James awoke with a lazy yawn as he laid sprawled out atop his bed. Last night had been spent watching his new favorite reality TV show and he couldn’t wait to find out what had happened after he turned in for the evening.

Opening his eyes, he looked around the room and sighed once again at the sight of the still perfectly made bed. He’d tried getting under the covers last night, but they were tucked in too tightly for him to remove in his soul form. The memory of his AI snickering at his misery had nearly drove him to release the Witcher then and there, but luckily his pride had held him back.

“Good morning, sir,” the cruel mistress in question sounded out from the phone atop his bedside counter. “Did you have a pleasant rest?”

James ignored the woman as he got out of bed and headed down the stairs, leaving the phone behind while grumbling to himself about uppity Skynets and Ex Machinas. 

“I’ve taken the liberty of compiling the happenings of last night into a more appropriate viewing format for you sir,” Queen continued, seemingly unbothered by the man’s annoyance. “Though, we do need to come to a decision about what we discussed yesterday as the proper invasion should commence in approximately 3 hours.”

“Yeah, yeah, just do it,” James said uncaringly as he flopped atop the couch and propped his feet up on the table. One good thing about essentially being a ghost, you didn’t have to worry about ruining your furniture. “There’s way more pros than cons for us. People will think that ASTIR has their best interests in mind and it’ll lead to more of them talking about it in a good light, resulting in more of them joining. Especially those that had reservations about us previously.” 

“But what about those who will claim we had a hand in the invasion,” the AI spoke out, playing the Devil’s advocate. “After all, we will be informing the world before everyone apart from SHIELD even knows what’s happening. Some may even say we’re using the invasion to promote our latest game.”

“Fuck ‘em,” James snorted. “New York is one of the biggest gold mines for FP, why should I allow so many customers to die because of some potential naysayers. Besides, you know that if we did nothing then they would make even worse claims.”

“I agree, sir. I’ll make the arrangements immediately then.”

“Get to it then, woman,” the man ordered pompously. “And don’t forget to start the show on your way out.”

“Of course, master,” the AI said, appearing on the TV in a stereotypical maid outfit as she bowed sarcastically. “Would you like for me to get you a sandwich as well? Or, mayhaps, a nice, cold beer?”

James’ face twitched at the coming insinuation as she sported a saddened look and inevitably continued the act, putting a palm on her face and shedding fake tears “Ah, I’m awfully sorry master. Little Queen forgot that you can’t enjoy such things at the moment, my mistake. Queen’s sure to remember that in the future.”

The screen flipped back to the paused scene of the Avengers on the bridge of a SHIELD helicarrier as the AI faded away, twinkling laughter echoing throughout the house from every piece of tech inside. 

James sighed while closing his eyes, the urge to bend the woman over his knee and give her a good spanking flared up briefly, before it was quickly squashed down after realizing it would accomplish nothing but make things awkward in the future. Instead, he vowed to get his revenge, promising to find a way to make the little maid equally miserable one day soon. 

After all, he really did want that sandwich…

•••••••••••

Early in the morning of May 4^th, 2012, people were shocked by a rather confusing move made by the largest up-and-coming media giant in the world. 

Instead of another trailer or new information on the latest tournament just recently announced, ASTIR had declared that their servers would be shutting down for the next 24 hours. And that wasn’t all, they had also advised all players in New York City to either evacuate or find shelter, before immediately kicking them offline. 

Many people were confused about this and made calls to their local police stations or government offices, only to be informed that they too had no knowledge on the motives behind this announcement. 

This caused many media outlets to fiercely criticize the VR for various reasons like, ‘abusing its authority’ and ‘inciting fear among the masses’. This wasn’t all either as the companies hurt most by ASTIR, leaped at the opportunity to bash their most hated foe and constantly added fuel to the fire at every turn.

Even still, there were players who naturally adored and supported ASTIR who banded together to lead caravans out of the city. Some even going so far as to livestream the experience, now that their main content had been shut down for the day. 

Little did they know that they’d be the lucky few, or that they’d become the most fervent supporters of the VR in the coming months.

As it was, just two hours later, a massive blue beam shot out from the top of Stark Tower, sending a shiver of fear through all those that had ignored the warning. Panic spread across the city as people quickly came to realize that this was what they had been told to flee. 

Alas, it was too late. 

A massive portal, spanning nearly the entire length of Manhattan, split apart the morning sky, spilling death upon the city. The invasion of Earth had begun.

Across the globe, all eyes had been on New York for the past few hours as news of the announcement had spread across social media and news networks. In the coming months, people would question how ASTIR had seemingly known about the invasion before everyone else, some even blaming the event on them entirely as a way to regain some face after so blatantly discrediting the warning. Though, like usual, the company never released a statement to explain themselves.

If there was one thing the Earth had taken from the experience, apart from the miraculous appearance of the ‘Avengers’ that is, it was to never disregard the words of ASTIR again.