[Cafe] 128 – The New Game Part 1

[Nick Fury’s POV]

Nick was many things: a Spy, a Director of Shield, an Agent, a badass mothafucka, but one thing he most certainly was not was rich. Yet, as he looked upon his so-called 'Karma Balance,' Nick froze at the number that appeared and the ethereal whistle Zerref gave at the sight.

1,987,418 Karma.

"Now that's a high number, one of the highest I've seen so far, that's for certain," Zerref commented, looking at the number that showed on screen, before commenting, "If my math is correct, with that amount of Karma, you should be able to afford nearly a thousand of the VR Pods, nine hundred and ninty-three to be exact."

"Is that so...and do you ship the Pods as well?" Nick asked, looking at Zerref in what he thought were its eyes.

"I do," Zerref happily answered.

"If I purchase one of these Pods, can only I use it, or can others use it as well?" Nick questioned.

"Only if you give them the appropriate Permissions, yes," Zerref helpfully informed.

"Then I will take twenty-five of the Pods, delivered straight to SHIELD Headquarters," Nick ordered.

"Wonderful, do note that with the Pods, you can also access the Monthly Shop, the Forum, and the Announcement board, speaking of announcements, there is a new game I just released that I believe your ‘Shield’ Will find excellent tool to train any future agents and give your agents a non-fatal way to gain experience,” Zerref happily offered.

“I will…check it out,” Nick stated as he looked at the cosmic being with scrutiny, before continuing by saying, “But what exactly is this…new game about?” 

Zerref hummed, a hum so powerful that Nick felt it vibrate his very bones.

“I suppose you could say the game involved the player, a D-Class, escaping a facility run by a Clandestine organization that dealt with containing and securing anomalous objects, entities, and…worse, that’s undergone a site-wide containment breach. The player, a D-Class, must try to escape said facility without getting caught by Foundation personnel or the SCPs contained on site,” Zerref explained the fundamental idea of what the game entailed. 

“I…see,” Nick spoke, looking at Zerref for a few moments before Zerref spoke, “Do let me know what you think, I did spend a few decades trying to perfect it.”

…

[A few hours later, Shield HQ, sub-level 46]

It took hours, but a suitable containment room was made available for the Virtual Pods that appeared the instant Nick Fury himself stepped into the building. 

Each pod was seemingly already assembled and boasted no cable or seam on its outer ‘shell,’ which resembled an Egg resting in a basket too small to hold it.

While twenty of the pods were brought to the containment room assigned to them, five were taken to a workshop to be disassembled and studied to learn how they function. 

Only after three entire hours of effort, for not a single scratch or ding to mar the surface of the sleek machines. 

Seemingly indestructible via standard tools, Fury authorized the use of the more…advanced tools available from the SHIELD laboratories and research centers. 

Yet even that seemed not to bear any fruit. Whether it was alien, Magical, or of unknown origin, nothing within the storage and containment facilities of Shield damaged or even slightly marred the pods. 

Annoyed but half expecting this outcome, Fury orders the moving of four of the pods into the containment room that contained the twenty others, and left just a single pod to continue any and all experiments with. If there were any way to damage, exploit, or destroy the devices, eventually someone would discover how to.

In the meantime, Fury gathered twenty-three senior Agents within the containment room of the twenty-four Virtual Pods.

“Today, each of you will lie within these pods for approximately one standard hour and play a…game. This game is unknown to us, but if what we were told is true, each of you will have to escape whatever Facility you find yourselves in. Upon the end of your session, each of you will write and give us your verbal reports of what you saw, what you encountered, and your thoughts regarding these…games,” Nick Fury explained, pacing back and forth before looking at the twenty-fourth agent in the room, codenamed ‘The Calvary.’

“Agent May will be joining you in this session, and any of you who make more progress than her will find themselves with a bonus added to their paychecks. Is that clear?” Nick asked, hoping to light the competitive spark of his agents.

Getting a bunch of ‘Yes, sir’ from the Agrnts in the room, he watched as each of them, wearing full bodysuits that tracked every single detectable biological activity in their bodies, lay down and had the pod’s door close over them, leaving Fury with Calvary and the bunch of medical staff and technicians who got to work.

“You really brought me out from behind a desk to play a video game, director?” Melinda May asked, looking at her boss with credulity.

Nick Fury just gave her a knowing smirk, “Not just a game, one that will make you feel as if everything is as real as it can be, so much so that you won’t even be able to tell the difference.”

The Calvary just scoffed, “Fine, but you better keep your word, Nick. I expect that you’ll give Coulson that dream team he’s been going on about for years and that plane I know you’ve just been having sitting in Hangar 13 for a year now.” 

“You know our deal, May. I’ll grant his wish if you come out ahead of the other agents in this little competition, so the question is, do you still have it, Miss Calvary?” Nick and enunciated each letter of the title she hated oh so much. 

Agent Melinda May merely glared at him before climbing into her pod, and it closed over her before sealing tight. 

Fury merely glanced at the pod for a few moments before backing away and asking, “How do their vitals look?”

“Well, sir…from what we’re getting, it looks like their brain activity is off the charts, though everything else is as normal as expected, though it does seem that one of our agents has a bit of a higher blood sugar level than expected, likely from an early stage of diabetes,” The head medical technician supplied.

“Get him checked out after this. In the meantime, keep me updated. I’ll be nearby and on scene within minutes if anything happens. In the meantime, Agent Bard? Keep an eye on everyone, will you?” Fury looked over to the criminal turned agent, one man who used to be known as the ‘Music Meister.’ 

Leaving the room, Fury headed towards Hangar 13, where the final preparations were being made. After all, Fury did not doubt that the ‘Calvary’ would win this little battle.