu…”
Shaggy yanked his foot out of the roof and rushed toward the edge of the building. Not slowing down, he took a running leap, easily making it to the next building. Luckily, the second roof held. He was silently thankful that Under-Town was overcrowded. The further out from the center of the town you got, the closer the buildings were to each other. Shaggy continued on his way along the rooftops of slums of Under-Town.
As he passed the scrum of people on the road, he noticed several men in dirty suits. They were all standing in a circle around a vendor’s cart. Vendors and their wooden stalls dotted the entire length of the main road. The owner of this particular stall, who was nearby and looked like he had taken a beating, was currently pleading with one of the suited men. The other men were cherry-picking various items from the poor Alien’s stall.
“Poor bastard.” Shaggy thought, shaking his head. “Must have pissed off the wrong gang.”
Shaggy continued making his way deeper into the town as he thought about his first couple of days in-game. It hadn’t started very well. First, his wife’s pod hadn’t come in, some sort of mix-up with delivery. So they couldn’t play together as they had planned. Second, his chosen Mutation of Werewolf seemed to be broken. Lo-and-behold, the game had indeed glitched out. Apparently, the developers hadn’t considered so many people would want to be mutated Therianthropes. Werewolves, Werecats, and the like. Then, shortly after he got his broken power to work, he got thrown in jail by some lizard do-gooder player.
Although to be fair, that do-gooder had told him about Under-Town. Also, jail turned out to be a great place for an inspiring Villain. Another good thing was that AGE Incorporated, developers of M.A.O, had sent out an email to Mutated Therianthropes informing them about the glitch that had happened and how they would fix it shortly. The only remaining problem was that his wife’s pod still hadn’t come in. But they had worked out a schedule and were each leveling their characters. Although they had agreed to not tell each other what powers they had picked. His wife was adamant they play Villains, though. For whatever reason.
Shaggy shook off his thoughts as the buildings started getting further apart. Meaning he was getting closer to the center of town. In the distance, he could see the giant circular metal monstrosity that was Under-Town’s chief attraction: The Arena. A Colosseum-shaped circle of metal where the denizens of Under-Town beat the shit out of each other. He hadn’t checked it out himself yet, but he figured inside had to be a gambler’s dream.
He cleared a big jump onto an actual stone building, probably a ruin from Old Austin, and made a hard right, turning eastward and keeping his eyes peeled for his hideout. Well, what he and his friends were calling a hideout. It looked like it used to be an outdoor car wash surrounded by a stone fence topped with barbed wire. It wasn’t a castle by any means, but it served for their purposes.
“I don’t exactly know what my purpose is at the moment, though.” Shaggy thought as the car wash came into view.
He jumped down to the street and started walking, thinking about his goals. He wanted to build-up a criminal empire, and he wanted to run it with his wife and friends. Although he wasn’t quite sure how to go about it. He was a repair technician, IRL, so he did not know how to actually go about setting up a criminal empire.
He turned into the car wash, making a mental note to replace the broken gate on the south side of the enclosure. Looking around, he was confused that Ren and Vlad hadn’t come back yet. They had all agreed after helping the lizard with his trash-stealing mission they would meet back here. He decided to wait for a bit and began shifting some of the junk around the car wash stations.
There were four stations where people could park their car under a large metal roof. Each station was full of various bits of trash. Shaggy thought maybe he should sell some of the stuff to the lizard professor. The player seemed to be a crafter and maybe he could work with some of the stuff. He was moving a large car hood when he heard movement coming from one of the stations.
“Hello!” Shaggy called, setting down the car hood.
The sound stopped as he moved toward where he heard the noise. Shaggy took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly, centering himself. Focusing on his hands, he felt the slight twinge of pain as his mutation changed him. He felt his hands and fingers elongate, light brown fur sprung up on his hands, and his fingernails turned black and sharpened to points growing into his werewolf claws. Letting out another breath, he brought up his newly formed claws and charged toward the noise.
He turned the corner into the parking area of the washing station and scanned the junk. It looked like someone had thrown a bunch of trash bags and broken bicycles into the back of the parking space. Several trash bags shifted as something pushed them out of the way. Shaggy brought his legs under him, ready to jump at whatever appeared. The trash bags fell away and a tall, lithe figure revealed itself, sending Shaggy into fits of hysterical laughter.
