3/12/2024

Gotham City

"This has got to be one of the stupidest things I have ever heard of in my entire life." A man said to his friend as both of them were within a homemade technological lab.

The man leaning against the wall dressed in green military fatigues with black boots and green cap on his head is Levi Maxson. Levi is twenty-four with black hair tucked under his hat, brown eyes with an athletic frame and fair skin while his friend sitting across from him at his workbench is Eddy Skeeves.

Eddy is pencil thin with pale skin and is bald with black eyes and is dressed in a simple lab coat over a black shirt and jeans.

"What I have is the future. A revolution in virtual reality; the next step in not only gaming but the next step in humanity creating a new world for itself inside of a virtual world of limitless potential." Eddy said while he was tinkering with a heavily modified virtual reality helmet and gloves.

Levi could look and tell that Eddy spent a long time on this project and that he clearly used scrap materials to create his 'advanced VR helmet setup' that he couldn't stop talking about over the phone.

"I can't help but wonder what kind of progress you could make if you had put this kind of effort into your job." Levi replied making Eddy scowl.

"I'm an independent business owner you jackass. Besides your going to be the first person to test out my masterpiece so act more grateful." Eddy said back while Levi rolled his eyes.

"And what makes you think I'm going to be a part of this non-sense?"

"Because you're my friend and I can pay you." Eddy said before reaching into his lab coat and taking out a stack of bills that he put on the table.

"Well, when you put it that way; I don't see a reason to refuse. Other than the fact that your inventions are always buggy as shit." Levi said back honestly. He wanted the money, but his friend's inventions have a history of not working properly.

"Relax. I'll have you know that the parts and power cell in this bad boy have been given to me by my wealthy benefactor and he assures me that the tech is top of the line."

"What benefactor? I thought you worked solo." Levi replied while Eddy rolled his eyes.

"It's a temporary thing. The guy didn't slip me anything illegal if that's what you're curious about. He just wants a cut of anything I make if this thing actually gets mass produced. Now, stop stalling and earn your paycheck." Eddy said back making Levi sigh before he removed his hat and let his friend set up the modified VR set to his head and hands as his head was covered by the helmet and its full-face visor while his hands where inside of the thick gloves that were augmented with Bluetooth to connect to the headset.

"What do I do?" Levi asked while Eddy made sure everything was set up properly.

"Use your right pointer finger to tap the right side of your head where the on and off button is. The game is built into the hardware and will start without a need to connect to a PC."

"Ok." Levi said back while he did as he was told and in front of him, he saw the visor light up with a virtual image of a fantasy setting. Along with several screens appearing in front of his face about the game as well as an age warning and a warning for people who react badly to flashing lights. "This actually isn't half bad." Levi admitted when he started to actually play the game and notice the sensations around him felt real and that his senses actually told him that he was inside of an actual castle. He could even smell the dust and moldy bread.

"That's thanks to the power cell and sensors that tune in perfectly to your body's five senses. Now, I'm still working on it so don't move around too much. I still need to figure out a way to fully link the bodies nervous system into the headset so it can be a truly immersive system like in the sword anime I watched." Eddy admitted while he started running test and both men were unaware of the shadowy figure flying above the large shed, they were inside of.

This figure is dressed in heavy metallic armor with rags covering the armor set and flowing in the breeze. His head is obscured by a blood red and black helmet much like the color of the armor and rags covering his body while his hands and feet were lined with metallic chains wrapping around his forearms and calves respectively.

"Time for the game to begin." The figure said before he raised his right hand and caused the weather above him to change and become cloudy and dark with thunder sounding off in the sky. Then in an explosive burst of sound, lightning struck his hand, and he was not only unphased, but he extended his other hand down to redirect the energy as the bolt of lightning traveled through his body and out of his left hand to the shed below him.

The lightning had not only hit the shed, but it had been magically enhanced by the mysterious figure and hit Levi dead on causing the headset to burst along with knocking Eddy back into the wall hard as both men crashed onto the floor with Levi getting the worst of the injuries.

"The dice has been cast and the players are hitting the board. So, let's see how you play the game." The figure said before he flew off into the distance through the storm clouds at inhuman speeds before anyone even knew he was there.

1

3/26/2024

Gotham City/General Hospital

Weaking up with the worst kind of headache was Levi who not only found himself inside of a hospital room, but he also saw a strange almost videogame like screen appearing in front of his eyes.

[You have woken up from your comma and have recovered 50% of your HP and MP!]

"What the hell?" Levi said weakly as he struggled to move his arm a bit as he tried to wave the screen away and noticed that it actually vanished when he did that. "Hallucinations aren't good." Levi said to himself before he noticed the door to the hospital room open.

