[Cafe] 103 – Mid-tournament chaos

[Nick Fury's POV]

Watching as two of his Agents work together to tame a pack of Direwolves, Fury couldn't help but let his gaze wander to Coulson, who was struggling to make as much progress. It seemed that Coulson was facing tremendously lousy luck, nearly dying multiple times already in the past few in-game days, whether it was being unable to find a jug bug on the first day or a source of drinking water to being chased relentlessly by a Terror Bird, to coming face to face with a T-Rex as soon as he awoke on the third day. It was highly suspicious, but he has been unlucky for as long as Fury has known Coulson. 

Almost half of the assignments given to Coulson ended with some accident during the mission or the mission going completely FUBAR, forcing Coulson to adapt. Despite his terrible luck, he still proved to be one of his best agents and one he could trust. While Fury knew that Coulson had a more than likely chance that whatever assignment he was to be assigned could go FUBAR at any time, Coulson had very rarely failed a mission.

The fact that he managed to make it this far despite the very world around him seemingly thirsting for his death spoke volumes of his skill and willpower, not to mention the few hours he had to sleep the past few in-game days. However, Fury was beginning to worry that Coulson wouldn't make it to the end of the round and advance to the final round, especially with how far behind he was becoming compared to the other participants.

Fury's gaze flowed over to the other noticeable participants he was concerned about. First was the participant with the pseudonym 'Tyke,' the most dangerous if his skills were any indication. In the first round of the tournament, he killed 29 of the 100 participants of his 'lobby.' Just from the 'clips' made by the other tournament observers, the man was brutally efficient and a fierce combatant with evident skill with CQC, Marksmanship, and guerrilla warfare—every participant they encountered he dispatched with ease, tactics, and clever thinking.

Fury wanted to recruit the man, but every time one of his people attempted to approach him, the man would avoid them with ease, losing them whenever they tried following and tracking him down. However, Natasha managed to join his 'guild' and, through that connection, set up a trade deal with the man.

Somehow, the man could reproduce some of the weapons from the 'Fallout world, giving more credence to the fact that these worlds were real, no matter how much 'Zerref' wanted to say otherwise. From this 'Tyke,' we purchased a few crates of 'Laser Rifles,' which were being disassembled and examined by some SHIELD scientists who found that these Laser Rifles used the same ammunition as shown in the game, Energy Cells. Tyke also claimed to have started production towards basic robotic units such as Eyebots and Protectrons, and we were also interested in purchasing them.

This Tyke fabricated these Laser Rifles and robots himself, which hinted that he operated out of a workshop. It was only a matter of time before his agents tracked him to this said workshop, and they could gleam how and what, though Fury wanted to know why.

Shaking his head from his thoughts, Fury refocused on the tournament, calmly examining each screen and the participants still in the tournament. While he didn't want any of these civilians to get the final 'prize' of the tournament, Fury could at least admit that there were many talents in this tournament, talented enough to become quite effective agents for SHIELD with a bit more formal training.

However, Fury had focused too much on the tournament, not noticing a stranger locking eyes on his form and motioning forward from behind. This figure was seemingly ordinary but had a somewhat athletic build and covering clothes. They had a cap and a face set in a stoic expression, and their eyes were not diverting from Fury.

As the figure got closer and closer to Fury, they reached into their jacket and began pulling out a small firearm, one so small that it would be nearly unnoticeable unless someone were to see it directly, and as the man leveled the gun from underneath their jacket and aimed it to Fury's back, the man suddenly screamed as shadows seemed to come alive around him.

The people around the man screamed and panicked, and Fury hurriedly turned around to see the man get dragged down into the shadows, leaving nothing but one of the 'Zerrifs' standing where the man once was.

"No reason to panic; the problem was taken care of; please enjoy yourselves and have a complimentary meal on the house," Zerref spoke out before disappearing into the shadow.

...

Meanwhile, a particular scarlet-haired woman who loved nature was having a difficult time surviving against nature in the harsh and unforgiving desert. She was used to lush jungles and forests filled with plant life, yet life struggled to survive here on the 'Scorched Earth.' Spiders called small patches of grass home, covering them in silk that Ivy harvested and used the silk to make a whip, a weapon that she knew how to use, while she was not the best with due to her friendship with the famous cat burglar, Catwoman. While it would not be the best weapon in her arsenal, it should prove a handy surprise against the other people wandering this desert with her.

She was lucky not to have encountered anyone else, but she feared it would not take long until she was forced to meet someone, as on the distant horizon was a massive wall of moving sand. Unlike the island, the storm rolling this way was clearly a sand storm, one beyond the size of any such storm that could ever form naturally on Earth.

Focusing back on the avian creature on the ground before her, she whistled, and the creature took off into the skies. It was a strategic move on her part to tame a Vulture, an early warning system as the Vulture would keep an eye from the sky trained around her person. If she taught the Vulture right, it would warn her whenever a predator came close or spotted another human.

Ivy couldn't help but appreciate how susceptible the animals of this world were to training. They quickly learned any orders given and could even be trained to great lengths that most animals on Earth were incapable of understanding on the same level. It was both natural and unnatural.

She was both thankful and suspicious. First were the giant metal obelisks that floated in the sky, and then there was the strange barrier that surrounded the land. It was too...artificial. She was suspicious, and with clue after clue, she soon realized that this desert and the Island had to be an artificial enclosure or something similar. The animals reproduce far too quickly, were far too numerous for the sheer number of predators called this desert home, trees grew far too quickly, and so much more, which led to her having three questions. How, why, and when?

How was this place created? How did it work? Why was it made, and when? It had to have taken a lot of serious effort and advanced technology. Was it an experiment that had gotten out of control? A project that was forgotten and led to people ending up trapped within this artificial ecosystem? How many people had gotten trapped in this place before them? There were notes and signs of ruins, leading to signs of some kind of civilization having formed here in this desert, so what happened to the people? Were they alive? Where were they if they were? Did they find a way to escape? 

With the more questions she had, she decided to investigate after the tournament to find out.