Welcome to Project Freelancer

by Nain Tarlow

This was a new beginning for him. He changed the sword for a gun. Approached by a mysterious organization, where everyone worked under codenames, their missions didn't make sense and there wore more secret surrounding some of his coworkers than he could count. But the pay was good and all he had to do was play a virtual reality game. What could be the catch?

Hey all, Naintarlow here, and yes, again with a new story.

This time though there is a twist: it's not just a story that I wanted to write for a longtime, featuring guns, explosions and jokes but also our best boi Klein. What's even better? It's not just something I wrote for myself but instead it's a gift, part of a new event we thought out at SAO Fanfiction Central (shameless plug I know but /kxfhWW288 on discord if you want to join).

It's a Secret Santa Event (about how secret it is, ask Lenerk01 he had been going on a crusade about it) where those participating drew names to find out who they will write, draw or do anything creative as a gift and I was lucky enough that I got my fellow sage and good friend: Panzer.

So without further ado, my dear friend I wish you Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, fortune and lots of progress on writing in the new year. You will always be my favorite tank, and I hope this 'short' chapter is to your liking. I especially made sure to give guns ample descriptions just for you, hope you enjoy it and the rest of the story that will come later.
As for the rest of you, get ready for Klein to be his usual self, occasional badassery, lots of jokes and shameless copy pasting from various franchises not limited to but containing Mass Effect, Halo, Warframe, Star Wars and even a few little gimmicks and storylines from Red vs Blue.

Hope all of you will enjoy this, please leave reviews if you have questions or just tell me what you think of it, and keep an eye out because the rest of the group participating in the Secret Santa Event is going to post theirs soon. It will include authors like PanzerHippo, Lenerk01, flamelordytheking, schoolsenpai, Ilikewaffles037 and sortacats.

This will be my final posting this year, so everyone reading this, happy new years and hopefully 2022 will be a bit better than the last few ones.

-0-

A gift to my wonderful friend Panzer: Welcome to Project Freelancer part 1

"We do not write because it is easy, but because writing is hard"– Panzer circa 2021

-0-

"What do you mean you can't make it?" Andrew Gilbert Mills, known as Agil to a rather large group of people, found himself disbelievingly repeating the words he just heard, looking at his phone in pure shock.

He was in his pride and joy, the Dicey Cafe, currently making a few last-minute touches to the Christmas-themed decorations that were placed around the rather large dinner.

Christmas Eve was just right around the corner, the time where some of the workplaces let you off for a holiday, but just a day or two away from the actual holiday, the perfect time for a get-together of friends and old comrades. While at this time of this, this little bar would be full of customers, both regulars and a few that just found their way in but this time the closed sign greeted all of them, the place reserved for a rather special get-together.

The first and hopefully soon-to-be annual Christmas party for the Survivors of the Sword Art Online Incident. Specifically, a close-knit group centered around the two players most responsible for ending the nightmare and saving a bit more than six thousand people out of ten thousand.

Hence why he found himself shocked that one of their close friends, as well as the one who was most pumped up about the idea of a Christmas party, suddenly phoned and told him he couldn't make it to the party.

"Exactly what I said." Tsuboi Ryoutarou, known to many as Klein, leader of the guild fuurinkazan answered, sounding just a tad frustrated."I have a last-minute job that came in just now and I can't attend the party because it will be a while before I can finish."

"What sort of job?" Agil asked back with furrowed eyebrows. "Last I heard you had no job." he could almost hear his friend flinch through the phone, even if he had no intention of rubbing salt into the wound.

While SAO ended, the effects of it could be felt within all their lives, even now, more than a year later. Indeed, the two years of lying on the bed and the expected muscle atrophy aside, people looked differently at them. They had to go to various therapists, so the government can be sure that they are sound in mind. The media investigated and tracked down the more famous players among the player base, Asuna and Kirito in particular, and those who were close to them.

Worst of all, the world moved on while they were fighting in that floating castle and they had to catch up on two years of reality. It wasn't easy.

The teens had it a bit easier. They had their families to support and the government rather quickly put together a school for teenage SAO players, so they have a chance to catch up and become functioning members of society. Of course, it also served as a sort of concentration camp in case any of them turned out to be unhinged but it was not polite to talk about that.

Adults like him and Ryoutarou had it a bit worse. He was among the luckier ones, as his wife ran his cafe in his stead, so once he came back, he only had a little bit of trouble getting back into the swing of things. The bandana-wearing samurai on the other hand suffered much more.

Ryoutarou worked as an ordinary office worker before the SAO Launch. Not the most exciting career choices but he was paid well and had a stable position. Even after he became trapped he wasn't fired, a law the government made in the following months, to provide a sort of way to return to normal life if those players ever awakened. The company Ryoutarou was working at obeyed the law but as soon as the red-haired man woke up, he was fired before he could even understand what was going on.

His friend has had a rather bad time since then. Doing odd jobs, while also having to go through physical therapy was not easy, especially as he had no family or close relatives left, which meant he had to rely on what few friends he had left. Which was safe to say was not many. Waking up after SAO, having missed two whole years, physically and emotionally rather weak and practically jobless, many people were rather quick to show their true colors and turn the man away.

Not him or any of his old buddies from the virtual world though. He heard that he lived together with one of his guildmates after losing his place, while his other guildmates helped him find various jobs, though none of them turned out to be long-term. He and the rest of their group also chipped in when they could and eventually at least Ryoutarou was finally able to rent his own place, which was a rather big step to the virtual samurai.

"Way to kick a man in the nuts when he is already down." Ryoutarou laughed at the rather insensitive question, trying to make light of it but he was unable to hide the bitter tone it evoked in him. Which only made the barkeep feel worse about it.

