Play Testers Wanted Pt. 04

"I'll run the combat computer." May offered. "We'll start off with a level one threat to warm up and then we'll move on from there. Don't worry I won't go too hard on you the first time."

"Suit up!" I said and my uniform activated. "Syncing weapons with battle program."

"Same here. I'm ready." Gwen called out.

We stepped onto the battlefield and the vaulted chamber vanished and we were standing outside the First National Bank of New York. The bank alarm was blaring as four armed robbers came out shooting. Gwen called the two on the left, so I took the ones on the right. Despite what you see in the movies, you can't dodge bullets. However, you can dodge an attacker's aim. It looks impressive. My battle HUD showed me the trajectory of each robber's bullet path. I made sure I wasn't along that path. I moved closer and that made it harder to dodge but I thwarted their ability when I moved between them and they were now in danger of shooting each other. I disarmed both assailants and webbed them for the win.

"How did you do that?" She asked as she pulled the pair, she had webbed off their feet easily.

"I'll show you." I told her.

"Level Two." May warned us.

The environment changed again. We were standing in the lobby of a bank, perhaps the same bank. I didn't know. A gunman had a woman by the throat with a pistol pointed at her head. I looked at Gwen and she took the lead. I slowly wrapped the shadows around me. I built them gradually and simply faded from view. Once I was sure his focus was on Gwen, I activated the stealth feature and began moving around and behind him.

"I am here to help." Gwen began her voice steady and serene. "No one wants to hurt anybody."

"Stay right there!" He demanded. "I don't want to hurt anybody, but somebody is going to listen to me!"

"I am right here." She continued. "Talk to me."

"I..." he began but my nerve strike interrupted the communication between his brain and the rest of his body. His body dropped to the ground allowing the hostage to flee.

"You beat his best time." May said over the intercom. "Level Five."

We were in a jungle and everything was larger and completely overgrown. Strange animal and insect sounds filled the air. The air was dripping with humidity and so were we. Gwen was looking around when a sudden silence loomed around us. I dove at her and knocked her to the ground. The thing hit me mid-torso and sent me flying. If it hadn't been for the vibranium weave I would have cracked ribs or worse. I tucked into a ball before I slammed into a tree limb breaking it in the process. I rolled to a stop and was up as quick as I was able. The sounds of combat inspired me to breakneck speed to find three large ape men trying to man handle Gwen while speaking about her in broken English.

"Woman has nice tits." The largest of the three growled. "I claim right of first coupling."

"I'm next." Another of them says.

"Like hell you are!" Gwen says as she dodged the poorly constructed weapon in the leader's grip while firing webbing into his eyes. She continues to dodge, flip, and evade while they talked about violating her.

"Hello sunshine." I said as I entered the fray. "Fuck stealth." I ignited my weapon and closed ranks.

The two beta males lost their weapons in very short order. However, the leader's weapon was resistant to my sword's blade. It smoked and glowed but would not yield.

"I am going to violate your woman." The massive man ape promised.

"I am going to cut your balls off and send you home a fucking eunuch!"

That got his attention. His entire focus was on me. Gwen used her formidable strength and punched as hard as she could. She must have hit a nerve bundle because one moment the beast was howling in rage and the next it was pain. He tried to backhand her and that opened him to a strike to his junk. I keep my promises.

"That was an unorthodox solution." May noted for the record. "Good teamwork. Are you ready for level ten?"

"Give me a minute then go." Gwen said and a countdown clock appeared and ran down from sixty seconds to zero.

We were thrust into the middle of a traditional superhero battle. Doctor Octopus was battling Spiderman. One of his mechanical tentacles wrapped around a small car and hurled it at him. Gwen sprang into action launching herself into the air further and higher than I had ever seen her. Thwip! She fired off a line of webbing and swung into battle. She nimbly dodged three of his metal arms and landed a solid kick to the torso. The villain was thrown back twenty feet before his arms stretched out and stopped him. Any normal human would have been killed by the amount of force she dished out. The device that attached the limbs encased his torso providing him a kind of body armor.

