Video Games… the best and worst kind of entertainment. So many love them and so many hate them. Mindless bouts of entertainment, outlets for creativity, works of art, simulators which train our young to be mindless killers; all these and more are used to either support or delegitimize the gaming genre. But if there is one thing many can agree on(mainly those who love gaming) these games… can be windows and portals to other worlds. Access nodes for people to use to see into the creativity of other minds. But what if I told you… they could be so much more than mere windows? Perhaps with the right kind of technology, the right instance… they could just possibly be… doorways?

February 10th, 2017

It was an ordinary day, an ordinary life for most people. A simple day to be used to get ready for the upcoming tax season as so many protested the results of a rather uneasy election. Now one could go ahead and condemn the acts of these individuals… if this story focused on them. But since it is not, onward the story goes. Sitting in class flicking his pen as he tried so hard to focus on his work. But for 19 year old Mason Kellogg, this class did little to capture his interest. The teacher at the front of the class, a professor in the field of history long gone to the dust bins of libraries prattled on about the kingdoms of old. But as with most self proclaimed geniuses he couldn't be bothered to give more than five percent of his attention to this class.

He was here for the class credit. Nothing more nothing less. "god let this class be over soon…." He griped to himself as he slumped further into his seat.

"You know you might find it interesting. If you paid attention at all," a voice next to him whispered. To his right sat a kid who arguably was a bit more nerdier than Mason, but more or less in the history and other useless kind of information. His name was Kyle Castin, who stood at five foot seven, a total history nerd, a fellow gamer and a surprising good shot with a rifle. Mason on the other hand was the strange case of a somewhat athelete being incredibly great at computers and gamer who stood five foot nine. Both men were great pals who enjoyed video games(obviously) and helped the other survive school. Somehow.

"When these kingdoms suddenly appear in 21st century america, then I'll pay attention," Mason retorted. Kyle just smirked and shook his head as he jotted down a new note. Mason went back to his previously disused laptop, proceeding to surf most anything and everything that better piqued his interest. He emailed some people who wanted tech support and smiled as others made empty threats. One that caught his attention was an offer to help test some new video gaming gear from a company Tech-Vault, an on the nose word play of the fictional company of Fallout, called Vault-Tec. Tech-Vault was a growing gaming peripheral manufacturing that made their name in being quite possibly the most ambitious modding/video game peripheral developer. They boasted claims that their VR not only innately rewrote the very game engine code of any game you wanted to play to make it VR capable but worked exceedingly well with any mod you install to the game.

Complete and utter bullshit, he once thought. But as more and more rather famous gamers on YouTube and Twitch got their hands on the VR gear it become clear that perhaps… something was being hidden about this advanced type of gaming. Its one thing to mod a game and another to make it VR, but to make it VR ready and moddable? Questions raised every day. Especially when you watch some of these game plays, it was like the gamers took these to a new level of seriousness. Especially when their previous formulas of gameplay, such as that green haired irish punk, had their videos normall allow for boisterous cries and reactions to certain aspects of gaming. But now… if you were looking carefully, youd swear they were playing like an actual resident of that games universe.

"Look I know youre excited for your copy of the new VR craze but watch the video, hes gonna be looking to make sure we were taking notes," Kyle said, breaking Masons concentration. When he looked up, the projection screen came down to prep for a video. Followed by a small icon popping up, indicating that he had a new email. From Kyle of course. He smiled opened it and quickly downloaded his friends notes.

"Thanks for the save buddy," he said with honesty in his voice. While Kyle wasn't a fan of his friends slacking off or rather nonchalant attitude when he failed certain exams or quizzes, he wasn't about to let his friend get in trouble. Even if it would just be a stern talking too about not taking this class seriously.

"Next time pay attention to the lcture and I wont have to bail you out," was the response. Mason just rolled his eyes and made some corrections to the notes given, he didn't want the professor to think they had just copy and pasted word for word. The video would go on to take up the rest of the remaining fifteen minutes of class, surely to continue on into the next day of class about the old Roman empire and how she divided into the eventual East and Western halves. Both men were given full marks for their notes taken and let out like they were every day.

"So same time again tonight? Some Halo?" Mason asked as they walked out of class.

"Dude I have to study. Unlike some people, I'm wanting to be a teacher here. I'll hit you up tomorrow but tonights not a good time," Kyle said in response. He proceeded to check his watch and pull out his Doctor Who notebook to check his schedule.