"Hey man, I didn't mean to-" Andrew tried to apologize but his friend quickly cut him off, his bitterness already forgotten.

"Don't worry about it. I didn't tell you guys because it's not a stable job, at least for now. It's more like a freelance job, occasionally getting a request and if I do it quickly and perfectly, I get a nice fat paycheck. They started to hire me more and more regularly this last month which is why I dropped off the radar so to speak." he regaled him, his excitement coming through the phone call and Andrew couldn't help but smile.

He sounded more like the Klein he knew, that ridiculous, honest swordsman, trying to keep himself and his buddies alive in a world against them.

"And they called you now of all times?" Andrew couldn't help but ask, sounding a bit disbelieving. He was of course very happy for his friend, who was in a couple of rough spots in this last year, but this still sounded a bit sketchy.

"What can I say? It's a video game company, hence why they hired me since if nothing else I have a lot of experience with VR. They are also an American company, so I guess they aren't ones to really care about what time it is over here." Ryoutarou said with a chuckle and for once, the bartender was able to return it, his worries lessening. "I would love to join you, god knows I need a good party like a thirsty man needs water but this is big. There is talk that if this job goes well, they could hire me officially. No more freelancer stuff, I could have a stable income at last." he sounded positively giddy at the last part and his friend couldn't blame him.

"It's really great news. Still, it's a shame, you have to miss out on the whole party?"

"Sorry, as I said it was a last-minute job. Maybe if I can finish it fast enough, I can swing by the latter half but I make no promises. And please tell Kazuto, with the pay from this latest gig, I should be able to pay back what I owe him." Ryoutarou told him, laughing a bit sheepishly towards the end.

Yeah, a grown man getting financial help from a teenager could be a low blow to anyone's pride. Even though Kazuto had plenty of money from the side-jobs he had been doing for the Virtual Division, it still stung when he had to ask for help when he started to try and stand up on his own again.

"You know him as well as I do. That is the last thing that's on his mind." Andrew answered, knowing that the black-haired teenager certainly wasn't missing the amount he lent to his friend."Still, work is work, I understand. The others would be a bit bummed but it can't be helped."

"Sorry, once again. I will try to join in later. Take care Agil."

"You too, Klein. You too. And good luck."

-0-

Klein stared forward, lost in thought as he finished his phone call with Agil, not bothered by the constant rocking around him. Eventually, he raised his hand in front of his face, marveling how the armor flexed around it as he pulled into a fist, the material not feeling any different from the real deal.

After all, in a sense, it wasn't real at all. Only virtual representation of a bunch of data.

"VR technology is truly incredible. Despite being inside the game, I can talk with anyone without any problems or lag at all." he muttered to himself a bit giddy at the rather recent feature put into most of the Seed games.

"Quit your daydreaming Rookie, we are almost at the LZ." a rough, emotionless voice called out to him, causing Klein to make a face as he lowered his hand and looked around.

He was inside a metallic room, or rather inside some kind of vehicle judging by the constant rocking and the sound of engines around him. The area was rather large with two long lines of seats put at the two longest walls, facing each other, roughly a foot or two between them. To his left was nothing but a rather large hatch that was currently closed while his right led into possibly the cockpit.

There were two other people with him, both of them sitting on the row opposite to him, while a third figure just stepped in.

He looked rather spectacular. He was a rather large and wide figure, easily towering over Klein with a rather intimidating air. His armor wasn't bulky, rather it was fitted to his frame perfectly, yet all it achieved was showcasing his large body perfectly. It had a black and red color scheme, with the armor on his arms, chest, and leg imitating the looks of muscles, looking more like a skin-tight suit than a suit of armor.

His face was hidden by a plain-looking black facemask that had a single red line as a visor and left the top of his head open, allowing shaggy, shoulder-length black hair to pool to the side. On his back, he was wearing some massive metal plate that eerily reminded Klein of the large shield Heathcliff used to carry around. Which was kind of crazy since that game was supposed to be a shooter and really against most forms of close-combat.

He also had a large sniper rifle on him that looked like an anti-material rifle but Klein was not sure since he hadn't had a chance to observe it from up close. Nor was he a gun nut who could recognize a gun's model, make, and even its added modifications with a glance like certain people he knew.

Safe to say if they met in a dark alley after midnight, he wouldn't really hesitate screaming like a little girl from the fright it would give it to him. Which was made even funnier by the rather passive and lackluster personality they saw from the man so far.

"Don't mind him, sir. He was just off the phone talking to his nonexistent girlfriend so she could stop worrying about him." a somewhat younger-sounding female voice joined the conversation, amused at her own joke."Or maybe it is a boyfriend? With that face, I honestly have no idea which direction you are leaning."

The speaker was a woman who appeared a few years younger than him, barely out of her teens, sitting directly opposite Klein. Not much could be said about her since her appearance was mostly hidden behind her equipment.

She was a bit taller than Klein, wearing thin yet durable-looking armor, colored dark blue, almost black and a few neon-blue accents, basically demanding people to pay attention to her. Though it looked less sophisticated than the apparent boss' armor, it still managed to account for a rather generous bust and toned legs. She also had a hood on her head that hid most of it, paired with a face mask that covered up to her nose, only leaving a pair of highly amused yellow eyes to stare out. The hood and facemask also had those same glowing blue lines, though less muted probably to not blind her accidentally.

All in all, Klein was not sure if she was meant to be an assassin who kills you without you even noticing, with a whole mysterious air where everyone knows they did it but they can't prove anything, or some messed-up, horny teen's daydream.

Strapped to her thighs were a pair of rather futuristic-looking guns with similar blue lines adorning them. If nothing else, she was really consistent with her theme, even if it turned out to be a slight eyesore. She also had another weapon slung over her shoulders but with the low lighting around, and her position, it was hard to tell what kind of weapon it was exactly.