I used the confusion to slip unseen onto the battlefield and assessed Doc Ock's fighting style. The A.I. that ran his arms and linked to his nervous system had a predictable pattern. I didn't need Shuri's upgrade to see it. I assessed his strengths and weaknesses while the two wall crawlers kept him busy. I formulated a strategy and enacted it. I waited until both Gwen and Peter were swinging away from him to dodge the villain's furious attack. I struck out with a powerful telekinetic push. It hit him squarely center mass and hurled him head over heels. The angle of the strike sent him skyward and away from anything to grapple with to slow or stop himself. The three of us webbed him up easily ending the match.

"Damn!" May cursed. "Who the hell trained you? Gwen stand down. I want to see him full out."

"Yes May." Gwen agreed. "Good luck Ghost."

"Thanks."

My surroundings changed once more. It felt like I was within the movie Inception. I was a dreamer inside a dream within another dream. The space was dominated by massive dark stone blocks. The smallest of the blocks had to well over a hundred tons. I touched my communicator and whispered into it.

"Throw a poor dog a bone, what is my goal here?"

"Sorry," May said. "There are six minor boss chests and one big one. To win the engagement you must capture the big one."

I melded into the shadows and thought it out. If this were a typical dungeon crawl, I would need at least one item from one of the smaller chests to beat the main boss. I could trust to my training and skills, but my gut told me to follow the rules. I had to map this place out and pick the most likely lesser chest. I crept around my senses open for any sound, scent, or change of temperature to alert me to danger. I needed to succeed with this challenge without giving away too many secrets to May or Gwen. I liked keeping my strengths and weakness close to my chest. I was looking for the tallest point in this place to get a better perspective.

It wasn't hard finding the main chamber. It was crawling with minions, minions that took the form of spiders. They all appeared to be the same species but some of them were much larger than the others. The smallest spider was the size of a large dog while the largest was bigger than a Clydesdale horse. The great pillared hall was covered with interconnected webs. I could see Peter Parker designing this to test his skills or perhaps May had come up with this as a joke. Either way, I had to cross the chamber undetected. I couldn't fight that many monsters and hope to capture the boss chest. I stuck to the walls, the webbing appeared less concentrated there and that was the problem. If someone else was after the chest I would lose valuable time taking the long way around.

I stopped and crouched. I looked up knowing that spiders were ambush predators and didn't always rely on the stickiness of their webs to capture their prey. Nestled on the roof were twelve of the largest of the entire host of spiders. These bad boys were the size of elephants and I suspected the nastiest of the lot. I placed myself in the Exomorph's place. If I were a predator among predators what would I do? I was attacking this problem all wrong. I needed to work the spiders just as I had the Exomorph. I closed my eyes and tapped into the mind of one of the largest spiders. I slipped through its defenses with ease, too easy. The reason became apparent when I slipped deeper into the critter's mind. It wasn't just its mind but a collective. These spiders were interconnected within a hive mind.

"Let's see what I can do." I whispered and sent one of the smaller spiders into the far corner. "Okay, let's see what you see."

I tapped deeper into the collective to see if I was alone in the main chamber. I was but there was a memory of another intruder. I was about to find out where he or she had gone when another mind bitch slapped me. The spider queen rose from her lair pissed that I had been tampering with her children. We fought for control of the colony. I knew fighting her in this capacity was useless. She was far too strong for that. Instead I pretended to be just another spider. The assault stopped once I was no longer challenging her. She was curious though. Whoever wrote the A.I. for her had done a great job.

'Who are you?' The queen asked.

'No one important.' I replied.

'You challenged me.' She sent with venom dripping from her fangs.

'I overstepped myself.' I tried and she seemed to accept that.

'You are a skilled liar.' The queen purred. 'I know a lie when it is spoken. It is my domain. What do you really want?'

'There is a large treasure chest inside of this place. I want it. I have no quarrel with you or your children.' I told her the truth and held my breath.

'The dragon has laid claim to that.' She laughed. 'His breath destroys all. Good luck thief.'

'May I pass freely?' I asked and worse case she said no.

'Show yourself I would measure your strength thief.' She demanded.

She was a queen and I but a lowly rogue. I agreed but on my terms. I had seen in her mind where she was located. I prowled and avoided the webbing and only revealed myself until I was with ten meters of her position.

"I am here." I said and dropped my armor's camouflage.