"Come on dude, you know more history than half the professors here combined. And you are a total whiz in reigning in problem kids. Need I remind you about how you kick ass in political science?" Mason pointed out to his friend.

"Maybe I am but that's no reason to slack off like you," he said with a pinch of venom in his tongue. Mason recoiled, feigning offense at his friends words.

"Im hurt dear Knight of the Brotherhood. I just meant that perhaps youd enjoy a night off with your favorite shotgun buddy?" Mason said with a faux hurt face. This caused kyle to laugh, smiling alittle now.

"I would enjoy killing hordes of aliens but I saw your email man. Youre expecting a package today. From Tech-Vault right? The new VR gear?" he asked. Mason half tensed up but relaxed, he and Kyle had a habit of reading the others mail or email. Federal offenses perhaps but they didn't care if they did it to the other as long neither got hurt with the actions to follow.

"Heh yeah I guess that's right. I'm gonna be testing that thing out. See what all the hoopla is about with the truly immersive experience," Mason said with a smile.

"Now I wanna know how you managed to get one? I mean during the gaming tournaments I usually rank above you. I mean not by much but I still am better than you. Remember I took first in our gaming comp?" Kyle asked. While it was true that Kyle was a better FPS player, the same can not be said when the game requires strategy. An ironic turnaround when one remembers that its usually Kyle who obessess over the historical battles and how they were won.

"maybe they saw how well I did with the RTS genre or something. FPS god you may be but a strategist you are not," Mason countered. Kyle just groaned before deciding to drop the subject.

"Just not fair. I mean I do the hard work and I get shafted. You slack and somehow make it out with the gold," Kyle groaned as they went towards their cars.

"Hey you got that scholarship here. That's something akin to gold I think," Mason said.

"Yeah… and you got the awesome jobs you never tell me about," Kyle said in reply. Mason didn't have a rebuttal there. Because of his expertise with computers, Mason was often almost besieged with job offers that paid him quite handsomely, usually revolving around hacking servers or testing a mainframes security measures. If he wanted Mason could easily retire and not need a higher education for anything. He only does so to gain access to his campuss computer teachers so he can keep up to date on the ever changing tech world. Plus he liked hanging out with his best friend Kyle. Even if sometimes they didn't get along like he wanted.

"But… hey we have our friendship. Theres that," Mason smiled. Kyle stopped at his car and seemed to ponder that before turning to face Mason and smiled.

"Yeah that's true. I mean we always have eachothers backs. So I guess I cant feel too unlucky," he said as they slid in. Kyles phone buzzed with an unknown number he blushing answered.

"And tell your lover to stop drunk emailing me pictures she takes for you. I can only do so much to deny your guys affair," Mason called out through their now open windows. Kyle turned even more beat read, promising to talk with his "lover" later. Mason smiled and paid his goodbye, while being an honest to god intellectual who'll like be a great teacher; Kyle wasn't a very clean individual as he was currently a secret lover to mmaybe one or more married women. Mason could only guess as he often gets drunkly sent emails from different emails about how infatuated the women were with Kyle. Rocks in a bed he did not want so he always stayed out of the information as much as he could for Kyles sake. From there both men drove off and headed for home.

The journey for Mason was uneventful as per the norm but, he found a package waiting for him on his front door. Smiling he unlocked the door, he proceeded inside and set it on the counter. Relocking the door after letting in his cat, who proceeded to drop a dead mouse at his feet, he was eager to unpack the box. "Hey Mace! Hurry up, its movie time!" a voice called out from the living room. Mason inwardly groaned, living with his parents did have a slight downside as his dad knew his schedule fairly well and could practically count off when he'd walk in.

"Sorry pops not tonight I have some freelance work to do!" Mason called back. As much as he wanted to enjoy some movie time with his dad, he was even more eager to find out the hoopla surrounding the company Tech Vault.

"Alright don't stay up too late! I don't want Kyle calling me to kick your ass out of bed again!" Masons dad called out. Mason chuckled ot himself as he slipped into his room, apologizing to his kitten and puppy that he had to kick them out for a few hours. Twenty minutes later, his package was opened and he had the software being downloaded to run the VR headset. While that was being done, he decided to give the equipment a look over.