"Well at least people won't run away screaming when I approach, unlike with a certain somebody, Sister." he shot back good-naturedly, rolling his eyes with a sardonic smile, used to the banter.

Sister's face mask stretched as her smile widened, though the red-haired man also didn't miss one of her hands reaching down to one of her guns. Thankfully their soon-to-be violent banter was cut off as the large man stepped between them, his impressive and intimidating physique stopping both of them in their tracks.

Not to mention that both of them were perfectly aware that even with teaming up, they had little chance against the man.

"Cut the chatter, Sister, Rookie. Mission briefing starts now, once we are on the ground, there will be no more chances to go over the plan." he told them rather gruffly then continued toward the middle of the hull, where a holographic screen appeared out of nowhere and he began manipulating it.

Klein and Sister looked at each other, privately agreeing to drop the issue for now, and stood up and walked behind their boss, while the last member of their little group trailed behind him.

"I actually have a rather important question. Why am I still being called Rookie? It should be the new guy's name, isn't it?" he asked with a grin on his face while pointing to the rather timid-looking, armored, and armed guy behind him.

The guy wore rather thin armor that looked like straight rip-off standard stormtrooper armor from Star Wars. Even his helmet matched the style to a T as if the devs didn't even try to make it look a bit different from the source material.

What made the guy look even stranger was that the whole armor was pink. Not to mention he was rather short and had a lean build, looking clumsy and uncertain as he moved in his armor, yet in his hands, he held a heavy gun that was almost larger than him. And judging by how he was confidently holding it in one hand, he knew a thing or two about how to use it.

To this day Klein was not sure if the guy was actually competent or just good at faking it.

"Hi, I'm Donut." he replied with a shy wave as he noticed them looking at him before shuffling in place, feeéomg a bit uncertain.

Shrugging to himself Klein turned back to the leader of their little pack, his mouth opening to defend his point but he soon found the words stuck in his throat as he was met with a soulless, unamused stare from behind the red visor.

There were not a lot of things Klein could admit that he was scared of. He survived two years in the death game called SAO, faced various monsters and bosses and very few could still make him shiver with their very memory, the 75th boss being one such exception. But that stare? That terrified him on a whole other level.

He couldn't even move a muscle, feeling as if he was just a step away from a fate worse than death. Thankfully Sister came to his rescue, as strange as it was.

"What Rookie means is," she spoke up, sending a rather heavy punch to Klein's shoulder that almost had the surprised man drop to the floor. "that we are done with the last weapons check. We are ready for the briefing, Agent Manaan, Sir," she added a respectful nod to that as she adopted a rather formal military stance.

Manaan only grunted in answer, turning away and allowing Klein to let out a relieved breath, while desperately wishing for his knees not to buckle on him. He faced even Kirito in mock-combat before and while that black-haired femboy was something else to deal with, even his intensity paled to Manaan and his silent, soul-wrenching stares.

The agent gestured with his hand to gather around and Donut was the first to move, moving past the two of them, while he and Sister shared one last look together.

"You owe me one for that, Rookie," she whispered in definite amusement as she sauntered forward and Klein was sure that he didn't imagine the exaggerated sways of her hip.

Rolling his eyes to himself, he grabbed his helmet that was lying nearby and raised it to his head, for one moment marveling at it. It was a bulky helmet with a muted red color, a large orange visor taking the whole face part, all in all, looking like a big, exaggerated, and armored biker helmet. And from the reflection of the visor, a red-haired man looked back with a slight stumble on his chin, a remarkably close match to his IRL looks.

"Once more into the breach, I guess." he murmured with a sardonic smirk as he put on the helmet, making sure that it was properly sealed before joining the rest.

-0-

The majority of GGO was a post-apocalyptic wasteland, with ruins of ancient civilizations and humanity's futile attempts to tame this doomed world. The only habitable places were the giant ship-turned cities, where the majority of players converged, traded, and resupplied before taking on this harsh, unforgiving world once again.

With the currently available expansions and accessible lands, there were five such megalopolises. SBC Glocken was the largest of the spaceships and capital city of GGO as well, placed mostly on the center of the whole map. SBC Akihabara that lay in the East, was home to various exotic materials and weapons and was sort of a requirement for every GGO player to at least once venture there and leave behind a hefty fortune. SBC Korriban, to the South, a place infested by the nastiest and most challenging monsters as well as even deadlier but bountiful ruins. SBC Illium, to the West, the real heart of trade in GGO, where you can buy anything as long as you had credits to back it up or something that was also worth a lot of credits. And finally, up north laid SBC Corpus, amidst snowy mountains and constant blizzards.

Corpus was the heart of the corporations so to speak in this world, not that they had hearts, to begin with. The city was rather isolated and challenging to approach, where almost no players resided permanently, save for some really hardcore mercenaries. According to in-game lore, Corpus was the last haven of the surviving mega-corporations who hid behind fifty times reinforced steel walls and a large army of robots, while they sent out their agents, trying in vain to regain their dwindling power and fortune from the hands of the various scavengers, mercenaries, and rival companies.

There were a few other, smaller settlements scattered around but none could boast more than a population of five thousand, or anything remotely interesting and profitable, save for a quest or two.

A small troop carrier, its design sleek and compact, flew through the frozen wasteland, keeping low to avoid being detected by radar or even by sight, the blazing snowstorm around it helping it remain hidden.

Underneath, buried within the snow, a small complex could be seen in the shadows of the surrounding mountains. It was a rather ancient-looking and outdated radio tower, a faint red light blinking from its top. Despite it all, it still stood proudly, as if defying the laws of nature with its very existence. Around it, three small bunkers stood in a triangle formation, rusted and barely visible roads connecting them.