"I am here." She replied as she stepped out of the shadows. She wasn't in the form of a spider, but that of a gorgeous dark-skinned elf with long silver hair, and bright violet eyes. "Cast down your lustful gaze or I will tear your eyes from their sockets!"

"If my eyes offend then do your worst." I challenged her and prayed she didn't send her hoard to snuff out my existence.

"Rogue! Scoundrel!" She raged as she sauntered over to my position. Her breasts swayed and barely held in place by the spider silk dress she wore. "Your eyes offend, and I will..." She growled but just before she could act, I lunged forward, snagged her by the back of her head, and kissed her into silence and submission.

'Yield!' I sent with as much mental strength as I could muster.

'Yield I must! Too long have I craved the touch of one such as thee!' She sent as I took her into my arms.

Gwen was watching this unfold. If I fucked the spider queen, she'd see it all unfold. A small yellow window appeared with a message.

'Fade to Black Y/N'

'Yes, damn it.' I thought and clicked Y.

Another window popped up with a new message.

'You owe me, and I will collect, Tiger.'

MJ? Is she out there watching this? Did she program this character? I agreed for her to collect and everything went dark. She wasn't the only woman using that catchphrase. At least six other women had used it, I wondered why? I let it slide for now but made a mental note to keep an ear out for it later. The scene ended and I had gained a new item the Sting of the Spider Queen. I left the main chamber and into the adjacent area.

"Did he fuck her?" Gwen's voice came over the comm.

"Technically, yes." May replied.

"Oh my god! And you wasted it! I could have taken her place, right?" Gwen snapped in disbelief. "You knew I wanted someplace incredible for... you know."

"You want to fuck him that bad?" May asked drawing her out.

"I... yeah! I want him to make me scream you know." Gwen whimpered.

"Oh, I know!" May agreed. "I want a crack at him too, if you are okay with that?"

"It isn't up to me. It is his decision." Gwen growled leaning closer to May, her voice louder now. "I don't want to disappoint him. I want him to say damn that girl rocked my world."

"Trust me Gwen, when he is behind you pounding the hell out of you, he'll come so hard you'll faint." May moaned.

"God, I hope so!" Gwen's voice shaking. "May... is that switch on? Oh my god... has he been listening this entire time?!"

"Oops... did I do that?" May laughed.

"MAY!"

The line went dead, and I was smiling ear to ear. Oh yeah, I was going to break them both. Back to the task at hand. The sounds of battle and the screech of an inhuman voice echoed from another room. I moved quickly but cautiously. Corpses littered the floor of the chamber. The bodies of the anthropomorphic beetles oozed brackish blue blood. I caught sight of a hooded figure heading for the chest at the far wall. Grinning I decided to rob my competition of their reward. I used the shadows and teleported next to the chest. One last huge beetle warrior revealed itself and I was hiding behind it. My competitor already had a sword drawn and it dripped the blue ichor from his previous victims. Enraged the beetle champion charged the swordsman and they clashed. I looked for obvious traps on the chest and found none. It was locked though. I drew my tools from their forearm sheath and picked the lock. I looked over my shoulder and the two combatants were still locked in melee with one another.

"Cha-ching!" I chuckled as I opened the chest. "Ooh nice!"

My menu popped up as I read the description of the treasure. The Serpent Ring of Set is a mystical object that allows the wearer to improve their conjuring and control of gray and black creatures. Elementals and demons fall under this category. The black ring is treasured by followers of Set. I added it to my inventory and turned to see the tide turn in favor of the dude with the sword. Time to go. I closed and locked the chest. I slipped back into the shadows desperately trying not to laugh. I slipped away but remained close enough to hear the angry roar when he opened the chest and found it empty. I had two of the six items available to fight the boss. It was time to take it out. I moved quickly but quietly from room to room looking for the boss. I reached a massive set of iron doors. The hinges were old and rusted. If I opened this door there was zero chance the boss wouldn't notice me. Shit! I looked around the well-lit chamber and cursed until I saw that the braziers lighting the room were filled with oil. Oil! Sweet! Using my basic elemental powers, I snuffed out one of the lamps and began at the top hinges and lubed the shit out of them. It took time but it would be worth it. Once I was sure I had done my best I gave the doors a tentative pull. A soft squeak came from them but no more. I slipped through the gap and stopped cold.

