by Dante Steel
"I'm sorry." Gary ground his teeth. He wanted to give Haru a piece of his mind. Toying with people's fear wasn't cool. They could cause serious damage. "Maybe talking to Olivia will help. She's studying—"
"Psychology, I know. She has a phobia herself, though, so I don't know how much help she can be."
"It's always easier to help someone else versus yourself," he pointed out.
"True." She waited until they reached the edge of town to say, "Thank you."
"I didn't do anything," he protested.
"You didn't act like I was crazy. Gary… I believe you entirely. I'll admit that I waffled back and forth about the whole thing with you being in the game or not, but I do. I believe you."
"What made you change your mind?"
"You mean besides the fact that you have facial hair that I've never seen on any other avatar in the game? That you are putting on muscle in a way that seems more real than artificial? That you eat and drink in the game and make a mess whereas no one else does that?"
"Hey, are you calling me sloppy?"
She smiled. "I guess so. You really are in the game. I'm sorry. I don't know how to help you, and I want to. Believe me, I do."
"Just playing with me, being there for me, that's enough."
"You have to be so lonely. No wonder you want all three of us."
Gary gaped at her. "Uh… There's nothing I can say to that that won't land me in hot water, is there?"
Nicoletta giggled and then sighed. "I don't know what to think about all of that."
"Have you talked to the others about it?" he asked and held his breath.
"I haven't. It's not something I like to think about. I thought that because we knew each other in real life that you would gravitate to me, especially considering we…" She glanced away, blushing.
"You're adorable," he said without thinking. "I didn't mean that in a condescending way at all. You know I'm attracted to you."
"I know. I didn't think you were condescending. I just… I skipped kindergarten and went straight to the first grade."
"I didn't know that, Smartie."
She didn't smile. "I guess I never learned how to share," she said.
He gulped. "We don't have to worry about that now."
"I'd rather worry about that than my hands. What if that happens during a fight with a supervillain? With Smaug? You guys will need my help, and I'm a liability."
"You are a lot of things, but you will never be a liability," he said firmly. "Come on. Let's talk to the townsfolk."
In the end, the leader gave him the half amount of rupas and Nicoletta the full. If she noticed the discrepancy, she didn't ask about it, which made him grateful. The other townsfolk stepped forward to show their gratitude and gave them some armor, shields, weapons, hoods, cloaks, and other items that could be the start of a superhero costume.
Once the last gave them masks, letters appeared on the "screen." Congratulations! You are now megaheroes! Beware. Megavillains are on the loose!
Nicoletta fist-pumped. "Sweet! We're making progress!"
"Yes." Gary grimaced and cracked his knuckles. "I don't think I fought any villains. Did you?"
"A few."
"You did? When?" he asked, surprised.
"Sometimes on the way to finding you. You don't always wait around in town for us to show up, now, do you?"
"You could handle a villain by yourself?"
"Pul-leeze. I handled two at the same time before."
"See? You're amazing." He kissed the tip of her nose, or went to, wishing to be sweet and not steamy for once, but she lifted her chin, and his lips brushed hers.
Hand in hand, they wordlessly went to the tavern. The townsfolk had a celebration for them, and they eventually slipped away to a room upstairs, and Gary proceeded to kiss her all over, pampering her, giving herself as much attention as he possibly could. She needed him right now. It wasn't about him and his satisfaction. Then again, as he was going down on her and rubbed himself against the side of the bed, he might've come when she called out his name. He would never get tired of hearing her scream his name. He wanted that all night long.
So why couldn't he be happy with just her and only her?
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Gary ended up falling asleep with Nicoletta in his arms. If Haru stopped by that night, he didn't bother to wake Gary as he woke up with the sun streaming through the windows. He wasn't shocked to see that he was alone. Nicoletta had a life to live outside of the game. She couldn't stay here with him all of the time, and honestly, he wouldn't want her to be stuck in the game with him. She deserved to keep on living, to keep on dreaming, to keep on moving forward.
By the time he finished eating breakfast—finally, a town that had some eggs!—he was ready to stand and leave his table when a gamer sat down beside him.
"You heard about that Smaug guy?" the gamer asked. He was dressed in heavy-duty armor but had no weapon.
"Yeah," Gary said warily.
"A band of superheroes went up against him yesterday."
"I ran into them," Gary said.
"Yeah, well, Smaug killed them again and again and again. I don't know what that guy's problem is, but honestly, it's making me question whether or not I want to play this damn game."
"I understand," Gary said quietly. "One day, someone will do something about him."
The guy snorted. "Not likely. I swear he has to play nonstop, day and night. How else can he be that high of a level already? I don't understand why there isn't a cap on levels like in other games. Seriously. He's just gonna grow and grow in power until he's stronger than the game's supervillain meant to be the final boss."
"He won't," Gary said.
"Yeah, okay, bud." The guy stood and stormed out of the place.
Gary shrugged and followed him to find the ladies clustered around a tree in the middle of the town. This one had kinda of a Wild West feel to it. Most of the others felt like they were more medieval, with one town feeling distinctly medieval in an Oriental kind of way.