"We are heading to a hidden base, to the west of Corpus. It's not on any official map, and usually, it would be a restricted zone where the Corpus droid army would shoot you without hesitation, it was designed suicide even for high-level players to even approach. This one is an exception." Manaan explained with his normal monotone voice."The base consists of an old-model radio tower and three rather small underground bunkers. Outside there are no turrets or sensors posted because the constant snowstorms make them unusable and completely pointless. Our approach will be unnoticed until you try to enter the bunkers themselves."

"So not an impenetrable fortress but more like an unapproachable fortress where your balls will freeze off before doing anything. Lovely." Sister commented, chuckling at the winces Klei and Donut sent her. Manaan for once didn't reprimand her."What about the more active defenses?"

A pair of soldiers exited one of the bunkers, their snow-white colored armor making them completely blend into their surroundings. Their light blue visors swirled around as they took in the scenery then began to slowly trek toward the radio tower, their alertness soon going away by the sheer cold and boredom around them.

"Another day in the cold, another day where my fingers could fall off due to frostbite. How wonderful," one of them spoke up, clutching his rifle close to his chest as if hoping it would give some additional warmth. Due to the cold, his voice came out full of static through the communication channel between them."Tell me, why is it that they don't send those stupid drones to do this, instead of us?"

"Because the cold messes with their circuits and within a minute they become a non-operational waste of space," the other offered in a rather bored tone, they probably had this very same conversation countless times, judging by how quickly he answered."Cheer up, Jenkins, it could always be worse."

"How, may I ask, could this be worse?" his skeptical partner asked back as they reached the tower.

Neither of them noticed a large figure stepping out of the obscuring storm just behind them. It then approached the two guards who didn't even hear its footsteps due to the howling winds and their own distraction.

"Each of the bunkers has a large assortment of heavy turrets, other automatic defenses, at least two squads worth of combat mechs as well as an unknown number of human mercenaries and technicians. Their armaments are unknown but it's best to assume they have the newest upgrades available to them, so approach with caution." Manaan continued his exclamation without even bothering to pay attention to the byplay between his charges as he showed the blueprints of the bunkers on the holographic display."Due to the cold and the unreliable supply lines to Corpus, as far as we know, their weaponry is largely plasma and ion-charge based instead of live ammunition to be able to keep a larger supply on hand."

" Plasma-based?" Donut cried out a bit fearfully, clutching his weapon to his chest as he fidgeted around."They could eat through our armors with a single shot."

"Donut calm down. Our armors are a bit better than just about anything you can get on the market. A single plasma round won't be enough to take it out. A magazine on the other hand..." Klein trailed off with a smirk, scaring Donut further before turning back to the display with a frown. "Though I have no idea how they were able to put so much weaponry into a small bunker like that. It sure sounds like a tight fit." he commented, eying it with a speculative glint in his eyes.

"Not like you know anything about that, right Rookie?" Sister joked with a leer, causing Klein to protest indignantly and Manaan to simply sigh at their attitudes, already regretting accepting that job.

"We could be attacked for one," the guard joked as they stopped next to a large control panel that came to life after a little struggle."At least we only have to be worried about freezing or assess off instead of bullets raining down on us."

"Oh please. Who would be insane enough to attack this place, hidden in the middle of nowhere, east of nothingness, just in the neighborhood of ice, ice, and fucking ice? It's not like anyone can just stumble on us in the middle of this snowstorm," his partner commented, snorting in himself though he didn't sound happy at all. "Next you are gonna tell me, some sort of super-soldier is standing behind me, ready to knock me out."

"About that," a third, unknown voice came from behind the surprised guard who very slowly turned back, finding himself staring into an orange visor, his own reflection staring back from it. Instinctively the guard gulped as he looked at the person standing in front of him.

The figure was a little taller than them, wearing a bulky set of bright red armor. It was large and looked like it was cut out from massive blocks rather than resembling anything designed with the human body and frame in mind, with a large metal hood covering the back part of the helmet. It also didn't offer complete protection, without almost any armor at the joints, and judging from the stiff way the newcomer stood, it wasn't the most comfortable either.

Yes, it was crude, but apparently was also enough to get the job done. With one look, it was obvious that the material it was made of was really high quality and the raging snowstorm around them barely seemed to faze him while the guards were already trembling from the cold.

This armor wasn't made to look nice in some museum or just get that epic feel when caught on the camera, it was something that anyone could picture a random shock trooper to wear in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi setting, which was this game's whole theme. It wasn't anything special but it was still something that woke up a primal fear in those poor guards.

"Holy shit-" the guards cried out as they feebly tried to bring up their guns but they were too late. Both of them felt the figure grab their helmets before the two were knocked into each other with such strength that they instantly lost consciousness.

Klein grinned goodnaturedly at a job well done as he stepped over the two knocked-out guards, and looked around, confirming there were no other guards.

"Did you need to be so needlessly flashy?" Sister's voice drawled on his communicator and he simply turned around, catching her body to become visible once again as she crouched down at the radio terminal and started tinkering with it. Klein may or may not have looked shamelessly at her rather tight rear.

"Hey I looked badass. You cannot argue against that." Klein, or 'Rookie' as his codename assigned to the mission retorted back with a grin as Donut walked up to them, almost slipping on a rather big patch of ice.

"I don't know anything about you being badass. All I saw was your eyes transfixed on my ass." she said with obvious mirth, it only increasing when Donut who was listening in, audibly choked on air.

Anyone else hearing them banter might have been scandalized, embarrassed, or just plain confused but that's how the two of them rolled. They were on a few similar missions together and gathered quite a rapport with each other, easily slipping between teasing and nibbling each other and watching the other's six in the middle of a fight.