'A dragon! A real fucking dragon! Holy shit, how cool is this!' I thought as I stepped into the shadows.

I moved extremely slow. I wasn't concerned until I reached the middle of the massive stone chamber. The ceiling was arched and vaulted so that the smallest sound would be enhanced and echo like crazy. The problem was the floor was covered in gold coins. No way I could walk through them without waking the beast up. I leapt from the floor to the nearest pillar and clung to it. The next pillar was thirty feet away. I had to make that jump. I could try and teleport, but I had no idea if the dragon, a magical beast, might pick up on that. I stuck with a mundane attack. I did use my targeting system and locked onto the pillar and jumped. I held my breath as I flew. I made it! Holy shit, I fucking made it!

I froze and looked at the sleeping beast. It hadn't moved. What a rush! The feeling of soaring through the air in front of the monster. Wait. Soaring. I looked up. The pillar was at least a hundred feet high. Stupid me! I had glide wings. Surely, I could cover the rest of the distance in one maybe two glides. I began climbing. The pillar was hewn of a dark granite with silvery gray veins over its surface. I reached the top of the pillar and looked over the treasure room. I was so struck by getting to the chest that I hadn't thought how I was going to beat the damn dragon. What kind of breath weapon did it have? Did it breathe fire? Perhaps it was frost, or lightning, or even acid, I had no way of knowing. Wait, maybe I did. I switched on my telescopic sights on my tactical display and examined the floor just below the dragon. The gold was piled especially high there. However, the side of the stone slab that acted as the dragon's bed was pitted and scored.

'Gold isn't affected by acid. It resists corrosion very well. That is why NASA and other tech groups use it in important devices. This fucker breathes acid! Yikes!'

How can I use that to my advantage? Water and acid don't mix very well. The interaction can be very nasty. If I used the ring to conjure up a water elemental it might keep the dragon hesitant to use its breath weapon. The heat released when the two mixed could damage or even defeat it. I had a plan.

"Where is he?" A voice roared from the double doors.

I activated my suit's active camouflage. The hooded figure cursed even more as the dragon woke up. Neither combatant was in a good mood. The dragon roared as the other took out what looked like an impressive laser assault rifle. The dragon did what dragons do, it lifted its body up and spread its massive wings. It roared a second time and the swordsman opened fire with his weapon. Sadly, for him the belly of the dragon was encrusted with gold as well as enormous gems. I crept to the far side of my pillar as the prismatic effect of the gems sent scattershot bolts of energized light everywhere. Thankfully the enraged idiot stopped and reassessed his situation. He switched from the pulse rifle to a shotgun.

"Die you stupid beast!" The hooded villain yelled.

"Who is the stupid one here?" The dragon replied.

"Oh shit!" The man cursed as the dragon breathed a gout of deadly acid. I was right!

The nimble human figure dodged the attack and put pillars between him and the dragon. The dragon wasn't foolish enough to attack the pillars and risk bringing hundreds of tons of rock down on its head. It muttered an incantation and changed its form. The once traditional draconic form was replaced with that of a gigantic king cobra. Its belly was still encrusted with gems but now it could more easily slither across the floor without wings getting in the way.

'Fucking brilliant!' I thought.

I took the black ring from my inventory and equipped it. A rush of power coursed through me and a drop-down menu allowed me to conjure an elder water elemental. It would take time but if I was quiet about it no one would notice. The ring never promised silence. I intoned the spell and my words echoed over the ceiling and bounced off the walls below. The alien syllables filled the air, gathered power to themselves, and the chamber filled with water. I commanded the elemental to keep those two busy. I noticed a bar refilling in my display. I couldn't use the ring again until that bar was full. I glided over to the dragon's bed. I looked for the boss chest but didn't see it anywhere. Where the hell was it? Maybe it wouldn't appear until the dragon was defeated? Shit! Time to fight.

'I wondered if a water elemental was affected by lightning.'

I pulled up the black ring again and looked at its description. There was a question mark icon and I clicked on that as the chamber shook as the three combatants went at each other. There was a detail screen that listed the strengths and weaknesses of each elemental. Water was strong against stone, weak against fire, and neutral towards wind or lightning. I laughed as the idea formed in my head. My elemental skills hadn't been as developed as my sex craft, but I hoped it would be enough.