Hayden Stien, Level: 13

Doctor

"Good, you're awake. I was just coming in to see if you'd wake up anytime soon. The name's Dr. Stien by the way." The doctor said to Levi who was unsure of what exactly was going on before the doctor calmly explained that Levi had not only survived being hit by lightning and having the VR headset and gloves explode on him, but he had also been in a comma for a long time now.

Levi was in a state of pure shock and confusion at what he heard before he looked down at his hands and noticed that the skin on his hands had been damaged and scared over. He touched his head and felt the bandages wrapped around his dome.

"This can't be happening." Levi said in disbelief before Hayden spoke up again.

"Confusion is perfectly natural. Just remember that you're in a safe place and that we are taking good care of one of our nation's soldiers." Hayden said before he left while Levi let out a heavy breath.

The doctor looked through his medical history and found out that he was in the US Army Reserve. Levi didn't hide it and he was proud to serve his country. But he at least wanted to have known about a random doctor snooping through his background. Levi didn't blame the doctor though and let the thought vanish from his mind before he looked over and saw flowers and cards on the small desk near his bed.

"I guess I got visitors." Levi said while he reached over painfully and grabbed one of the cards and saw that it came from his niece, stepsister and brother. They all signed the card and wished him well. In addition, they seemed to have kept visiting him while he was out cold which made Levi smile and relax a bit. "Thanks, little muffin." Levi said while looking at the heart that his niece drew on the card.

4/2/2024

Gotham City

"You really don't have to do this." Levi said to his brother who was helping him settle back into his own townhouse.

George Maxson, Level: 7

Loving Father/Car Salesman

"You know that I do. You're my little bro and it's my job to help you when your friend gets you put in the hospital." George said without any attempt to hide his anger at Eddy who got away from the accident with a few bruises and sprained muscles in his back.

"It was a sudden lightning storm that came out of nowhere George. Don't blame Eddy for the accident, also were twins, just because your one minute older than me doesn't mean much." Levi said back to his brother who smirked as the twins did look similar except for George having a lighter shade of hair color.

"Still, it pisses me off that something like this happened. How does a random lightning storm just appear and vanish in the blink of an eye like that?"

"Who knows. But it's all over now and I've got to recover and shit." Levi said back as he sat in his lazy boy chair in the living room with a cold beer in his hand before cutting on the tv. "You want one?"

"Nah, I've got stuff to do today that I need to stay sharp for. But I'll swing by on the weekend to tie one off. Take it easy bro." George said before he left the house allowing Levi to have some time to himself as he watched tv and drunk his beer. Levi had some cheap generic off brand kind of beer, but he didn't care since he just needed something to drink after his extended hospital stay and so far, Levi just watched the news and saw more problems with Gotham as a whole.

Politics, crime, elitist family drama…Okay that last one was entertaining but still the problems in Gotham never seem to end. Also, the news seems to be covering the hero Batman who stopped a major arms dear near the docks.

"What's my next move now?" Levi asked himself without truly knowing what to do after he got discharged. He had inherited enough money to live comfortably for a while before getting a job and aside from being a soldier, he wasn't sure if he wanted to do anything else in life. "Maybe I should work fulltime in the Army, but that would mean I'd have to spend a shit load of time away from my family." Levi said sadly because despite his love of being a soldier he loved his family a bit more to commit to leaving them for such a long time.

Perhaps it was selfish or stubborn of him, but he loved his brother and niece. His stepsister was nice, but it sounded weird to say he loved her like a real sister, not that he didn't but it just felt weird to say.

"Maybe I could go on one of those self-improvement journeys or something." Levi said to himself before he saw another game screen appear in front of his eyes.

[Miscellaneous Quest Alert!

Name: Training Time

Objective 1: Learn more than one combat skill!

Objective 2: Train and enhance your stats to a decent amount!

Objective 3: Learn more general skills!

Hidden Objective: ?

Rewards: 5,000 EXP! 2x Loot Orbs

Failure: Loss of your potential and possible future adventures!

Do you accept this quest? Y/N?]

"I wonder how long my brain is going to be playing these kinds of tricks on me." Levi said before taking another swig of his beer before he jokingly hit the yes button and saw the screen vanish before his eyes. "Tomorrow, I guess I can go to the library and learn 'skills' from the books they have." Levi said jokingly before spending the rest of his day watching tv and drinking cheap booze.

END!

A/N: This is short, but this is all I've got for this story right now. I wanted a DC story, and I am using the lead character I am playing as in the Wastelands game as the OC in this new DC story.

Expect some cool ideas and remember to fav, follow and review because it is appreciated.