"That's a compliment, you know? Means your ass is worth looking at." Rookie answered before he leaned down and grabbed the leg of one of the guards and started to drag them to the side."Come on Donut, give me a hand while Miss Tight Ass gets the alarm sorted."

"That's Ma'am Tight Ass to you."

"Coming." coughing in embarrassment, the pink-armored soldier grabbed the other one by his arms and began to pull him to the side. Eventually, they dumped the two guards into the snowy ground, their bodies moment later disappearing from sight due to the snowstorm burying them in record time.

"I'm guessing we need to hit all three bunkers?" Klein's voice wondered as the holographic display zeroed in the blueprint of one of the bunkers. Its structure was rather basic, with only two floors, wide rooms considering its size, and tight corridors. "With their defenses shored up, it will not be a quick smash and grab, even with three of us working together."

"You will not go together, each of you will hit a bunker by yourself." Manaan corrected him, much to the red-haired man's surprise."First, you need to disable the radio tower to shut off any alarms inside, prevent the bases from connecting each other, or even try to send for help from Corpus. Our objective is a computer program that has been separated into three different programs, each of them on a chip secured in one of those bunkers. You need to hit them simultaneously because if you dally too long, the defensive forces might just decide to destroy the chip to keep it from enemy hands. If even one of those chips gets damaged or destroyed the whole mission is a failure, it will be worthless to us. Understood?" he asked in a severe tone that brokered no argument.

"Sir, yes, sir." all of them answered reflexively, even throwing themselves into a somewhat presentable looking stance of attention, for once all of them forgoing their usual antics.

"Alright then. ETA is in ten minutes, the armory is still open so check your weapons and make any modifications that you feel are necessary. I don't have to say that failure is not an option." he looked over them, not even the slightest hint of emotion showing behind that red visor."One more thing..."

"If you are finished ogling me, the alarms are disabled." Sister commented amusedly as she straightened out. The radio showed no real change but Klein knew better than to doubt Sister's word when they were in the field.

The three of them gathered at the foot of the tower, looking at each other silently. Donut was fidgeting nervously, Sister seemed to be shaking in anticipation, and Klein, for once remained completely still and aloof.

"This is it," he spoke up silently, aware that Agent Manaan and who knows who else was listening to their communications. "Time to hit the bases." the other two simply nodded in response, Donut's grip on his weapon tightening.

"Don't expect me to bail you out if you get in over your heads," Sister said, and Klein didn't have trouble imagining the bloodthirstiness that might be behind her face-mask."It's time to hunt and I don't plan on showing mercy."

Donut simply nodded without a word, not even sparing Klein a glance, turned around, and went toward one of the entrances, his shoulders slumped and his uncertainty came through clearly even if he was wearing bulky, full-body armor. Snorting to herself, Sister also turned away ready to leave because Klein called out to her.

"What do you want? I don't have any spare ammo on me," as usual Sister answered jokingly, even if she really looked like she wanted to get going and kill things.

"And I don't need any," he retorted before falling silent, looking at the side in thought. A moment later he looked up, his faceless visor meeting her amused eyes."Just...watch your back okay? Cliché as it might sound, I have a bad feeling about this."

He didn't expect her to take him seriously, knowing how stupid he sounded. That's why he was not surprised when she simply snorted and turned away from him.

"Chill out, will you? You sound as if it was a matter of life and death," Sister laughed without any restraint as she left him behind, stalking toward her own target.

"Yeah." he muttered as he also turned away, his right hand grabbing into his sidearm on his hip.

As he gripped its handle, it felt real to him, had a weight to it, and more than that, if he fired it, he felt the recoil. Yet it wasn't. It was a game. It was not that world.

The rules had changed, even the world itself, yet even now, he still felt like he was back there. In the floating castle with one hundred floors to beat through, where death meant death in the most literal sense, a world which reforged them to something else, something more or maybe less in some cases.

He should have known the difference, but to him, this world felt just as real as that one, and naturally, to him death here meant the exact same thing. Yet, instead of that scaring him, he came back more and more, craving the adrenaline and that feeling of beating impossible odds.

"Rookie here. Approaching bunker 3." he said quietly to his communicator as he approached his own target, knowing Agent Manaan heard him loud and clear. From that point on, he would be alone with no help coming. Not like he needed it.

"This time I will not participate in the mission but remain here and simply observe your progress," Manaan explained with a perfect straight pace, prompting three of them to look at each other in confusion.

As far as they know, thus far every mission they participated in was overseen and led by one of those 'agents' their employee provided. It was highly unusual and not just a little worrying since those Agents were most of the time in a world of their own when it came to their skills.

"Why is that? Sir?" Sister asked with uncertainty, her tone taking on a much more polite tone. In response, Manaan didn't answer at first but crossed his arms, seemingly deep in thought.

"I will handle coordination and contact between the three of you but there is more to it than that. I will be evaluating each of you through your performance, as well as a couple of other Agents and other members of the agency, thanks to the footage provided by your armor cams." Almost on reflex Klein tried to look down at the small camera placed between his right shoulder and neck but of course, he couldn't see the small gadget that was usually used to stream your games to others through various websites."Each of you has proven yourself and your exemplary skills multiple times and it hasn't gone unnoticed. This time, the mission is much harder than ever before and your actions are left to your own judgment. So if you are successful and those evaluating you find your performance satisfactory, you could get an invitation to the Agency and its Project regarding GGO." he explained.

"Are you serious?" Klein found himself asking it in disbelief and it was not a dissimilar reaction to his companions if a bit louder.