He had liked that town so much that he directed the ladies there now, and they completed more quests. Now that two of them were megaheroes, the quests were more about stopping and fighting megavillains. After they killed a pair of megavillains who operated separately, the other two became megaheroes too.
"We have to become superheroes," Gary said eagerly.
"Yeah," Olivia said, sounding gloomier than usual.
"What's wrong?" he inquired, hating that he had to keep asking that question.
"We heard that Smaug is targeting superheroes," Elena said.
"He's not a superhero," Gary grumbled. "He's a supervillain."
"It would be nice if the developers could change things so that based on a person's personality in the game, they could choose if they want to be a superhero or a supervillain," Nicoletta said, pointedly staring at Gary.
He nodded. "The developers should look into that."
"They have to know that he's ruining the game, don't they?" Olivia asked.
"I can't imagine they don't," Elena said.
"They should do something about him," Olivia griped.
"We can handle him once we're strong enough," Gary said.
"Why does it have to be us?" Elena asked. "Despite our getting the Runed Ruby, he's left us alone. He hasn't hunted us like he has others. We're under his radar. Why chance it?"
"Because," Gary said grimly. "It has to be me."
"If it's you, then it's all of us," Nicoletta said.
"Hero complex," Olivia grumbled. "You're playing this game too much.”
Gary caught Nicoletta's gaze, and they both cracked up.
"Seriously, it's like you should be a professional video game player," Olivia continued. "You know, to test out bugs before a game hits the market?"
"That would be cool," he said.
"What do you do again?" Elena asked.
"Ah…"
"He's between jobs," Nicoletta said smoothly.
"Come on," he said. "We have megavillains to handle."
And they found a ton of them in the medieval Oriental town. One had telekinesis and used his power to attack his opponents with samurai blades from afar. Gary was more powerful though but only slightly. Still, he was able to disrupt the megavillain's ability to use the weapons, and the ladies made short work of him.
Another megavillain controlled a creature that resembled Godzilla. They took down the beast, and the megavillain was a piece of cake.
A third megavillain seized control of the entire town. His water doused out Nicoletta's flames, but the rest of them could handle him while Nicoletta distracted him.
In all, they took down ten megavillains in that one day. How many quests that amounted to Gary wasn't sure, but he didn't stop fighting and training even after all three of the ladies bid him goodnight, Nicoletta outlasting the other two by a good hour.
Haru came to him after Gary brought down a third megavillain by himself. Gary was covered in sweat and more than a little dizzy. His blood sugar was probably low. He needed to eat. If the developers knew what was good for them, they had given this tavern more authentic food. Gary loved himself some sushi and Chinese food.
But the Japanese man blocked the entryway to the tavern.
Gary crossed his arms. "Make Smaug a supervillain."
"He basically already is," Haru said. "The title doesn't matter."
"Tell me why my friend feels like her hands are on fire," Gary demanded.
"I can't explain that. All the game provides is a jolt—"
"Her power is fire, and she was burned as a little girl. I brought this up before. Our greatest fears are our powers. How messed up is that?"
"A weakness that can be turned into a strength is the mark of a true hero. If you would only open your mind, you could see that the future holds limitless possibilities."
"Not from my vantage point," Gary said dryly. "Not from inside a damn video game."
Haru sighed and clasped his hands behind his back. His ever-stoic demeanor aggravated Gary to no end.
"Why are you here?" Gary demanded. "I have things to do. I'd rather not be constantly updated with your failures because, let me guess, you aren't making any progress, are you?"
"We are doing our best—"
"Progress or no?" Gary shouted.
"That depends on—"
"Can you bring me home?"
"Not yet," Haru admitted.
"That's the only progress I care about."
Gary stormed around the man and entered the tavern. There was plenty of raw fish on the menu even if the fish wasn't cut up and rolled into traditional sushi. The raw fish was served on a bed of rice, and Gary had to cut the fish and scoop up rice with each bite. Delicious, even if it did take a little getting used to.
Once he had his fill and passed on the sake, Gary went back outside and hunted down more megavillains. For the next seven days, all Gary was concerned about was fighting, questing, killing. He became obsessed with his stats and levels and his power. Gary wanted to become the most powerful telekinesis player in the game. There was no chance he could be the strongest player in the game—that would always go to Smaug until he was taken down a thousand notches—but he would be more than happy to claim the number two spot.
The girls leveled up somewhat close beside him. Now that Gary was playing so many more hours each day, he was rising in level, and so were the megavillains. He and the girls had to strategize and work hard together to beat them, considering the megavillains were around Gary's level of two hundred and forty-two, and the girls were hovering around two hundred.
At the end of the week, Gary was feeling drained, but he couldn't stop, they couldn't stop. A team of four megavillains—Illusionist, Tempest Tyrant, Greased Lightning, and Ice Bod—were terrorizing a town. They had to take them out, and Gary didn't want to have to wait until morning.
The Illusionist could disappear entirely. Being invisible sure had its perks.
Tempest Tyrant could control the weather and make it rain and thunder and lightning. Gary and Nicoletta hated Tempest Tyrant more than the other megavillains.