On the outside it looked no different than say the Oculus Rift or even the HTC vive. On the front it read "VR: Tech Vault" so this way youd never forget who developed this. Sadly he saw no real way to crack the headset open, not without seriously damaging the internal components anyway. Headphones of course for sound but… no room sensors. He frowned beliving he'd be forced to his chair for all of his play sessions and half thought about sending all the gear back. But then he saw what made the internet go crazy for TechVault, the haptic gloves. Usually with VR if you wanted a "hands on" experience in VR you needed the Vives hand controllers. Even then it was excrutiatingly crude and clunky depending on the game you played. But TechVault claimed to have figured out how to not only properly develop touch sensitive gloves for full on "hands on" gaming experience where you could touch and interact with virtually everything.

The gloves were about what he expected. A smooth material that didn't itch or make him uncomfortable, nodes stitched in the fingers and palm in the exact place his hands and fingers would be. He could only assume this was to sense hiss motions and apply pressure so he might feel simulated objects or people. He didn't really see much reason to be excited, his gaming rig was what mattered anyway. While not precisely what the specs recommended (in fact probably a full generation behind), he was more than confident he'd get at least minimum graphics. Looking closer at the headset though… he couldn't help that it something was off about it. A hidden side he wasn't seeing. Before he could give it more thought, he was called to dinner if avaible.

So like a good boy he got up and went to eat, no gamer was at their best on an empty stomach after all. With his absence though… his computer beeped. As though it had been waiting for him to leave. And suddenly, a second party began making its way into his system. Establishing a communication line between his computer and a central hub and from within the box, a small swarm of nanobots left their homes in the packaging stuffing and proceeded to swarm over his desktop tower. They then 'attacked' its innards, changing their shape and composition… making its pieces and power supply that of the most powerful gaming computers.

It was too be a whole new experience when he came back.

When he did, he never noticed the changes. He just saw the download was done and ready to initate set up. he clicked for it start and after a few more minutes of waiting it was ready to execute. Closing the download page he saw a new icon. TVVR, not a tough clue to follow. Clicking on it, he proceeded to slip his VR gear on, tightening the straps on his gloves and sliding the headset on. The image to greet him… wasn't what he expected. A spinning logo of Tech Vault first appeared before being reassembled to say WELCOME AGENT. His whole body went limp as suddenly his mind was drawn out of his skull and through a sort of portal.

When his eyes snapped open, a pod was opening to reveal a beautiful Hispanic woman smiling at him. "Agent Kellogg, welcome to Tech Vault. It's a pleasure to make your aquaintence," she said helping out of the pod. She was almost as tall as he was, maybe a couple inches shorter, long black hair, piercing green eyes and moca colored skin. Looking down, he saw everything so life like, and his movements were fluid. He was also pleasantly surprised to see his 'avatar' was dressed already though not loving the whole government agent vibe.

"One helluva intro sequence," he muttered to himself as the woman turned and began walking.

"Keep up, its time for you to join up with the others," she called back. He looked back up, trying to keep his eyes off her behind; reminding himself its just a simuation. "Oh technically its no simulation Agent… this is real," she said opening the door. Walking through without a moment to ask how she knew what he was thinking, his body suddenly went on autopilot, his hands putting on sunglasses without his input and his feet walking on their own.

"Whoa! Cant control! Whats going on!?" mason asked, a little unnerved. He could hear her giggle at his state.

"Relax Kellogg, your body is just overridden for right now. We just do this to give you some time to look through the slides and listen as we walk. You can still adjust your field of view too so theres that," the woman said as TechVaults logo lit up for a short second before th door opened. She then added," oh my names Grace Garcia by the way. I'll be your liason while youre here."

"Liasion? Whoa wait why am I here? I thought this would open my-" he started to say.

"Steam page? Sorry, ordinarily we'd let you enjoy the new freedom for a couple hours but according to your mission director, we have almost no time. Just enough to get you filled in on the basics, your mission and deploy you to the field," Grace said as they walked past what looked like offices.

"Field? Mission? Wait I I think there's been a mistake!" Mason said, a bit of terror building in him.

"You're Mason Kellogg right? Steam ID: MKellogg1501, born October 25th, 1994? Blood Type O negative?" Grace asked.

"Y y yes but-" he started.

"Good, that's all we need to know we have the right guy. You were chosen based on a series of aptitude tests we've hidden in your everyday normal life and your performance in the particular field we need you in. Alternate History, Science fiction that's no longer fiction and military action. Granted your diplomacy needs a bit of work, but with the man we're pairing you with I think you'll be fine," she said as now images of himself and his scores in various tests hes taken in the past and snippets of gameplay from his time online.

"military action? Wait I'm- I am very confused right now," Mason said as they turned a corner.