The missions they did for the company that in-game went mostly by the alias the Agency, were usually called on short notice and there was no way of knowing if they were gonna employ you next time or never call you on again. Joining them officially as an Agent like Manaan, not only meant a more stable job and pay for essentially playing a video game but also access to more high-level gear that for an unknown reason was exclusive to them. Some of them easily broke the balance of the game normally, though they were needed for these special missions of theirs a lot. Shortly, becoming an official Agent was a huge step forward and came with lots of advantages

"I am serious." it was not needed but for some reason, Manaan decided to elaborate for once."The roster of the Agent has a fixed number, fifty exactly but recently we lost one of them for personal reasons. The Agency seeks to fill the hole as fast as possible and from the recent freelancers we have worked with, files of you three were the most promising. That's why you've got this chance now."

"So does that mean only one of us has a chance of making the cut?" Sister started with a thoughtful voice and if Klein knew her well enough, her competitive spirit was already awakened by these simple sentences.

"One or none at all." the rather big-looking man was quick to correct her with a stern glare behind his mask. "Your progress will be judged individually, don't even think about sabotaging your fellows because I guarantee only failure and humiliation awaits you on that route. Either you can impress the higher-ups or not. This is your first and only chance."

"I mean...isn't that a bit sudden?" Donut asked a bit of uncertainty, visibly shrinking back when Manaan's glare turned to him.

Klein held a rare frown on his face but eventually, he let out a soft laugh that garnered his comrades' attention. With him being the new recipient of the monotone gaze of death (trademark pending), Donut managed to slightly relax and Sister also laughed more at his situation than spent trying to scheme anything bizarre or doomed to fail. He bore it with an easy grin that belied the slight nervousness he felt inside.

"So...what are we waiting for?"

Power armors could be ridiculously broken with the right setups. Not only did they offer a degree of protection that allowed its user to essentially walk through a wall of normal bullets, some even had shield generators built into them, servos to accomplish superhuman feats of strength and speed as well a more advanced hud that made keeping track of ammo, enemies and various other things almost too easy. Even standing out in this below thirty degrees weather was barely noticeable to him, despite his armor developing frost in various places. And he was very much aware that compared to what the 'official' Agents had access to, his own armor, put together with hard-earned money, was nothing more than a moving trash bin.

Still, he loved every minute of this job and that just made him more determined to be successful and get a permanent place amongst them.

His grip tightened around the comfortable grip of his weapon as he stopped in front of the bunker's entrance. It was rather small, though not surprising since most of the complex was underground. According to the blueprints, there were no cameras outside, though he checked it anyway. Better safe than sorry.

That was it, Klein thought with a hint of nervousness. Everything, his future prospects as someone forever branded by the stigma of SAO, his chances of exploring this chaotic, gun-filled world, all of that hinged on how he performed here and now.

So no pressure, he got this. He got this, right?

On second thought it might be better to do one last weapons check. Just to be safe.

He checked the rather sleek-looking weapon in his hands. It had a brown and silver color scheme and it couldn't be denied that instead of a real weapon it was based on a sci-fi one, with the barrel resembling a spine of all things. Its name was the Boltor Assault Rifle, a weapon copy-pasted from the MMO Warframe, that was quite popular a few years ago, yet lost a lot of its player base with the rise of VR.

It was a rather special and hard-to-use weapon because it had the characteristic of firing bolt projectiles instead of conventional bullets. It required the user to take into account projectile travel time while aiming at targets, as well as the projectile drift, which was a bit different mechanic than with most guns, hence why it was disliked by 'the point and shoot' type of players. It took Klein a lot of time to effectively master the weapon but after that? It became one of his go-to weapons if the situation allowed for it.

It dealt puncture damage mainly, which made it effective against most physical armors, had a larger than average magazine, and best of all, it was useful for crowd control, the fired bolts sending the enemies stumbling into each other.

It was useful and as someone who spent a lot of time and a bit of money on Warframe in its golden days, it was like a dream come true. If only he could do those very same crazy acrobatics as the tenno did in the game, everything would have been perfect.

Oh well, he would have to do with simply running through his enemies for now.

At his sides were two pistols, another lucky treat to a nerd who grew up on sci-fi games and shows. The two blasters were rather small, at least compared to the punch they carried. Its build resembled a large rectangular cuboid, with the upper side toward the handle sawed off slightly, giving it a sleeker look. Both of them also had been painted black with a single red line horizontally finishing the look.

It was none other than the rather popular DC-17 handheld blaster, straight from the Clone Wars series and though not as iconic as the E-11 blaster rifle or anything similar, it got the job done. Plus with him having two and having taken a lot of time to train himself to dual wield them, he can feel like he was Captain Rex in the middle of the Clone Wars. A true weeb could never ask for more.

Aside from various ammo packs strapped to his belt, he had a couple of grenades, performance-enhancing stims for emergencies, and healing fluid injections on him in case he had bitten more than he could chew. But the real treat and star of the show rested on the lower half of his back.

It looked like an inverted M32 MGL with the round magazine placed on top of the gun instead of under it. It also had two barrels, a large barrel on top, directly connected to the magazine, and a small one right under it. Just above the grip, there was a faded, barely visible N7 insignia. It was also a bit more compact than the real-life weapon it resembled.

It came as a big surprise to those who recognized the design that it was not a grenade launcher but a shotgun, precisely the N7 Piranha. Designed to produce a very fast rate of fire, a large spread of pellets as well a devastating amount of damage. It was a strictly close-range weapon, but in that range, it was virtually unstoppable.

It was made to essentially tear through hordes of space zombies with ease, with its rather large magazine paired with the rapid-fire. It had also surprisingly small recoil, it didn't mess at all with the aiming. It was a perfect weapon for close-range and one of Klein's favorites so far.

Too bad it ate through ammo faster than Kirito went through swords. That guy was merciless on his weapons if he got into the grind mindset.

And he was clearly and undoubtedly stalling.