Greased Lightning was super fast, so even if it weren't for the rain, Greased Lightning might be able to run swiftly enough to take out Nicoletta's flames.
And finally, Ice Bod could turn his body into ice.
Now, if only Gary could make things shatter. He had only been able to do that with his telekinesis the one time. Time and again, Gary had tried, and he always failed. Maybe he had to keep working on it. There had to be more and more levels to his powers. After all, since there was no cap to the levels in the game, he had to continue to grow more powerful. The others were. Nicoletta could conjure enough fire that Gary thought she might be able to create a fire tornado soon. Elena's arms were entirely metal as well as her knees down on her legs. She could stomp on monsters’ heads and devastate them that way. Her fist packed some serious heat. As for Olivia, at times, she could fly so fast that she could cause branches and rocks to fly beneath her or behind her, almost like a comet trail, that she could use to inflict damage on foes. At least Tempest Tyrant didn't control the wind and rain because that would take out Olivia too.
All in all, this team up of megavillains were just about all Gary and his ladies could handle. They were tough, mean, and actually worked together. They didn't bicker and fight among themselves. No, they were focused on taking Gary and the rest out.
Gary and the girls huddled around the side of a building. Considering Greased Lightning could be there in seconds, they had no time to waste in coming up with a plan. Worse, they had to do it silently, through signals and not ones easily interpreted because the Illusionist might be standing right next to them.
Elena patted Gary's shoulder and nodded toward the corner of the next building over. There was a spot where no rain hit the muddy cobbled streets. The Illusionist was lurking nearby.
Gary nodded. The rain from Tempest Tyrant's storm would help them to take out at least one of them.
He had sold his sword and given up his lance a long time ago, but Gary had kept his daggers on him. He withdrew one now and slipped it to Elena.
"I don't think we can do this," Elena thundered to be heard over the storm as she stepped away from them and closer toward the Illusionist. "We can sleep on it and come back. How does that sound?"
Nicoletta glanced at Gary, confused. At his nod, she shouted, "You've always been a coward!"
"Coward?" Elena was about two paces from the Illusionist, but she whirled around toward Nicoletta. "At least I'm not afraid of my power!"
Gary winced. There hadn't been a need to broadcast that. Was Elena upset that Gary and Nicoletta were so close? He never had gotten around to talking to the three of them about his feelings for them all. Gary knew where Nicoletta stood, on somewhat shaky ground when it came to the harem. He knew where Olivia stood, entirely all in. He had no idea where he stood with Elena, but this was the first possible sign of jealousy and at a time when they really could not afford to screw up matters.
Nicoletta and Olivia were both shouting now, but Gary couldn't make out their words, not that they mattered because Elena turned, lunged, and jabbed with the dagger, but suddenly, she was holding the air as if someone was choking her.
Instantly, Gary broke into a run, but he was knocked down by someone impossibly fast. Greased Lightning! Two against one did not bode well at all for Elena.
But Gary shouldn't have doubted or worried. Elena had dropped the dagger, but she brought up her fist and smashed it over her shoulder right into the Illusionist's face. Another two smacks of her metal fist and he flickered into sight. His f
ace was all bloodied, and he staggered back. Before she could finish him off, Greased Lightning zipped the wounded megavillain away.
Heaving breaths, Elena grabbed the dagger and strolled back over to the girls, and Gary trailed behind her, having come about halfway toward the place where she had fought the megavillain.
Elena grinned at the ladies. "Thank you for trusting me to have that." She threw a glower at Gary.
He threw up his hands. "I only wanted to help!" he protested.
"I am not a damsel in distress," she fumed.
"I never thought you were," he assured her.
She harrumphed and turned away, arms crossed. Nicoletta patted her arm sympathetically and glared at Gary. Olivia was smirking, and Gary sighed. He was going to screw up their merry little band if he wasn't careful.
"You're an amazingly powerful woman," he started.
"Shut it," Elena snapped. "Let's get this done and over with already."
"Look." Olivia pointed at a bloody trail. The rain was washing it away. "If we could just get rid of the storm clouds, we could track down Illusionist even if he goes invisible again."
"Tempest Tyrant might be the hardest to take out," Gary warned.
"Leave Ice Bod to me," Elena said, cracking her metal fingers. "If he would just turn into ice again, he'd be done for."
"He'll be weak in no time if he turns to ice in this rain," Nicoletta said. "He won't be able to keep his body temperature low enough without using nearly all of his willpower."
Gary nodded. "That makes sense."
"Greased Lightning will be the hardest," she mused, rubbing her chin. "He's zipping about despite the mud and the rain. His tracks are blurred from how fast he's going, but they show where he's been, not where he's going. We'll worry about him last. First, Tempest Tyrant. A storm like this occurs naturally when a warm front is followed by a cold front. If we can cause a warm front from above, it just might dissipate the cloud. I know he's using a power, so the science might not work, but it's worth a shot. Olivia, do you think you can fly me above the storm cloud? I'll blast it with my fire. Then, Elena can go all warrior fists of doom and gloom on Tempest Tyrant and Illusionist. Without the rain, Ice Bod should turn to ice, and she can handle him too."