"Your field commander will explain most of it. That is if you accept this responsibility," she said before coming to a door.

"Responsibiity?! What in the hell are you going on about!? I just got my VR gear! I I I don't know what the hell is going on!" he said making her look at him.

"Did… did you not read the information given in your package?" she asked him with a now surprised look on her face. When he shook his head no, she gt visibily upset and nearly ripped the door handle off its frame. "I am going to kill those fucking assholes in shiping! One job! Make sure every goddamn thing is in the fucking box!" she half screamed, drawing a few eyes toward them.

"Uh… can you tell me what the hell I inadvertently signed on for?" he asked. Taking a deep breath she faced him and looked him in the eye.

"You sir, have been selected based on a number of skills we've seen you display in the realm of virtual reailty. Of those being heart, adaptation, determination and bravery. You alone, like many across the real of cyberspace and even in real life have shown that you are capable of being the hero a world needs, even if they do not want you. We selected you because we believe you can help avert world ending disasters across the multiverse," she said almost in one breath. Before he could respond she added "but take note, the body you will use is not just technically your own, its flesh and blood. Meaning you die in the field before mission parameters are met, then you doom that world to pain and suffering. Do you accept the job to help preserve the future of the timelines?"

"…. Well when you ask… hell yes I will. But uh… you said multiverse. What… I mean, you don't mean that-" mason started to ask.

"Yes, I mean the games you've played… exist as real life somewhere. And it is your job now, to help guide those timelines to fruition," she said as she opened the door. Inside… he was floored. A multitude of faces was present here, from everday gamers he may or may not have met to even the big name YouTube Gamers such as *REDACTED*, *REDACTED* and *REDACTED*. Beside them were whom he could nly guess as their handlers, or people that likely held whatever title Grace had.

"Holy moons of Jupiter! This is… is that-" Mason started to say.

"Come on, we're a bit late and I still have a complaint to file with the higher ups about shipping's fuckup," Garcia said as she led him a seat towards the back. He sat down and looked over the crowd of people, he was instantly recognizing faces of nearly everyone he saw on Youtube and still had so many non famous gamers.

"Where did… when did this all start? This is incredible! So many people and theyr all agents like me?" mason whispered to Grace.

"Sort of. A good chunk of our funding comes from the big name youtubers down there. Of course it sadly fluctuates, especially now after that whole Pewdiepie bullshit. Fucking journalists who look fr clicks and not actual facts," Grace said as she opened up her email and began typing up her complaint. He had more questions, but was shushed by Grace and told to pay attention as a man in true G-man attire took the stage. Though like Mason, it was clear that he was not happy about his uniform and preffered something else. He straightened his tie before looking over the audience, earning a few gasps of recognition from other clearly new agents.

"Good evening everyone. To those who don't know me, my name is CaptainShack. And no its quite my real name but in this world Codenames are everything. Just wanted to clarify that before we had any new agents ask that again. now… to our new recruits I just have this to say, welcome to the Agency and I hope to work with you for many years to come. Now usually we have a big ceremony to welcome everyone but we don't have time for that. We have new reports of Agents out in the field finding that their timelines are starting to go against their projected models. Talk to your Liasons for your missions and be extra vigilant you hear? Also remember, a mission can run for multiple days. Heh the longest I've seen is a few years," the speaker said, adding a small chuckle at the end.

"few years?" Mason asked in disbelief to Garcia.

"Yep, these ops can be dangerous. Hence why I warned you once you die, its game over in that world. Fail too many missions and we'll have to let you go as an agent. Sad really… lots of agents have had to leave that way. But when you cant deliver the results, no other options," she said. Suddenly one of the nearby agents suddenly went limp. And another further down. Mason first thought something wrong was happening but saw the 'Captain' somewhat chuckle.

"Oh and if you saw some of our fellow agents just go limp, its probably because they had to do an emergency exit from this session. Parents, roommates etcetera. Your VR gear has a builtin sensor to detect when unauthorized personnel enter the room. While you're here in this area, its not a problem but becareful in the field. You force an emergency exit in combat or while driving, body goes limp and… well I assume you can fill the blank in," CaptainShack explained. He went on to explain how our job was to make sure the "good line" of stories were carried out, or as he called it the "Mother Theresa" timelines. My sunglasses lit up to show an ino packet had arrived, his first mission. His first mission; Protect and assist the Lone Wandered. Year: 2277, locaton: Washington DC.