Shaking his head, Klein's grip on his weapon tightened as he let out a sharp breath. He shouldn't be nervous. He was way more experienced to let something like this get in his way, yet for all his boasting, all the fighting he went through at this point, he couldn't help it.

He wasn't like Kirito, who could easily switch between mindsets. That guy could be a total monster, even obsessive at times, the way he threw himself into the fight. And as much as loved to think he was his equal, Klein wasn't able to take the plunge as easily as that.

"Okay, Rookie, you can do this." he began to talk to himself, trying to hype himself up."I faced similar challenges numerous times, both here and back then. I stared down entire firing squads, lizardmen and various skeleton warriors, large, 3-meter tall wolves with rock-hard skin, and even a fucking skull reaper. I got this, right? Of course, I got this," he continued to mutter to himself as he felt himself slowly calm down and assess the situation more rationally.

He had much better and advanced gear than almost any other time, he was way more experienced than the first time he faced an angry boar with nothing but a curved sword. In this world he was no longer Ryoutarou, the ordinary salesman who was barely sustaining himself, he was Klein veteran of the floating world Aincrad, and Rookie, a freelancer player who survived countless fights most wouldn't have.

Successfully hyped up and brimming with confidence he made to step forward and storm the bunker when suddenly his communicator in his helmet came to life.

"Don't want to ruin your parade Rookie but you know that we can hear you, right?" Sister spoke up, obviously having trouble holding back her laughter.

Klein was thankful for the freezing cold around him and the helmet on his face as he was sure his face was steaming and beet red at the moment. Apparently, he forgot to turn off his communicator in the middle of his self-motivation speech.

"Of course I knew that," he replied, coughing uncomfortably as the woman's laughter only intensified."Who do you take me for? I just made that speech to make Donut feel better, you know? The guy was clearly nervous when we parted."

"I'm," Donut spoke up, only for his voice to immediately turn into a snicker. Klein felt his heart fall at that. "I'm good." he then let out a rather loud laugh before his communicator was cut off.

"Cut the chatter. Concentrate on your work," for once Klein was immediately thankful for Manaan's rather emotionless disposition, practically saving him from this whole situation.

The other two responded with muttered 'yes, sir's and with that the communication cut off, leaving Klein truly alone with his thoughts once again.

"Okay, let's do this. Seriously this time," he muttered to himself as he stepped to the door of the base and reached out a hand to activate its opening mechanism.

Only there was no such mechanism.

Stopping in his tracks, Klein stared at the place where usually a small pad rested, along with a red rectangle that would be used as a sort of sensor to indicate someone was trying to come in. Sometimes it also worked as an ID, fingertip, or even DNA scanner to confirm the identity of the one trying to use the door but he was prepared for that. On his wrist was a rather thick bracelet that worked as a high-tech hacking device, particularly effective against Corpus' line of tech.

There was only one problem with that, there was no such thing on that door. Even more, on closer inspection, there seemed nothing to indicate an opening mechanism. No lever, no handle, or any electrical control. There wasn't even a knocker or even a camera or peephole to allow people to look outside. Just who designed this place?

"It can't be." he cried out as he fell to his knees, his beloved rifle falling from his hands into the snowy ground."There was nothing about this in the briefing. Nothing to prepare for this. My greatest challenge. The door."

He was acting rather dramatic but he was nonetheless right. If he couldn't figure out a way to open the door, there would be no chance for him to complete the objective, impress his judges, and be hired permanently by the Agency. Finally, it looked like his life was starting to turn upwards but in typical fashion, it seemed almost immediately he would fail spectacularly. Story of his life, honestly.

So frustrated was Klein by this sudden obstacle in his path that he started aimlessly banging his fist on the thick metal door, the metallic sound was soon lost in the blizzard around them, the howling winds doing their best to shout louder than it.

The red-haired former samurai would have been there all night long, banging his fist uselessly against the metal door, only it suddenly started to open up in a rather slow motion, snapping him out of his depression.

Scrambling to his feet, he watched in disbelief as the massive gate split in the middle and the parts began to move to the side, opening the way into the bunker. What confounded him, even more, was that the guard, wearing similar armor to those two he knocked out before, was waiting on the other side, clearly unarmed and holding a steaming cup in his hands, despite his helmet still on and having no way to drink from it.

There were times when Klein was a calm and logical individual, thinking through his plan of action carefully. This was not one of those times.

"What is it, Jenkins? Don't tell me you forgot your communicator aga...in..." he trailed off uncertainty as he stopped on his tracks, the cup slipping from his hands and landing on the ground with a loud crash.

Bewildered, he looked down where a bright orange, super-heated piece of metal was sticking out of the middle of his chest, then back at Klein whose arm was encased in a glowing orange gauntlet, looking just as bewildered as the guard.

The Omni-tool was a small computer placed on his wrist that was useful for a variety of functions, such as hacking, analyzing, decrypting. It also had a small mini-fabricator inside it, which allowed him to field-repair his equipment or if he was stuck in melee range, create a short, transparent, diamond-hard, and scorching hot blade called the Omni-blade.

It was a reward from one of his previous missions for the Agency, and boy was it worth a lot. It seriously saved him a ton of times, especially since he knew nothing about actual hacking, both in-game or outside, its variety of functions made it an essential part of his equipment. But at this moment, it was not that important, come to think of it. There was still a dying guard on his blade.

"So...nice weather, right?" he asked, with a forced grin trying to ignore the awkwardness of him currently inside the guy's stomach. A moment later winced as the innuendo in his thoughts reached him.

"Who the heck...starts a conversation like that after stabbing someone in the gut?" the dying guard asked in disbelief, trying to grab onto his killer but his arms failed him.

The next moment he collapsed to the ground as the blade disappeared, Klein finally remembering to deactivate his Omni-blade. He then looked down at the drowned guard, feeling a bit guilty despite them being enemies and would have probably ended up killing him anyway. After all, that's not what he planned to do.

"Sorry, didn't mean to. It was just a sort of reflex." he apologized but the guard didn't seem to pay attention to him.

"Come and be a corporate guard, Geoff, nothing wrong would happen, they said. The pay is good, you don't have to do much and no one ever tries to attack us, they said." the guard was lying face first in a quite unnatural position, his words coming out a bit muffled."I should have listened to my mother and become a kindergarten teacher."

At this point, Klein started to feel even worse about the slip-up, the emotional story of an NPC bringing tears to his eyes. Intellectually he knew it was just a bunch of programs but two years in Aincrad forever changed how he looked at non-player characters.

"Herk...bleagh!" with those famous last words, the guard died before he could offer any assistance or even parting words.

It left Klein standing stupidly at the open entrance of the bunker and a cooling corpse at his feet. And time was still ticking.

"Okay, let's try this again, without making a fool of myself this time," he muttered to himself as he picked up the rifle he dropped in surprise, gingerly stepping over the dead guard."I really hope no one caught it."

With that he advanced into the bunker, conveniently forgetting about the existence of his armor camera, for better or for worse.

-0-

In a darkened room far away from that stormy base, a group of individuals gathered, all of their faces and most of their physical characteristics hidden inside the shadows. Most were sitting, some leaning on the walls or even some of the pillars.

In the center of the room, the only place visible, stood a large holographic display, its screen separated into three sections, each of them displaying the footage of one of the Recruit candidates' armor cams.

Most of the gathered people paid close attention to it, though there were a few notable exceptions with one even going as far as sleeping in their chair. Others simply turned their attention to a holographic screen of their own opened in front of them or played around with what they had on hand.

Those who chose to pay attention had made various expressions as they just witnessed Rookie's little blunder.

"What's this, a goddamn comedy show?" a particularly large member let out a laugh that shook their entire frame, slapping his chair very loudly."If his opponents won't die by bullets, they will surely die of laughter if this guy keeps it up."

"What is that idiot doing? Does he think this whole thing is a joke?" another figure, this one much lankier, spoke up with clear distaste in his rather high voice."It's a disgrace that a fool like that was even nominated."

"And you would be a fool to underestimate him." this time a harsh, female voice answered, shutting up the speaker."He may have quirks but regardless, he got this far. It would be the height of idiocy to rule him out so soon."

"I don't know about your fascination with that guy. I, for one, am looking forward much more to the performance of our female specimen." a rather old and creepy voice spoke up from the farthest corner, letting out a loud, wheezing laugh.

"Shut up, creep! No one asked for your opinion." one of the figures replied rather heatedly.

"As if the opinions of uncultured baboons are any better." the old one shouted back with equal heat."At least learn to appreciate the fine art of the human body first."

That sparked an intense argument that soon grew into the various participants shouting at each other, completely drowning out everything and everyone. Probably the only reason stopping them from starting to shoot was that all of them were unarmed.

A moment later all of them stopped in their tracks, some in the middle of shouting as a rather sharp laugh rang through the room, and a lone figure stepped into the edge of the lighted up part of the room.

She was female, rather tall and from the contours of her body, rather fit with sharp features. The only defining feature that could be seen on her was the hint of tattoos on her cheeks, barely visible because of the lighting and their pale, brick-like color.

The others watched her with slight wariness, though not all of them were as intimidated by her, that they couldn't voice low complaints and grunts at her, basically cutting right through their argument.

"Well if those guys are at least as competent as they are amusing, then they would already be better than a lot of you," she spoke up arrogantly, grin only widening when no one challenged her word directly, before turning toward the most silent corner of the room."Instead of arguing like little children, you should try to get a bit better before you inevitably fall off the leaderboard. Isn't that right, Hecate?"

A pair of cyan-colored eyes opened up lazily, showing nothing but disinterest at the question aimed at them. The woman's smirk slowly died down as the one she addressed continued to stare at her, her eyes deadly calm and giving out a subtle presence that had all the occupants of the room silent and unmoving. All of them were clearly aware of who was the top dog.

"What, nothing to say, little miss perfect?" she growled with hostility but the one she addressed didn't react in any way. To add insult to injury, she even closed her eyes a moment later.

The woman snarled and made to step forward but was cut off almost immediately by a voice coming from a speaker above them.

"That's enough, Agent Korriban." It was an older, harsh voice that spoke up with authority and even the rebellious-looking Korriban shot up instantly."Take your seat and pay close attention, the candidates' evaluation is starting."

Obediently all the figures in the room stopped playing around, every one of them took their seat and turned their attention to the screen but not before Korriban sent a rather heated glance to the one addressed as Hecate, who ignored her all the same.

Yet in the end, it didn't matter. The real fun was just about to start.

-0-

This is the end of the chapter. I know I left it on a cliffhanger but the original chapter turned out too long and with the deadline approaching, decided to cut it in two. Not to worry guys, until I can get around finished chapter 2, here is a bit of a treat for you:

Preview for the next chapter:

"That wasn't in the plan. What are you doing, Donut?"

"It's you or me. And I don't plan on losing."

"It's over, Sister. I have the high ground."

"That was the worst throw ever...of all time."

-0-

"This is the end of the line, mercenary." a soldier cockily declared as he pulled out a photon sword and pointed straight at the approaching Klein who remained unimpressed.

"Really dude? A discount lightsaber? Your funeral." he shrugged simply as he pulled out his N7 Piranha, the shotgun unfolding in his hand. "Just advice though. A shotgun pellet is a bit harder to block than a single shot." and with that, he pulled the trigger and the Piranha came to life in his hands.